This article is part of Inc42’s latest series — Women in Leadership — where we will be featuring stories of women who have not only excelled in their chosen field but also empowered and inspired other women to go beyond their limitations and boundaries. Read more stories here.

Koramangala has been the foundry and forge of the Indian startup ecosystem. From Flipkart to Ola, BigBasket to Swiggy, the coffee shops and bars of this picturesque Bengaluru locality, filled with budding entrepreneurs, provided an apt environment for exchanging ideas and transforming them into successful startups.

In 2013, in a series of meetings with entrepreneurs at Mr Beans Cafe, Koramangala, Salma Moosa, a business consultant to SMEs by profession, explored what new millennials, entrepreneurs wanted.

“There was no infrastructure and guidance available which could help shape them into successful startups,” says Moosa during a conversation with Inc42.

Establishing Startups Club

By 2010, Flipkart, MakeMyTrip and many other startups were already hogging the limelight. Soon, it became clear that India’s innovation ecosystem will be driven by startups in future, and Moosa, being closely aware of the entrepreneurs’ issues, wanted to play a key role in the ecosystem.

As a result, in 2013, Moosa along with her VS Prudence Advisors’ colleague Vivek Srinivasan founded the Startups Club in Bengaluru, a platform to mentor entrepreneurs across the country. According to Moosa, Startups Club started as a humble meetup group in Bengaluru. The goal even then was to bring people together to enable tangible benefits.

Today, the Startups Club has grown to 25,000+ members across the country. Out of 25K members, around 2,000+ members are incubated and mentored by them.

“Today, we have been working with numerous countries such as Estonia, Israel and France towards preparing a soft launch for startups across various countries,” said Moosa

Mentorship Certification For Curated Entrepreneurs

In its ‘Incubate, Accelerate and Invest’ programmes, the company has now added another layer by certifying certain entrepreneurs as mentors. So far, mentorship was provided by Moosa along with Srinivasan. However, the rising demand forced her to find a unique way where certified entrepreneurs could mentor others.

Moosa says, “Vivek and I were able to travel to most of the places in a year; however, due to time constraints, we have missed out on attending members queries face-to-face. To ease the process, it was necessary to find the entrepreneurs among the members and groom them to be ready as mentors for the ecosystem.”

As YC founder Paul Graham used to say, “When I was running YC, we used to joke, that our function was to tell founders things they would ignore,” mentoring is key to scaling up an idea and success that comes around. Startups at their early, budding or established stage need mentorship.

Bringing mentorship access closer to entrepreneurs, Startups Club has started transforming specially curated entrepreneurs from the community of entrepreneurs in various stages into mentors so that they are able to guide other entrepreneurs, who are at a much earlier stage than the allocated certified mentors and further help themselves and the ecosystem grow.

“Real mentors are those who have done it. Those who have faced the challenges in real life and those who have connections. So, we started taking some of our members and grooming them to be mentors. We as a club are certifying mentors. We started this programme six months back,” Moosa said.

These certified mentors are first screened and selected from their regions and then are put through a programme designed to get them ready to deliver Startups Club’s signature mentoring sessions. Along with the mentoring sessions, members also get tangible support and the benefits of strong connections that the Club brings to all. The focus is on discovery, growth and investments.

Startups Club, currently has 12 certified mentors across three major regions in South India including Chennai, Mysuru and Bengaluru. Startups Club also plans to increase the mentors across the different parts of the country by the end of the year.

How these certified mentors balance their timings between their entrepreneurship and mentorship?

To this, Moosa, clarified, “Timing has not been an issue. Mentors are ready to give 3-5 hours per week which are mostly on weekends. At Startup Club, we enable their meetings. S/He is able to help so many members.”

Changing Gender Equation 

The business world is a male-dominated sector, especially in the startup ecosystem. But now, Moosa says, we see that women from different regions are taking a step into the business world creating a paradigm shift in gender roles.

“I see many women entrepreneurs who have single-handedly built a million dollar company and successfully establishing themselves,” says Moosa.

Gone are those days when women entrepreneurs used to grow only in certain sectors of the economy like fashion or lifestyle. But, “these days women are thriving in technology, information and communication business as well. The next step is to remove the tag ‘women entrepreneurs’ to just entrepreneurs,” she adds.

Mentorship Starts With ‘The Billion Dollar Idea’

Mentorship starts with the very first line entrepreneurs usually utter, “We have a billion dollar idea.”

Moosa asserts, some of the largest companies in the world such as Airbnb and Facebook became so because they aimed to solve small issues.

“When a young entrepreneur comes and tells us that he has a billion dollar idea. I say no, you have a small idea and you work towards making a billion dollar worth project,” says Moosa.

Mentorship is no easy job, but “we started with passion and we continue to do what we love,” she concludes.

The post Women In Leadership: In Conversation With Salma Moosa, The Force Behind Bengaluru’s Startups Club appeared first on Inc42 Media.

This article is part of Inc42’s latest series — Women in Leadership — where we will be featuring stories of women who have not only excelled in their chosen field but also empowered and inspired other women to go beyond their limitations and boundaries. Read more stories here.

Only 3% of Indians invest in the stock market, and almost all of them are men. Compared to the US and some other developed economies, over 50% of people invest, and about half of them are women. The Wharton School graduate Hena Mehta – after spending almost a decade in the US with companies like Goldman Sachs, Square, and working for close to two years with Ezetap in Bengaluru – realised that this problem is extremely widespread in India.

This laid the foundation of Basis – an online women-focused personal finance startup. “The idea was born out of my own pain point: I realised I wasn’t owning my personal finance and investing decisions, even though I have a prestigious MBA and worked in financial services,” Mehta said.

Ideated in early 2018, Bengaluru-based Basis is a fintech startup focused on transforming financial education and financial decision-making for Indian women. The startup has received the SEBI Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) license recently on February 25. It also launched a content platform on the web and on its Android app in early 2019.

“We expect to launch our guided investments platform (initially in mutual funds) within the next quarter. Until then, we are working on content distribution and growth to engage with as many investors in our target segment as we can. In the next few years, we expect to be a full-service personal finance platform serving the financial needs of first-time investors, particularly the Indian women, ” added Mehta.

Recently, Basis raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding from India/US-based investors Nitin Saigal, Daniel Jacobs and Dahm Choi, shared Mehta while speaking to Inc42.

Basis: Creating Differentiation On Financial Content

After conducting nearly 400 in-depth interviews with women across India in the age groups of 24 to 45, the results revealed that FDs/savings accounts and gold (and insurance – if considered an investment) are the most popular avenues to invest.

Interestingly, on average, women save roughly 20% of their income and 70% of the surveyed women have investable income. But, there’s an immense knowledge gap and trust gap for Indian women in particular when it comes to these intimidating topics like “investing” and “long-term financial planning”.

“The Indian professional women is choosing to stay in the workforce, be single for longer, and value financial independence a lot more than she used to.  Yet, most of us don’t own our financial lives.  That’s where I see Basis coming in,” she added.

The startup is looking to create differentiation on the basis of its content. As Mehta claims, the content on the Basis platform is not the typical finance content. It aims to simplify concepts of finance that a new user needs to understand. Truly jargon-free and in-sync with the various life events such as career challenges, having kids, getting married, spending habits, etc.

According to 2018 report, Wealth Management Industry in India. (i.e. individuals with investable assets of $1 Mn or more) is expected to grow at a CAGR of 27% over the next five years to approximately INR 400 Tn.

A number of players are looking to get a share of this ever-growing segment including the deep-pocketed ones like Paytm Money, ET MONEY, as well as the early and growth stage startups like  Wealthy, Scripbox, Fisdom, WealthTrust, MyUniverse, MoneyLover, MoneyView, MTrakr, and IOU (I Owe You).

“The competition is there. But I don’t believe anyone in this space is honing in on a specific segment of our population to understand their attitudes, behaviour and relationship with money,” claims Mehta.

She believes that Basis’ focus on first knowing, then educating and then serving the emerging investor, and the female emerging investor, in particular, make its growth strategy different. “It’s all about connecting with the customer, which I don’t believe most companies in this space are doing,” she added.

Still, in its early days, Basis has started with its journey in the Indian wealth management space slowly but steadily. Within a span of four months, its web-based content platform has been able to gain around 1500 views and has observed 200 beta app downloads. Initially, targeting the urban professional woman in Tier 1 cities in the age range of 28-40, Basis is now looking to onboard 20K-30K customers on its platform in 2019.

The post How Fintech Startup Basis Is Looking To Change Personal Finance For Women appeared first on Inc42 Media.

While everyone calls out to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for any and every current issue, Bengaluru-based online sleep solutions startup —Wakefit, founded by Ankit Garg and Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, took it upon themselves to offer him some much needed comfort.  Taking PM Modi’s extensive travel and busy schedule into account, the startup launched an online campaign — OneIndiaOneWakefit in 2017, which invited ideas from across the country on how to enhance oneness amongst Indians.

The campaign aimed to show solidarity to the ‘unity in diversity’ concept and was met with an overwhelming response of over 80K reach across the website and social platforms and catalysed more than 500 ideas. The best fifty were sent to the PM with Wakefit’s signature memory foam mattress to help him sleep better. “The campaign was a subliminal attempt at conveying how one mattress can suit every Indian.’’

While the campaign garnered nation-wide interest, it is just one among a panoply of conversations the startup is sparking to help people realise the importance of sleep. Wakefit, both in its ideology and functioning, helps Indians improve their quality of sleep. The startup conducts extensive research on the science of sleep and manufactures a range of products to enhance people’s sleep and posture related needs, such as mattresses, pillows, bed sheets, neck-pillows, comforters, back cushions, etc.

The Changing Sleep Patterns Of Today

Expecting people to change their lifestyles and adhere to the age-old saying ‘early to bed, and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise’ might be expecting too much in the modern era where sleep patterns are changing drastically.

One look at ‘The Great Indian Sleep Scorecard (GISS) 2018’ by Wakefit, makes one wake up to the realities of shifting sleep patterns in India today.

While the recommended number of hours for a good night’s sleep is 8 hours, GISS 2018 suggests that 31% of the people surveyed get less than 7 hours of sleep per day. The survey also shows that 80% respondents feel sleepy at work 1-3 times a week, and 48% feel they have back problems. This, can be attributed to people going to war against sleep with their army of mobile phones, emails, chat windows and social feeds.

The pace at which our lives function today is only likely to accelerate and in this context, it is important to make the best use of the hours of sleep available to people. To address this need gap, Wakefit was started with the purpose of providing people quality sleep products at affordable prices.

The company’s understanding of the sleep solutions industry has allowed it to create limited SKUs that includes two mattress types and one composition for all other bedding essentials in its portfolio, while addressing the needs of the customer. This is undertaken by setting up a state-of-the-art production unit in Bengaluru and using the research insights to produce high quality products. The first-mover advantage as an online direct-to-consumer sleep solutions startup is making Wakefit’s dream of evangelising sleep, turn into reality for a billion Indians.

Bringing NASA’s Tech To All & Sundry

In an effort to make the best of technology from across the globe available to the average Indian customer, Wakefit has introduced memory foam — the same material NASA introduced to provide cushioning for both its passengers and pilots — at an economical cost. The durability and comfort of memory foam is enhanced by using temperature measurement and pressure mapping technology. The memory foam mattress also uses a layer of open cell foam, named CoolFit technology, that enables breathability so the body can remain cool even during summers.

“This memory foam technology has helped us in creating our flagship mattress, which is suitable for all body types and is built keeping in mind the optimal distribution of pressure and weight.” says Chaitanya Ramalingegowda, co-founder of Wakefit. “We believe that everyone in India, right from someone who owns an Audi to someone who owns a bicycle should be able to afford a Wakefit mattress,” he added. And the company is surely heading towards achieving that, having clocked in sales of 3.5 lakh products in just three years.

The company is targeting households starting with a monthly income of INR 30K ($422), and is offering high-end memory foam mattresses that were once available between a range of INR 40K to 2L at an affordable range between INR 5.5K to INR 25K.

10 Prototypes, 100 Homes: Wakefit’s Initial Days Focused on Understanding the Customer

Mattress and other sleep products have traditionally been a touch-and-feel category, given the high costs of items and the personal nature of the product usage. Convincing customers that Wakefit is a trusted brand and that they could safely spend their money and be assured of receiving a cutting-edge product was the biggest challenge in the initial days of Wakefit’s journey. “Customers were worried, and rightly so, that the product may be spurious or adulterated or it may not last for long,” says Chaitanya.

Hence, the early days at Wakefit went into trying out six-to-ten different prototypes, visiting over ‘100 customer homes’ and understanding their needs as well as concerns. The startup believes that good things start at home and to abide by this sentiment, they give out mattresses and other products to their own employees for trial and feedback. Ultimately this extensive focus on individuals is what has paid off by allowing the company to generate a daily traffic of over 11,000 on their website, thus facilitating sales.

The website offers a 100-day trial and return policy and a 20 year warranty on its mattresses for customers, along with a no-cost EMI option for all the products in its portfolio.

“A lot of our effort went into educating customers on the science of sleep and how the product has been innovated from the ground up. We have even bundled up mattresses in our cars and gone personally for a delivery. This has resulted in an invaluable learning that gave us a head-start for our R&D,” says Ankit.

How Is This Industry Getting Disrupted?

The sleep products market in India is very large – in fact, the mattress market alone is expected to touch INR 14,000 crore by 2021 according to reports. The entry of online startups such as Mattress Box, Sunday Rest, Wink & Nod  in the segment, and the rise in aspirations and awareness around sleep has fuelled the demand of the industry making the segment opportune.

With a market that is ripe and with access to products being just a click away, the snooze shop looks crowded. Will Wakefit be able to continue its REM (Rapid Eye Movement) on identifying newer ways to offer unique products to a billion Indians and thus stay ahead on the innovation curve?

“We believe in the strong dictum of listening to customers, and understanding their stated and latent needs equally. This obsession of keeping customers happy has enabled the company to be loved by a large base of over 2 lakh satisfied customers,” says Ankit.

With an increase in digitisation leading to people spending more time on smart devices, the Indian sleep patterns will continue to change. But with change, comes the need to pause and analyse nuances around the science of sleep.

Come March 15, people will be celebrating ‘World Sleep Day.’ While sleeping early and getting the right amount of sleep is a lifestyle compromise that we might not always be willing to make, the quality of sleep is definitely something we can improve. And making the right choice of sleep products is a sure shot way of getting a good snooze!

The post How Sequoia Backed Wakefit Is Using Data & Technology To Democratise Sleep For Indians appeared first on Inc42 Media.

This article is part of Inc42’s latest series — Women in Leadership — where we will be featuring stories of women who have not only excelled in their chosen field but also empowered and inspired other women to go beyond their limitations and boundaries. Read more stories here.

Last year in July, in an attempt to promote local art and culture, express trains such as Rajdhani Express and Sampark Kranti Express, originating from Bihar were decorated with Madhubani paintings. Around 22 coaches of the Patna Rajdhani express were covered inside out with the intricate patterns and soft pastels of the traditional art form originating from the Mithila region of Bihar. The result was so breathtaking that Japan, which is working closely the Indian Railways on a bullet train, requested the Piyush Goyal-led Railway Ministry of India to send a group of artisans who could recreate the art on the Japanese public trains.

Since the 20th century, Indian heritage and art forms have been popular with collectors and art lovers worldwide. With its ethnically-diverse history, India has been a melting pot for not just cultures but also various schools of art, music and architecture.

Being kept alive by traditional artisans across villages and towns, few in India’s cities know about the hardships that these artists endure. With incomes too meagre to sustain their lives,  avenues to their work are limited and the prospect of penury as the only reward for their dedication, more often than not, Indian artisans lead thankless lives.

Of late though, more and more individuals, government bodies and social organisations are trying to give these artisans a platform. And one such art form which is getting a boost from the governments and startups alike is Madhubani.

The 2,500 year old Madhubani or Mithila paintings find their origin in the Mithila region of Bihar, Although the art form was discovered in the 1930’s. It was recognised formally in 1969 when Sita Devi, a legendary Madhubani artist, received the state award by Government of Bihar. In fact, she is one of the foremost reviver’s of the Madhubani school.

The art-form is created using fingers, twigs, matchsticks, pen nibs, natural dyes, and pigments. Some of the initial references to this art-form can be found in the Ramayana. Folklore has it that Sita’s father, asked his painters to create Madhubani paintings for his daughter’s wedding.

One such female-duo who are giving the Madhubani artisans, especially women in Bihar a platform, are Ruchi Jha and Renuka Kumari with their startup —  iMithila.

Founded in 2016, iMithila in name and vision works for ‘innovation in Mithila’. The startup is giving a modern rendition to the art-from which was once popular as murals, wall hangings and pots by bringing it to everyday products such as sarees, bags, clocks, coasters, etc.

Madhubani art was re-discovered in 1934 after an earthquake hit Bihar. Among the debris lay a relic of the beautiful Madhubani art which was discovered by a British colonial officer, William G. Archer, in the Madhubani District. And, as they say rest is history.

The knowledge of the art form was passed down to generations and women became its biggest contributors, using it to paint walls of homes on festivals. Just like most art forms, the women practicing Madhubani art have found solace in silence and used the medium to bring awareness to the stigma surrounding them. The startup is committed to giving artisans associated with it, a platform for their creative, and financial needs. And a key mission for iMithila is putting the power back in the hands of its original artists —  the women.

Today, the iMithila team has a unique blend of woman folk artisans spread in over twenty villages of Mithilanchal. Interestingly, 80% of the artisans on the platform are women.

How The Canvas At iMithla Is Painted

With the plethora of choices available to customers today, the only way to succeed, generate revenues, and stay ahead in the game for an upcoming startup is by giving a twist to hitherto unknown products. In the same vein, iMithila has gone beyond the usual products associated with Madhubani paintings to grab a larger pool of customers.

The iMithila products are priced between $10 (INR 700) to $214 (INR 15,000) and the company has witnessed a consistent 200% growth Y-O-Y with a team of 10 who work out of Noida and 100 artisans based out of Bihar. The maximum orders come in from the states of Kolkata and Madhya Pradesh.

Getting into unique products has been both rewarding and challenging for iMithila, “Since, most of our products are innovative with out of the box designs and thinking, the biggest challenge that we’ve faced is to work on product management. It is about making the choice on which product categories to enter into and at what price points,’’ said Jha.

This situation for iMithila has been tackled by its internal team and business advisors. Before entering into any category, the startup conducts a thorough research of the scope of the products in the market. From inception to entering a new category, their time cycle is six to nine months.

Initially the company started as an ecommerce brand and spent a lot of time and resources on marketing. Ecommerce allowed it to reach different customers quickly as compared to any other channel. Now the company is in the process of opening Madhubani art galleries in different cities in India. “The fact that we are a design led innovative brand working only in Mithila art form makes us stand out from the crowd,’’ said Jha.

Today, iMithila ships globally, and is present on various marketplaces. It is also making its presence felt offline in different promotional exhibitions and their first brick and mortar in Delhi – NCR.

Although iMithila has a first-mover advantage in the space, Madhubani art has long been sold offline in exhibitions, handicraft stores and galleries. More recently online marketplaces such as Pepperfry, Amazon, Flipkart, Mojarto, etc are inundated with a variety of Madhubani products.

Helping the Artisans At iMithila

All the products by iMithila are manufactured in the painting’s homeland Bihar by the artisans and partners of iMithila. The company aims to develop the ecosystem of the Tier 3 & 4 cities in Bihar.

iMithila provides the necessary skill and development training to its partners. Since the quantum of work is high, it also works on the skill enhancement of its partners and artisans. “Earlier, since there was no automated facilities available in Bihar, partners had to either hand stitch them or we were procuring them from outside the state. The idea was to have everything made in Bihar. Hence, we first identified our partners and then helped them setup automated facilities to get these products manufactured locally,” emphasised Jha.

The higher sales at iMithila transpires to higher work and income for the 100 plus artists associated with the company. With a strong on the artisans, the company has zero attrition rate and consider its artisans as part of its internal team.

iMithila makes all the payments digitally to the artisans making them a part of Digital India, and claims to have helped their artisans enrol in various government programs which benefit them a lot.

Keeping Madhubani Art Alive: The Mission for iMithila

The startup also runs an on-campus program —  Campus Connect where it conducts workshops on Mithila art in different educational institutes in cities across the world.

The company also runs a sub-program —  Startup Mithila to spread awareness among the students and aspiring entrepreneurs about startups and all the related aspects in Tier 3 & 4 cities of the country, inspiring more and more students and people to take entrepreneurship as a career.

In today’s increasingly westernised culture it is rare for Indian heritage to find commercial acceptance outside the flea markets visited mostly by tourists. By promoting Madhubani paintings in a contemporary way, iMithila has not only helped local artisans make a living but also breathed a lease of life into a once forgotten part of India’s invaluable heritage.

iMithila was a Gifting Partner At Inc42’s flagship conference — The Ecosystem Summit.

The post How This Entrepreneur Duo Is Personifying ‘By Women For Women,’ With Their Startup iMithila appeared first on Inc42 Media.

This article is part of Inc42’s latest series — Women in Leadership — where we will be featuring stories of women who have not only excelled in their chosen field but also empowered and inspired other women to go beyond their limitations and boundaries. Read more stories here.

#BalanceforBetter is the global theme set for the upcoming ‘International Women’s Day on March 8.’ World over the conversations have slowly moved from the merits of women entering the work sphere to women balancing work and personal lives. The long road to women empowerment, which was once less-trodden, now definitely has more travellers, but the situation is still far from ideal.

More and more entrepreneurs and change-makers are aligning themselves to the cause of women empowerment. And it is not just women. From the popular padman, Arunachalam Muruganantham, to Gurinder Singh Sahota, the founder of Silky Cup which develops environment-friendly and reusable menstrual cup, men too are joining the cause.

One such entrepreneur who is empowering women and children in the education segment, across the hinterland of Odisha, is Binayak Acharya, founder of ThinkZone. Backed by US-based impact investor, Gray Matters Capital, ThinkZone was founded in 2014 and the startup has been providing quality, affordable and remedial education by the use of tablets.

What’s noteworthy is that the startup first identifies teachers or college going girls or homemakers within the village or a nearby town who have the potential to teach or have been informally teaching children. It then deploys women field executives who do the grassroots level of campaigning and marketing to inform about the initiatives and onboard the teachers and students. The selected women are then trained by the company to use their school-in-a-box education solution to teach children in a level and activity-based manner. Serendipity right?

“I was always interested in working in the education space and helping in developing the sector. However, considering the urban-rural divide, urban education communities cannot always reach rural children. Thus, ThinkZone works on the community-based model which will involve the women from the same community who are more likely to know about the education system in the village,” Acharya told Inc42.

Making The Women & Children In Odhisa ‘Digital-First’

ThinkZone uses an innovative solution called School-in-a-box. This is a proprietary app which has all the study material for the different classes such as nursery and grade school children in the form of games, puzzles and videos. The teachers have to open the application, download the courses and then have the flexibility to show students the videos or teach the content even offline.

Apart from this, offline technology, teaching activities and class management tools via an Android app, help the women in provide quality early-grade education programs to the children aged between three to 10 years.

The ideology at ThinkZone is simple — empower everyone in the chain — and in doing so, the startup takes comprehensive measures to make each link of the chain, independent. Starting with their women teachers, who undergo a pre-service training program for one week, and monthly in-service training program which happens for one day. They are also needed to complete the initial training modules using the mobile application. Apart from the in-person and virtual training, the startup also provides mentoring to them for a year until they become ‘independent’ teachers.

“In our School-in-a-box solution, we provide the teachers with an Android-based low-cost system which acts as a projector and they can teach kids. So basically, they have to follow the lesson plans, the proprietary content, open source videos to show and engage the kids with maths tools in English and Oriya, puzzles, charts etc,” said Acharya.

These courses take place after the normal school hours which allows the children to attend their regular schools during the day time. The classes are held for around three hours, six days a week.

Convincing the parents to send their children for the course has been and remains to be the major concern and challenge.

As Acharya said, “Initially many students enrolled for the programme as it was something new and interesting however many dropped out with time as they could not understand the techniques.” This challenge, he believes will continue as the business scales to other cities where the concept is still new to the people.

However, he believes that once parents witness positive growth in their children, they themselves act as the secondary marketers who encourage other families to do the same.

According to the company, around 2,800 children in 375 villages across the three districts are enrolled for this programme.

Changing The Social Fabric: Taking Women Along In Its Growth Stride

Currently, ThinkZone is working with 101 women across three districts of Odisha namely Cuttack, Kendrapara and Bhadrak. Catering to their personal needs, the teachers conduct classes for the children in the comfort of their own homes similar to home tuitions or coaching centres. ThinkZone charges a sum between INR 1200-1800 ($17-$25) per student annually and the teachers make almost INR 2K-3K ($28-$42) per month for putting in three to four hours of part-time work. The women are also rewarded with incentives based on their own performance and the development of the children they teach. ThinkZone has ensured financial security for women which can be imitated in other rural hubs.

The inspiring stories of micro-entrepreneurs associated with ThinkZone are now spreading across other villages, igniting more minds to take charge of their financial and creative independence.

The Road Ahead For ThinkZone

The company generates revenue from their education programmes through both B2C and B2B modes by implementing the programmes via organisational partnerships such as government-run primary schools, anganwadis and other affordable private schools.

The startup claims to have clocked in revenues of INR 22.23 Lakh ($31.7K) for last financial year (FY17) and is looking to close this financial year with annual revenue of around INR 85 Lakh ($121.5K).

The startup is now focused at expanding its footprint across six to seven other districts in Odisha in a span of one year. It plans to create jobs for more than 300 women micro-entrepreneurs across the state. The long term goal remains to work in low-income group states such as Bihar, Jharkhand. It is further looking to automating teacher training, refining curriculum, improving performance monitoring by integrating analytics with technology and forging partnerships with the objective to scale.

Rural Education: Are Edtech Startups Doing Enough?

India ranked 94th in overall Prosperity Index rankings and 104th in prosperity index in education among 149 countries on the global scale, as of 2018. On a positive note, this gap has opened up opportunities for the Indian edtech segment.

According to Inc42 DataLab’s estimates, around 3,500 startups are working to develop the education space in India, trying to impart education in a smarter way by creating content in various formats and languages to help students learn at their own convenience.

However, even with the digital explosion and increasing use of technology in the education sector, the edtech startups have not been really successful in addressing the gaps, particularly in the rural education segment.

Maybe due to this reason, Acharya believes that ThinkZone is not in competition with other edtech players, rather it competes with local level tutors and schools. Also, one of the major hindrances for edtech startups to operate in rural India may be the low penetration of internet in remote areas.

However, ThinkZone has managed the problem as the application can be used offline while teaching. The use of the internet is minimised as teachers need data only to download the content needed. Once done, they can log in and use the application without internet.

Disappearing Gender Disparity Among Indian Teachers

According to a report by citizen engagement platform, LocalCircles, around 26% of startups/SMEs out of 4332 companies have said that they will prefer employing men employees rather than women due to the amendments in the maternity bill.

The amendments which were introduced in March 2017 had increased maternity leave to 26 weeks from the existing 12 weeks.

However, on a positive note, the genders disparity seems to be fading away especially in the teaching space. According to reports, there were 90 women teachers per 100 men teachers in 2015 which was a very high jump from 20 women teachers per 100 men teachers in 1950.

According to World Development Indicators (WDI) data, the female labour force participation rate has declined from 35.11% in 1990 to 26.97% in 2018.

WDI data on education has, however, showed positive growth as 59.28% of adult female in India were literate as compared to 25.68% in 1981.

At a time when glass ceiling continues to exist in some form or the other in India, ThinkZone is not only aiming to uplift the women but it is also doing so for those especially from the rural areas who get fewer opportunities to be financially independent.

The post Putting The Power In The Hands Of Women: How ThinkZone is Empowering Women & Children With A ‘Digital Box’ appeared first on Inc42 Media.

A Bengaluru-based logistics company, Shadowfax has recently announced that it will expand its business-to-consumer (B2C) logistics service for Chinese ecommerce and logistics companies to deliver goods at the doorstep of Indian online consumers. The startup’s initiative to tap into Chinese imported goods comes at a time when China’s imports to India rose by 16.6% to $50 Bn in 2017-18.

Rohit Gupta, business development vice-president of Shadowfax, estimates that China to India ecommerce market is currently receiving orders worth INR 8-9 Lakh ($11.4K-$12.8K) per day, and is growing every day. “This is the kind of market opportunity we are tapping into,” he says.

Chinese ecommerce players such as Shein and Aliexpress provide cheaper goods and, over the years, have forged tie-ups with many Indian logistics companies, as the former didn’t require to set up the base in India to do business. However, this is likely to change.

The Indian government through the draft ecommerce policy is mulling to mandate all foreign online retailers to register entities in India if they want to set up ecommerce platforms in the country. In such a scenario, how will this policy impact logistics startup like Shadowfax in their initiative to import foreign goods? Inc42 asked Gupta.

This policy won’t bring a major impact to the startup’s latest foray, Gupta maintained. “We are just a logistics player who ensures that their products are delivered to the consumers. The policy will not impact our operation at large. But, for the Chinese companies to whom we were talking to earlier, the contract might happen with their Indian entity when the regulation comes into force,” says Gupta.

Shadowfax is currently keeping the table open for Chinese ecommerce players with its end-to-end delivery both for shipping products directly from the Chinese factory to India and for Chinese companies having a port in India.

Gupta says that it will provide an Express Delivery with a guarantee to deliver the product at the customer’s doorstep within seven days from the time of placing the order online. While doing so, he also claimed to take full responsibility to ensure the error-free rate of the products that are returned by the customer.

It provides a return solution with doorstep quality check on the product. “We will assure that there is less than 2% error rate in the product which is returned compared to an industry average which is three times to that,” he said.

How Has Shadowfax Used AI On Its Logistics Platform

Managing logistics in India is a very complex process because there are multiple routes, and the package may be delayed for various reasons. At the core of its delivery platform, Shadowfax has deployed artificial intelligence (AI)-driven solution, called Frodo, which helps in optimising the route accurately.

The startup has widely deployed this solution for its Indian delivery business and plans on catering the same for its Chinese partners as well.

To the question on how AI has been implemented on its platform, Gupta cited an example saying, “If I need to go from city A to city B, there would be a network of hubs who can deliver the package. Frodo determines, for instance, which partner would be able to go, which would be the most optimal route for the rider.”

In order to ensure the fastest delivery of the product, the system’s algorithm has been developed in such a way that it keeps on learning from the ground result and helps the startup to continuously monitor update the platform with best delivery solutions.

“For instance, if a particular delivery happens in seven days, which should have been delivered in five days. Then the system will automatically learn what went wrong, so that, next time the route is optimised to make delivery decisions. It also looks at the riders way of performances, mainly for improvement reasons. It keeps reading the data points and keeps improving on its own,” Gupta said.

The startup is currently developing capabilities in line with what the situation demands, for both ecommerce players and logistics companies.

It follows a crowdsourcing model, wherein the delivery partners can look at the timings at which they want to work, and they get full visibility and payout accordingly. The delivery partners are paid in an hourly basis.

Launched in 2015 by two IIT Delhi alumni, Abhishek Bansal and Vaibhav Khandelwal, the startup has divided its logistics in India into three categories — ‘Business Now’ for foods and medicines delivery, ‘Insta’ for same-day delivery of grocery items, and ‘Connect’ for ecommerce with an express delivery option for intercity and intracity.

The startup claims its India business to be currently fulfilling 1.5 lakh orders per day and deliver products in more than 3,000 pin codes with more than 50K delivery partners. Its Indian clients include players like Amazon, Swiggy, Bigbasket and others. It last raised $22 Mn Series C funding round led by NGP Capital.

Logistics is the pillar behind India’s supply chain industry. The sector is currently valued at $160 Bn and is poised to hit $215 Bn by 2020. Over the years, startups in this sector have come up with innovative new technologies with logistics-related software solutions, last-mile delivery, robotics, automation solutions.

According to Inc42’s The State of The Indian Startup Ecosystem 2018 Report, India had over 900 logistics startups as of November 2018. Of which, many startups have forayed its logistics expansion outside India, mainly in the Southeast markets.

The post Logistics Co Shadowfax On Chinese Imports, Challenges And AI In Transport Tech appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Bengaluru-and San Jose-based enterprisetech startup — Whatfix — which helps in quicker and efficient adoption of any digital software, has raised $13.2 Mn (INR 92 Cr) Series B funding, as it plans to boost its US and Europe expansion, double employee headcounts and apply newer technologies to make its product better.

The startup has added three new investors on its list: Eight Roads Ventures, F Prime Capital, and Cisco Investments. Its existing investors, Stellaris Venture Partners and Helion Venture Partners, also participated in the latest funding round.

Launched in 2013 by Khadim Batti and Vara Kumar Namburu, Whatfix is a SaaS-based enterprisetech startup which is currently helping more than 400 medium and large global enterprises in the adoption of various software.

There are many enterprises with hundreds of employees using a plethora of enterprise management and project management software. Typically, a company arranges classroom training and supplies materials to prepare its employees to use a particular software.

Batti said that instead of doing those, Whatfix can provide a step by step navigation to help an employee understand a particular software’s features or guides what to do next if they get stuck somewhere.

“User efficiency is optimal if they get guidance at the moment of need just in time inside the application,” Batti said.

The startup claims that 70% of its users are based in the US, followed by 20% in Europe, and the remaining 10% are from around the globe, including India. “In the last 12 months, we have grown 4x and we plan on generating revenue at 3x growth for the calendar year 2019,” Batti said.

Whatfix currently has a 120-member team. While products and engineering team are based in Bengaluru, marketing and sales operations are lead by its San Jose office.

Team Watfix

How Can Whatfix Help To Efficiently Use Your Company’s Software

What is so unique about Whatfix that other software don’t? Inc42 asked. Batti cited an example saying:

“Let’s say if you’re a user of SalesForce and you get stuck in something. Instead of you going outside of an application or chasing a tech guy to help you out, Whatfix will navigate you step by step to ease the hurdles based on your query to finish the task,” he said.

Whatfix provides a platform where software training processes can be rolled out efficiently. When an organisation installs a new product for its employee use, a software trainer can use Whatfix that grabs all the pre-processes required to use it, and can be rolled out within a day or a two, Batti claims.

Generally, most of the software is cloud-based and Whatfix uses javascript in terms of capturing the pre-processes.

What Is The Market Of Digital Adoption Platform

Whatfix is a B2B product and mainly targets medium and large enterprises. It charges its clients based on the number of Whatfix users per application.

“Let’s say if an enterprise wants to use Whatfix on top of three applications, then they would buy three Whatfix account. For each account, we then charge according to the number of users using Whatfix,” Batti said.

Typically, the startup uses this monetisation model for enterprises. However, in the case of enterprises using Whatfix for their customers, it charges on the basis of usages.

“It is an $8 Bn market. Globally, the digital transformation is happening in every organisation with the help of software. When a CIO spends millions of dollars in large enterprises for digital transformation, they want to see ROI of that. And, Whatfix becomes key there.”

The startup claims to have an early mover advantage and wants to take a leadership position, although there are many companies on the fray. It considers US-based digital adoption platform WalkMe as its main competitor.

The post Enterprisetech Startup Whatfix Raises $13.2 Mn To Finance Headcount, Tech Expansion appeared first on Inc42 Media.

“Go outside your home and see the coconut vendor or the chai waala (tea seller). They are bootstrapped. So, if you don’t overthink it, you realise that the chai waala is in business, maybe I can be in business too without outside money.”

Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu said this while speaking to Inc42 and this is important because Vembu knows what it takes to raise an Indian unicorn without VC money. A bootstrapped unicorn based out of Chennai, Zoho employs more than 7K people, it is profitable and generates hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenue — its revenue for FY17 was recorded as INR 1,982.44 Cr.

Unlike the first generation entrepreneurs, today, the Indian startups may not feel the lack of sources of finance — VCs, angel investors, government funds and even debt funds, banks, and NBFCs are also at their disposal.

But times are changing and new age startups are looking to play this the old school way. Startups have realised that — “equity money is not free money”. While, today, still a large number of startups remain dependent on external funding for survival and growth, there are set examples of founders who still believe in maintaining a complete stake in the company and grow organically for survival, and thus they go the bootstrapped way.

Bootstrapping gives the founders the freedom to put forth their own choices, even in bad times; to fall, learn from the mistakes and rise again taking their own time; and to expand their venture ahead on their own terms and timeline. We have examples of companies like Wingify, FusionCharts, Zerodha, Appointy, and RecruiterBox (acquired by private equity firm Turn/River Capital in March 2018 after remaining bootstrapped for seven years), who have gone the bootstrap way and achieved great heights.

As Tom Preston-Werner, the cofounder of global software development platform GitHub said,

“Bootstrapping is a way to do something about the problems you have without letting someone else give you permission to do them.”

With this in mind, we reached out to a few companies who are bootstrapping their way to success in the Indian startup ecosystem and here is what they are upto!

GrabOn

GrabOn hopes to establish itself as an irreplaceable shopping companion for every Indian shopper in the next five years. The company is currently operating in multiple verticals including deals and coupons (GrabOn), price comparison (BestPriceOn) and gift cards.

As claimed by the company, it became profitable within 15 months of its launch. It currently boasts of 4000+ brand associations and 60+ strategic alliances and claims to surge ahead of its competition, beating them by an average of 35% in terms of monthly visitors.

It is now tapping the growth opportunities in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities and targets to win over 40% of the gift cards space by 2020.

Gxpress

Gxpress aims to provide customised service solutions for international logistics and ecommerce sellers in India. On one hand it, enables businesses in selling products on online platforms such as Amazon and eBay, on the other, it allows Indian exporters, wholesalers, and manufacturers to sell their products globally via its logistics network.

The company achieved a revenue of INR 7 Cr in the first financial year and looks to double its revenue to INR 15 Cr by end of FY18. The company also has plans to expand its services further in India and internationally to locations like China, UK, USA, Dubai, Germany, Australia and the USA.

The company also plans to target manufacturers and artisans, whose business volumes will grow in the future.

HappyFox

HappyFox is a multilingual help desk ticketing system supporting multiple customer support channels. It converts email, phone, web and chat requests into tickets and keep them organised.

It is currently rendering its services in 35 languages including English, Deutsche, Arabic, Portuguese, Dutch, Russian, Czech, Swedish, Turkish, Bulgarian, Norwegian, and Hindi.

The platform is used by thousands of companies of all sizes spread across diverse sectors such as — education, government, media, manufacturing among others. As mentioned on the company’s website, it serves over 12,000 companies spread across 70+ countries. This includes brands like Lowe’s, LeapFrog, Whirlpool, Kindling among others.

InterviewBit

InterviewBit offers a platform for free interview preparation. It gathers data about the users’ coding skills, their previous projects, and other technical attributes from sites like Stack Overflow and GitHub. This data is used to match the best candidates to a given job.

Post that, they behave like a tech-assisted recruitment agency. The self-funded startup also sources pre-screened technical talent for coveted employers such as Facebook, Amazon, Uber and Google. In 2018, the company partnered with 500+ tech employers in India to help them find the best tech talent and also helped drive the entire campus hiring for companies like Uber, Toppr, Saavn, and Credit Suisse. The four key products of the company include — InterviewBit Hire, Campus Hiring,  Assessments and Code Collab.

Going forward, the startup aims to train and support placement of at least 25,000 students graduating in 2019 with a package of about INR 10 Lakhs Per Annum.

Mudraka

Mudraka was initially started as a marketplace for outdoor advertising, display and signage products with vendors across India.

However, in order to address issues concerning quality control, consistency, service levels, packaging, etc, the founders had to internalise a number of processes. They then shifted from the marketplace model to the inventory model.

Scaling impressively year-on-year, clocking in 7X revenue in FY18 as compared to the previous financial year, Mudraka aims to grow its partner base besides generating ten times more indirect employment by 2021.

It counts brands like Google, Zoomcar, Muthoot, 1mg, Apollo Tyres, and Modi Pharma as well as FICCI among others as its clients. The founders aim to resolve some of the issues such as opaque pricing, and non-standardised products in this so far unorganised industry.

Quack Quack

For Quack Quack founder Ravi Mittal, the idea was simple. To solve the ‘dating’ problem of the singles. As he said in an earlier interaction with Inc42, “We aim to solve the problem for singles, help them find a date, make money in the process, and grow. It was never about raising funds or creating valuation.”

The startup claims it has 4 Mn users (as of January 2019) with 1.5 Mn users added in 2018 alone. The app has over 800K downloads, and has witnessed over 64 Mn message exchanges by 2.05 Mn mutual matches.

In 2019, the company plans to double its per day user count to 9,000. The startup is in the midst of launching an independent app focused on live one-to-one stranger video chat which is stealth mode right now. Going forward, the bootstrapped startup also has plans launching the app in 10 international languages.

ReferralYogi

ReferralYogi offers reputation management software to help local businesses identify their promoters, encourage referrals, manage references and create a buzz around their brands.

It enables businesses to send review invitations to customers via email and SMS; ask for reviews manually; schedule them or auto-trigger at the time of check-out; manage Google, Facebook and NPS reviews across all locations from a single dashboard; monitor reviews, get notified and respond to them.

Going ahead, the bootstrapped startup is looking to enter the U.S. SMB market and hit an ARR of $200K by Dec 2019.

Social Pilot

SocialPilot is solving the problem of managing multiple social media profiles efficiently. It provides seamless management of publishing, analytics and conversations for all social channels at one place.

In 2018, SocialPilot’s MRR (monthly recurring revenue) grew by 90% while the customer base grew by 22% in comparison to previous year. From a team perspective, it grew from 16 members to 30 members distributed across the US and India. It also launched a few capabilities to enhance collaboration between teams and manage publishing, engagement, and analytics for major social networks.

These included Social Inbox, White Labeled Reports, Dropbox Integration to access stored media directly from Dropbox, Google My Business Integration for listings right from SocialPilot and more.

As of January 2019, 80% of its customers are Small/Medium Agencies with team size of 2-20 and SMBs based in the US and EU, 15% are based in APAC and 5% of are based in India. Overall, it has a base of 100K users and is growing at 5%-7% month on a month organically. Going ahead, it aims to grow at least 100% YoY while staying profitable and lean.

Tagalys

Tagalys provide predictive merchandising for online retailers. The bootstrapped startup allows online retailers to fully customise their website search, product recommendations, merchandising, and product sorting functionalities, along with tag-based reporting and analytics to increase revenues.

As of now, the bootstrapped platform process over 100 Mn retail data points a month across different verticals.

In 2018, the startup also made it to the second cohort of the SaaS accelerator, Uppekha, which helped it increase its ARR by 4X, ARPU by 67% and revenue churn of -16%.

The startup is soon going to available on Shopify and has signed a technology partnership with an enterprise ecommerce platform. It has also applied for a patent for one of its products which is currently in private beta.

While in 2018, its revenue split was India (80%) and North America (20%), the founders would like to see the revenue split at the end of 2019 as India (40%) and North America (60%). In India, it is currently working with brands like Candere by Kalyan Jewelers, Ritu Kumar, William Penn, Apollo Pharmacy to name a few.

Thinkpot

Thinkpot is a design merchandising company catering especially to motivational products for SMEs and startup offices that were on the lookout for affordable artwork.

In order to maintain variety and freshness of thoughts, the company work with freelancers from different regions, for not more than 20 designs with each. In 2018, it adopted a quick fashion strategy, wherein they launched 5-10 new products every 2 months and once sold out, its off the market.

Currently, the company has a network of more than 100 retailers across the country. It also partners with retailers who wanted to sell their products through offline channels. This includes retail chains like Crosswords and Landmark and numerous stationery stores, merchandise stores, gifts stores, and boutique stores. Cofounder Sumit Ranka told  Inc42, that soon the products will also be available for international markets through its website.

Tradohub

Tradohub aims to solve raw material procurement issues for the SMEs. It operates as an online distributor and supplies all kinds of raw materials to food and agro, polymer, pharmaceutical, and chemical companies.

It claims to have a network of more than 10k registered SMEs and over 2,500 suppliers in more than 125 countries globally. In 2018, Tradohub grew to INR 275 Cr in revenue and actual customer base expanded to more than 1,000 SMEs across 8 major states in India. 65% of  its buyers were regular customer in 2018 and its average order size has been increased to more than INR 20 lakhs.

Recently, it also acquired Infinium India Limited from Infibeam Avenues Limited. “Due to these facts, Tradohub has grown 300% while being bootstrapped,” claimed Akash Domadiya, cofounder of TradoHub.

Continuing to be bootstrapped in 2019, Tradohub is aiming to achieve a top line of more than INR 600 Cr and acquire similar B2B companies, thereby targeting an additional INR 400 Cr in revenues. It further plans to expand procurement to 35-40% (from current 15-17%) of international materials to achieve higher margins across sectors.

There are plans to expand customers reach in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, West Bengal. It further aims to reach out to pharma, metals, food and agro sectors and target 15-20% revenues from these states.

A Parting Thought

In the startup world, how to start a business is one among the many dilemmas, but to decide to scale it further without any external fundraising is certainly the toughest decisions. The success stories of these bootstrapped startups have the potential to change the market sentiment altogether, particularly in a country like India, which is currently the third largest startup nation globally with over 49K startups launched to date.

Being the apple of investor’s eyes, today India is the most opportunistic market for global online businesses in all segments be it retail, logistics, healthcare, fitness or food. But at the same time, with growing digital infrastructure and increased support from the government, starting a business is no more a ‘jugaad’ for the local entrepreneurs. For now, we may have a few to count, but the economy certainly needs more startups to bootstrap.

The post 11 Indian Startups Who Are Successful The Bootstrapped Way appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Ranging from spider cams, cheer leaders, snikometers and LED bails, the game of Cricket has become a larger  spectacle in the last ten years than it has ever been in its long history. With the advent of shorter formats of the game, year-long cricketing seasons and the rising of popularity of women’s cricket, the game’s reach among players and the fans is now unprecedented.

Last decade also saw the rise of fantasy sports in India. In a country where cricket is considered as a religion by millions of people, choosing virtual team of real cricket players and scoring points depending on how those players performed in real life matches naturally became a huge draw.

According to KPMG, the online gaming industry in India is expected to generate a revenue of INR 11,900 Cr by financial year 2023 and the app that took combined fantasy gaming with cricket to catalyse this growth was Dream11.

Dream11 users pay an entry fee to participate in paid contests and the company makes its money by charging a platform fee from the total pool collected.  It took the company three years to hit  its first million gamers mark but after that crossed 3 Mn users  in less than two months in 2016.

Today, Dream11 boasts of 50 Mn users and sports-related websites regularly cover the corresponding  fantasy game predictions as they would cover actual cricket matches. The company closed a mammoth $100 Mn round of funding in September last year and is close to becoming India’s first gaming unicorn, according to Inc42 DataLabs. The success has not only brought in a slew of copycat apps but also earned it the moniker of “overnight success”.

Few know that the company was launched almost 11 years back in 2008.

No wonder, its cofounder and COO, Bhavit Sheth, is fond of saying that “It takes 10 years to build an overnight success.”

On Sunday, 26th February last month, India lost its second T20 cricket match to Australia and irrespective of the result what was again at display was the millions of online streamers in India watching the game on home grown streaming platform Hotstar. It was yet another example of the growing digital narrative of a sport that is considered as a religion by millions of people in the second most populated country in the world.

On the following Monday, Inc42 met with Dream11 cofounder Bhavit Sheth at his office. Sheth’s office floor has wall-to-wall grass carpeting that mimics a cricket pitch, just in case there was even a minuscule chance of people not knowing what Dream11 is all about.

So what’s new at Dream11?

Nothing except everything, according to Sheth. With the upcoming IPL season, and ICC cricket world cup in May this year, the company is aiming to get to 100 mn users by the end of 2019.

“We have almost rewritten our entire code,” said Sheth, talking about tech under the hood which users may not see. The project of upgrading Dream11’s features and its ability to handle millions of users without any disruption, has been a long term process (more than two years) which is still in the WIP (work in progress) mode.

Here are the excerpts from the conversation-

Inc42: Looking back at 2018, what are some the major initiatives that Dream11 undertook?

Bhavit Sheth: From the hiring perspective, we have doubled our headcount to 200. But we still try to stay nimble and try to follow the WhatsApp model rather than the Amazon or Google model and try to keep to the minimum number people required to build out the platform.

We had one single system which used to run everything on our platform and we called it the ‘black box’ but that always left us exposed to a situation where if one system failed or malfunctioned, the entire platform would suffer.

Now, we have every single thing in the app segmented and run on different systems like creating teams, choosing the match, schedules, and payments.

We have broken features down in such a way that if one system goes down, the app is still functioning.  

Inc42: How has this separation been made possible?

Bhavit Sheth: We have almost rewritten our entire code and that’s why I say that this has been a long-term project started almost two years back and it’s not yet complete but we are 80% there.

It was challenge to implement these changes as we had to make sure the app is functioning perfectly while at the same time working and switching over to the new system. Last IPL we had 30%-40 % of the new services live.

Dream11 itself is now 11 years-old and people still think we are an overnight success. One of the lines we like saying is that it takes 10 years to build an overnight success.

Inc42: We are well placed to now talk about the IPL, what are you expectations and the mood in the meetings?

Bhavit Sheth: We are looking at growing from 50 Mn to 100 Mn users by the end of the year and everyone is focussed on that.

Inc42: From a viewership point of view, what is the difference between a World Cup match versus IPL?

Bhavit Sheth: An ODI match generates slightly less interest when compared to T20. Indian ODI match days are heavy traffic but for the rest of the matches it’s not the same especially if a minnow team is playing some other minnow team, unlike in the IPL where every team has got stars and is strong.

We had one million concurrent users in the last IPL and this year we are expecting to handle 2 Mn-3 Mn concurrency.

Inc42: What’s it like in the office when there is an important game or tournament going on, do you get any sleep at all?

Bhavit Sheth: Some of us do, some of us don’t (laughs). The thing is most of the preparation happens before game day and we plan for a series or tournament as a whole rather than for individual matches but of course there are exceptions ( think India-Pakistan for example)  

On the game day, we are just on the watch to ensure that there are no blips. One of our room becomes a war room where all our stats are put on the big screen and our guys are constantly monitoring all the metrics and if they see any metric that is slightly off, they will investigate and if something goes wrong we try and instantly fix it. This is a big day for the tech and customer success guys.

IPL is that time of the year where our office is open 24×7, and one of the learnings from last time is that everyone should be comfortable in office. We take care of their food, near-stadium accommodation, in-house recreational options, physiotherapist, and even have a masseuse visit our office regularly.

Inc42: Have you looked at e-gaming?

Bhavit Sheth: Not as of now, we don’t want to defocus and anyways if we reach 100 Mn user base, we can better leverage our position and take a decision about egaming.

Inc42: How do you ensure that the data integration is happening efficiently so that it gives actionable insights?

Bhavit Sheth: I believe we have not done enough justice to the data.

One of the things we implemented with the help of insights gotten from our data is when we introduced a loyalty program for some of our users who have been playing repeatedly on the platform. A user, after playing a certain number of games, unlocked certain bonuses and rewards like match tickets.

Also when it came to payments, we found that it used to take between one to two days for the money to hit user bank accounts, but now through IMPS we can do it instantly. Our top users got early access to that system.

We are constantly on the lookout for data scientists, it’s one of the toughest roles to fill.

We recently got Professor from Columbia University, Vishal Misra, and Devavrat Shah, who is a professor at MIT, as advisors. This long term association will help us in solving complex data science problems for our business. They have been doing a lot of work on data and cricket. Professor Misra was actually one of the co-founders of ESPNCricinfo.

Inc42: In terms of number of users, is there more penetration among the different tier cities?

Bhavit Sheth: Combined users from Tier 2, Tier 3 and Tier 4 are much more higher than Tier 1 because when we grew from 300K to 10 Mn and so on, the last few growth spurts have come from the lower tier cities like Lucknow, Kanpur, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Jaipur etc.

Inc42: How did you persist with your vision, even when things didn’t seem to be working out, what would you tell others in a similar position?

Bhavit Sheth: Firstly, what is important is to understand whether there is a need for product at all.  Even when we didn’t have scale for years, we always looked at unit economics and if the business is working out from the point of view of unit economics.

A lot of people talk about your product market fit and all that but how do you know if your product actually fits? Go down to the individual user and try to understand her better and it goes without saying that persistence is very important.

We reached out to over 100 plus VC, PEs, before we got our first investment. Even today we ensure that our unit economics are being maintained. It’s fine to give bonuses and perks but if those things didn’t happen will your business still survive?

Inc42: What would it mean to become India’s first gaming unicorn, what emotions go through your mind?

Bhavit Sheth: If this ever happens, it would substantiate that we are on the right track to achieve our goal of providing the best sports gaming experience to our users. We will keep doing what we do best, keep our focus and continue to deliver the best service we can to our +5 Cr users.

[Dream11 was part of the 2018 edition of the coveted list of India’s most innovative startups — 42Next by Inc42.]

The post The Decade-Long Struggle Behind Dream11’s ‘Overnight Success’ appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Whether it was in the days of barter or cigarettes for goods and messages as shown in the 1994 movie — The Shawshank Redemption —financial transactions have always been an integral part of our lives. And just like the universe, currency and payment methods too have evolved and continue to do so. We have gone from metal coins to paper currency, plastic cards to digital wallets and now even sound-waves for transactions.

Commenting on the timeline of change that has taken place in the manner in which transactions have evolved,  Nath Parameshwaran, Director, Corporate Affairs, PayPal India during Inc42’s Ask Me Anything Facebook Live episode said, “The diversity of options available for transacting including wallets, UPI, bank funding, etc is truly fascinating. Our journey from cash to digital is growing at a fast pace.”

Digital payments are proving to be game-changers in more ways than one, and the industry is set to grow to  $1 Tn by 2023. This figure speaks about the immense potential digital payments have especially for freelancers and small and medium enterprises.

The India Opportunity for PayPal

Adoption of digital payments is increasing, especially amongst freelancers and small and medium enterprises. India is the fastest growing freelancer economy in the world and is home to close to 15 Mn freelancers today.

PayPal has enabled cross border payments for over a decade, helping freelancers and small and medium enterprises to leverage the global opportunity and realise the Make in India vision of the government. Recognising the untapped opportunity, PayPal launched domestic operations in 2018 giving freelancers and SMEs the convenience of a single account for their domestic and cross-border payment requirements. All this backed by PayPal’s robust risk and security platform.

On asking Parameshwaran about the progress of both, he emphasised, “It’s an exciting new chapter for us to be able to offer our services in the domestic market and it compliments what we are doing in the cross-border side at the same time which is enabling SMEs and freelancers to grow their business. PayPal’s vision is to offer a frictionless payments experience backed by our Buyer and Seller protection policies. It is trust that has helped us become a global leader in payments across 200 markets over two decades.”

He further added how PayPal customises experiences and products to meet local requirements and solve real problems. ”We offer products and solutions tailored to the requirements of all our merchants whether they are freelancers, SME’s or the large merchants,” said Parameshwaran.

Data Protection: Need Of The Hour

As cross-border trade increases, there is a need for a faster, frictionless payments experience with trust at the heart of the transaction.

Demonetisation was a landmark move to propel India on the digital payments journey. It helped Indian consumers and merchants experience the convenience of transacting digitally. This has also lead to newer players- Indian and global enter the market and leverage the opportunity.

”As the adoption of digital payments increase, there is a greater need to ensure risk and security is not compromised. The ‘bad guys’ are forever looking at ways to breach the system. Moving money from Point A to Point B is easy, its managing the risk behind this movement which is a game changer. At PayPal, managing risk is at the heart of everything we do and also understand that managing risk will help unlock value in the sector,” said Parameshwaran.

Is A Cashless Society Possible In India?

Despite the boom in digital payments, a major percentage of transactions in India are still carried out using cash. Therefore, is forming of a cashless society possible? According to Parameshwaran, it will be mixed. He said that India will continue to use cash but at the same time we will also have a very fast and large contribution by digital payments.

“The infrastructure that has been laid down provides an absolutely great foundation for us to lift off from where we are today to the next orbit in terms of digital payments. Though it is still 10-12% of the overall pie but it’s still growing pretty fast, at the same time I think we should also be realistic that not many large economies around the world have been able to make truly cashless societies and that’s why I must compliment the government and the regulators because they seem to have a realistic vision when they say less cash society,” he said.

Besides this, with the positive steps such as RBI setting up committees to promote adoption of digital payments and increasing awareness about digital transactions; along with the internet adoption even in tier 2 cities and rural areas, the country is soon expected to become a less cash society.

Parameshwaran emphasised, “The road towards a cashless economy will be a combination of a revolution and an evolution.” According to him, the evolution would be a behavioural change which will occur slowly, while, the revolution will be on the technology side — as more and more startups keep coming in.

The fact that now there is better connectivity, with the Digital India programme seeping into villages/towns of India — even the remotest corners will embrace the adoption of digital payments. There will be a stage where people will have a reasonable and predictable bandwidth available both on the mobile and hopefully on the cable network or even broadband. “This will drive the next wave of penetration,” he added.

He signed off with an air of optimism saying, “The digital payments opportunity in India is very exciting for PayPal and we are looking forward towards partnering with the Government to realise their vision of Digital India.

The post PayPal’s Nath Parameshwaran On Enabling SME’s And Freelancer’s Leverage The Digital Payments Evolution appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Ahmedabad-based agritech startup MyCrop is currently testing blockchain in the seed supply chain to track its entire supply movement — from seed aggregators, distributors, retailers to farmers. The move to implement blockchain is aimed at bringing transparency, authenticity and stop spurious and low-quality seeds from entering the market.

So far, the agriculture industry lacks a proper mechanism that can validate and track the distribution of good seeds, claims MyCrop’s founder Deepak Pareek. So much so that farmers don’t get much information about the origin of the seeds they would be sowing.

In the last harvest season alone, poor quality seeds hampered the productivity of at least 10% of overall cotton crop production in India, to name a few. Similar examples are cited for vegetable seeds, too.

It can be mentioned here that the government has set protocols for seed development. It has certified foundations which cultivates varieties of seeds under a controlled environment, keeping in view the physical and physiological parameters, before it is sent to the seed aggregators.

Pareek argues that the process in the seed supply chain is itself not transparent with substantial human errors reducing its accountability.

Generally, genuine seed producing companies apply QR Code on their seed bags, helpful in tracking its distribution from the point of aggregators and distributors until it reaches the retailers. But, by the time the seed reaches to the farmers, many unsought practices happen in between the current supply chain. Pareek cited an example, saying:

“For instance, a retailer may be distributing seeds from the same packet to five different farmers. While doing so, the retailer may not be preserving the seed the right way. In this case, there is a huge possibility that the quality of the seed in that bag is already deteriorated,” he said.

So the startup has used blockchain here to track every movement of the seeds in the supply chain. The project’s pilot is currently being implemented in one of the rural villages of Gujarat. Pareek hopes to collect a sizeable ‘sample’ from this pilot by another two-quarters of this year, before making it is commercially viable.

“Then we will take it to large players willing to apply blockchain-driven technology in their supply chain,” Pareek said.

How MyCrop Is Using Blockchain As Seed Tracking Mechanism

The startup has currently on-boarded local seed growers, distributors, retailers and farmers as stakeholders in the project’s seed supply chain. Giving more insight about the project, Pareek said, firstly, that GPS tracking of the land is done and the information is put in a distributed ledger as a ‘First Block’.

“Let’s say, it’s five hectares of land with an X variety of seeds being cultivated on A date and B is the farmer. In this chain, the quality of seeds are also checked, adding pesticides, etc., and photographs are taken to authenticate whether it’s good or bad seeds. In every process, the name of the person would be mentioned who would be evaluating the quality of seeds, whether it’s good or bad,” he said.

Once the process of filtering spurious seeds is complete, the distributor creates another block in this chain upon receiving the seeds and the QR Code is applied atop the package as tracking method until it reaches the retailers. Besides the QR Code mode of tracking, the distributor also puts a unique verification code inside the package for the farmers to send it via SMS or verify it through the startup’s in-house app — which marks the process as complete.

Inc42 has earlier reported on how MyCrop is using artificial intelligence (AI) to predict and analyse the farming output. The same article also discusses how the startup’s ‘Famer Mitras’ help educate farmers to adopt technology in farming.

“We have used blockchain atop our existing app. Using the decentralised ledger, there is no chance of human mischief because the blockchain will have all the records, and if those particular seeds were incorrectly evaluated a person evaluating would be held accountable,” Pareek said.

The post How MyCrop Is Using Blockchain To Identify Spurious Seeds appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The online gaming market in India which stood at $290 Mn in 2017, is expected to grow to $1 Bn by 2021. The sector has undergone a tremendous revolution in the last few years.

The internet revolution brought in by Reliance Jio, the rise of internet and smartphone penetration even in rural areas, as well as the growth of online gaming players like Nazara Technologies, Dream11, 99Games, Octro, and Games2Win; have proven to be the key driving factors for the ongoing revolution within this segment.

Of late, a new class of startups have seen a rise in this segment. Known as Real Money Games (RMG), these online gaming platforms are hosting games like rummy, poker, daily fantasy sports, trivia quizzing; and are offering cash prizes as a gratification. Loco by PocketAces, MPL and BrainBaazi are a few popular names here.

However, looking at the billion dollar opportunity, online gaming pie is still far from saturation. New Delhi-based entrepreneur trio, Hardeep Singh Mehta, Ashish Solanki and Harsha Sachdeva, who believe in doing things differently from their peers, are keen on taking a bite of this pie with their online gaming platform, Funnearn.

“Earning money online has always been the most coveted dream of each individual who goes online. But maximum platforms are either facilitating a scam or involve pure gambling subjected to nothing but luck. On the other hand, fantasy games or games like poker and rummy require a certain level of skill along with possessing knowledge of how these games are played. A few more popular knowledge driven games could be cricket, soccer, etc. or even cards for that matter. We have a completely different USP here,” said Sachdeva.

At Funnearn, the users can make money in the range of 2x-5x by playing simple games involving basic cognitive ability. Available on Android and iOS, the app, currently has more than 132K mobile downloads since its launch in 2018.

Unlike other skill-based games, the key differentiator of Funnearn is that it enables users to play a game and make money at a convenient time. Whereas, in other games, the users have to wait for the dedicated live streaming sessions to participate. Moreover, Funnearn allows the user to play one on one with the opponent rather than playing against a pool of competitors.

“Experts say that people find digital gaming as a gainful medium for entertainment, an alternative for recreation, an alternate means to connect with like-minded people, a stress buster and a competitive platform with a presence of other players,” said Sachdeva.

Mehta added, “We use Paytm Gratification service for instant transfer to user’s wallet. The user can also request for a bank transfer, but it typically takes 3-5 business days.”

The Rise Of Skill-Based Digital Or Online Gaming

Due to the increase in awareness amongst the masses about the negative aspects of games subjected to luck, numerous laws started to shape up, acting as a firewall to the world of gaming. Even factors like higher literacy level, awareness about societal ethics and the rapid internet-urbanisation; have majorly impacted the gaming industry.

As the government started imposing laws on gambling and luck-based games, the country witnessed a major shift from offline luck-dependent games to simple, transparent & ethical skill-based digital games such as poker games, fantasy sports and rummy games.

Games such as poker, rummy, cricket and football require a set of skills and acquired knowledge to participate. This is where games such as Funnearn, Brain Baazi, and Quizup gain an edge, since they allow a user to win real-money by applying basic cognitive skills.

Is This Legal In India?

The Central Lotteries Act of 1998 governs lotteries and gives some selected state governments the authority to organise such games only once a week. However, startups like Funnearn do not fall under the boundaries of this law as the games offered on the platform are skill-based and not luck-based.

The users below 18 years of age and users belonging to the states of Assam, Odisha and Telangana, are not eligible to participate in any of the games provided by the platform, in line with the Indian Constitution, which has granted individual state governments to reform laws for gaming as per their requirements.

To further maintain transparency among the users, the startup follows a mandatory KYC process which includes registering a user’s address proof and a digital copy of their Aadhaar card.

Overcoming The Hurdles And Bringing In More Gamers

Irrespective of the sector, the challenges for any entrepreneur are always plenty. Similarly, Sachdeva of Funnearn, an IT professional turned entrepreneur, said, “We faced two challenges primarily. From a user’s perspective, it was ‘Trust’.”

She further added that since India is well known for its scams ranging from small scale to large scale, Funnearn as a platform which involves cash, building the trust factor was a vital criterion. From a business point of view, sorting out legality and taxation was the other major challenge for Funnearn, added Mehta.

Since there is no problem which does not have a solution, the trio found a way to build the pillars of trust among users. But how?

“We make sure any issue(s) faced by our users are solved with priority via proper email communication,” said Solanki. Furthermore, to make the process even more transparent, the startup has recently come up with a leaderboard section in the app that shows the list of top players and the amount they have won till date.

For most users, the privacy of their data is a major concern. And to address that, Funnearn uses a high-level encryption system and hosts its application on one of the most trusted and renowned web hosting platforms – Amazon Web Services. Apparently, they are winning the trust of lakhs of users and are soon introducing new features and more games.

At present, the startup claims to have a 40% M-O-M growth in the number of users, with major traction coming from Tier 2 cluster comprising of UP, Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Bihar, MP, and Punjab.

How Does The Future Of Digital Gaming Look Like?

India, being one of the fastest growing economies in the world, is rapidly pacing towards urbanisation and more aggressively towards internet-urbanisation. As per an analysis by Inc42 DataLabs, based on TRAI reports, internet penetration in India has increased at a rate of 108.8% in the urban area at 15.86 CAGR and at 110.5% in rural India at a 16.05 CAGR from 2014 to 2018.

At the same time, India is witnessing a massive change in the lifestyle of people, which involves an increase in disposable income, sedentary lifestyle; along with massive internet penetration. As cited by Deloitte, “The Indian approach has shifted from need-based choices to more aspirational consumption patterns and such spending is anticipated to more than double by 2025.”

Even factors like increased literacy level, awareness about social ethics and an overall rise in the number of educated people; along with internet-urbanisation are majorly impacting the gaming industry. With lottery-games having a lot of restrictions and sedentary lifestyle stopping people from going on the fields, the Indian startup’s ‘jugaad’ of offering skill-based earning from the online games has consistently proven to be a massive opportunity in the long run.

As access to technology and innovation becomes easier and as consumer patterns change with time, the skill-based gaming industry in India is expected to see major growth. And experts in the industry state that with improved regulation, transparency, and acts for consumer protection; the digital gaming sector can be a major contributor to the welfare of the country in terms of employment and taxation reforms.

To conclude, the founders of Funnearn said, “Online mobile gaming will see a boom incoming years. It is projected to rise enormously across the globe, till 2021.”

With such high level of optimism and more people willing to embrace online gaming, the sector is definitely going to see some significant skill-play!

The post With 40% M-O-M Growth Rate, How Funnearn Is Redefining Skill-Based Gaming In India appeared first on Inc42 Media.

“So, what next?” It’s a question that students of classes X and XII preparing for their boards, prospective college-goers, and young professionals looking for a career change are faced with often. The answer, though, is not easy to arrive at.

While there is always advice at hand from older siblings, distant relatives, and family friends, it is usually based on their own professional choices and seldom aligns with the interest and aptitude of the individual in question.

There are also umpteen psychometric tests designed to help students and professionals decide on the right career path and cloud-based Learning Management Systems (LMS) and online content creators adding to their knowledge and skills. But they usually don’t take into account the motivations and end goals of the individual.

This is where Bengaluru-based Navigus, which calls itself a career navigation system, steps in. With automation built on labyrinths of data and self-learning models that train, monitor engagement and course correct the user, Navigus helps its users continuously through the forever changing landscape of academics and professions. It aims to maximize the probability of success and return on investments of its users. It focuses on integrating learning with a mentoring platform for students and young professionals alike by bringing data science and human mentoring under the same roof.

The four-year-old startup — founded by Shivansh Tyagi — although bootstrapped, has already booked sales of $1.8 Mn to date. The number sheds light on how effective the startup has been in helping students and professionals in terms of learning, training and helping them make career choices with uses ranging from choosing fields without any prior knowledge to upskilling into seasoned executive roles.

Connecting Data, Aptitude, And Interests To Enable The Right Career Choice

Unlike most other mentoring apps and platforms, Navigus helps students and young professionals navigate through the tumultuous waters of admissions, interviews, career decisions, upskilling/reskilling, etc, through continuous mentoring by experts from various industries.

Navigus’ data science enabled platform provides detailed tasks and milestones to the users on an ongoing basis, while they receive personal one-on-one mentoring from industry experts from related fields of work and study.

Mentors are professionals who voluntarily register with Navigus and its solutions. Navigus does not pay them for being a mentor onboard with them. These experts apprise users about the ground realities of different fields of study and professions, thereby helping students and their families make informed decisions suited to their aptitude, attitude, and career goals.

Auriga, the Navigus mentoring platform, offer sessions with mentors who are handpicked and domain experts in their respective fields.

Here’s how it works:

• Auriga refines the user’s questions to remove any leading biases.
• The mentors are instructed to only state facts and figures, rather than personal opinions.
• These sessions are used to derive insights through pattern recognition.

Navigus’ other product Orion (private beta) — provides a personalised, tailor-fitted career roadmap. Here’s how:

• Orion adapts the mentoring and training paths according to the personal choices of the user instead of trying to fit every user into a pre-defined bucket.
• Orion crafts a perfect match between the user’s will, skills, and motivations and millions of career fields data points built by field experts and perennial data gathering systems.

Tyagi explains that providing a solution is not where it ends. In India, parents are the primary sponsors for education and bringing them on the same page as their users (students and young people) when an unconventional career is recommended is mission critical.

Navigus, through its data analysis and return-on-investment projections, lays down a very logical and rational picture to convince all the stakeholders. “More often than not, we have seen parents themselves advocating something that will give their child an enormous early starters advantage,’’ says Tyagi.

Personalised Learning And Mentoring: The Need Of The Hour

Tyagi reminisces about the time he was a student. During an orientation lecture at the college he attended, a simple question by the faculty advisor had the students stumped: “Why did you choose engineering and why this particular branch?”

Out of 120 students thronging the lecture hall, only two had thought through their choices before appearing for the entrance exams. This confusion among fresh graduates about career direction and the mismatch of will, skill and motivation has only increased over the years, he says. “This did not make any sense to me, given the presence of psychometric testing, advanced data analysis technology, and the ubiquitousness of the internet. This led to the inception of the idea of Navigus,’’ says Tyagi.

The Indian edtech industry is currently valued at an impressive $100 Bn and India is the third-largest country leading the edtech revolution, just after US and China. Entrepreneurs and investors have realised the potential of the market and have unleashed their tech prowess in the forms of LMS, online mentoring, on-demand videos and classes, and a variety of psychometric tests.

However, the Indian education sector is still struggling with problems such as skill gap, lack of quality education, expensive yet ineffective counselling, distance barriers, resistance to change, and more. And edtech startups seem unable to fill these gaps and provide focused career alignment, much needed in our growing economy.

Navigus identified this gaping hole in the edtech industry and wanted to create a platform that would treat each user as a unique individual and provide them with necessary guidance through interactive sessions based on an exhaustive profile of the user, constituting of attributes and weights.

When students and professionals came to Navigus and shared their problems in detail, the founders understood that the problem was much deeper than they had thought and required not only information but personalised guidance, monitoring, and course correction over time, based on the information at hand. A career navigation system of sorts.

“The Navigus platform empowers users with end-to-end personalised discovery and evaluation through interactive sessions, tracks the engagement and milestone progress of the user and helps the user course correct themselves over and over again,’’ says Tyagi.

Considering that the user data collected by the platform is personal in nature, the startup takes data security and privacy very seriously. “All the user data is anonymised and encrypted and is used only for internal computational model training,’’ says Tyagi, adding that most of the sensitive communication goes through multi-factor authentication.

Navigating Students Towards A Promising Future

One of the biggest challenges for Navigus has been to define and contain the problem statement and scope of its products. The problems experienced by users are so varied and dynamic that selecting what to solve first is difficult. The problem of will, skill, and motivation mismatch that Navigus is trying to solve also affects the startup itself.

Despite these challenges, it is not only revolutionising mentoring and career paths in India, but globally, as well, registering a MoM growth of 10% and a YoY growth of 24% at present. And it has a huge market to explore, with the Indian online education industry set to grow to $2 Bn and the number of paid users expected to increase to 9.6 Mn by 2021.

So, while the stage is set, how long will it take for edtech players to realise the opportunity the market presents?

In a country like India, with its vastly different socio-economic and cultural backgrounds, a one-stop-shop solution isn’t the best way to improve education and career paths. Personalised career pathing for students and professionals, where they can move away from traditional learning processes and pursue a career that matches their aspirations and objectives is the answer.

While changes in perception can’t match the speed of technological change, Indian parents, students, and young professionals are slowly opening up to using edtech to enhance their career paths. This augurs well for the edtech industry, and also holds out the hope that edtech will script a new chapter to improve Indian education.

The post Navigus Is Using Data Science To Help Students And Professionals Navigate Their Careers appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Periods.

The conversation around it has never created as much buzz in India as in the past one year. From making sanitary pads tax free, the Sabarimala verdict (which allowed women of menstruating age to enter the temple), launch of government’s low cost biodegradable sanitary napkins, to the release of Akshay Kumar movie PadMan — sanitary pads are no longer a taboo topic in daily conversation.

Riding on this new found openness about menstrual hygiene is LightBox Venture Fund-backed Nua — a new age female-focussed startup (femtech) which believes in building a community, gain an audience and learn from feedback.

At face value, Nua’s sanitary pads are not the most unique offering in the market as compared to other biodegradable sanitary pads startups such as Carmesi, Heyday and Saathi. Most online brands also offer customisable and subscription services similar to Nua. Also price-wise Nua’s pads are not the most expensive but nor are they the cheapest.

As the Indian sanitary napkin market has been dominated by international brands such as Procter & Gamble’s Whisper and Johnson & Johnson’s Stayfree for many years, the Mumbai-based startup is not looking to compete with the big brands which have a exponentially stronger retail presence.

In the age of social media and community building, Nua has been able to build a safe space for women to openly express their concerns around reproductive and sexual wellness. Perhaps, this is one of the main reasons why Mumbai-based Lightbox Ventures invested $4 Mn into Nua. The deal also marks the first investment made by the venture capital firm from its third fund of $200 Mn which was expected to close by the end of 2018.

Prashant Mehta, partner at LightBox Ventures told Inc42, “We wanted to invest in a company that is based on delivering an amazing experience and not just a product. And I think what Nua has really captured is creating a leading brand in women wellness by providing a kickass experience.”

Nua plans to invest this new fund in making clever use of technology, hiring best talent and expansion of the product line.

Conversations Over Advertising

With the rise of social media, community-building has became an essential part of connecting with potential customers online. But in the market of women’s wellness and hygiene products traditional marketing has had more misses than hits when it comes to addressing concerns over menstruation.

And this is where NUA shines through.

This Mumbai-based startup cofounded by Ravi Ramachandran and Swathi Kulkarni in 2017 offers a customisable pack of 12 sanitary napkins with doorstep delivery. The consumer gets the flexibility to customise the number of heavy (320mm), medium (280mm) and light flow (240mm) pads in the pack. The company also offers women a subscription pack with the starting price of INR 169, coupled with period synced home delivery of the pack every month.

Currently, Nua has a following of 25.5K on Instagram and 29.3K Facebook page likes. NUA’s cofounder Ravi Ramachandran claimed that the Nua’s Instagram engagement is more than many influencer’s handle.

Nua has initiated social media series such as #PeriodStories where women had shared stories about their first period experiences to premenstrual syndrome (PMS).

“You will be amazed by how many women write to us. Saying we are going through period rashes, can you help me? What we do is, we try to respond to these queries by connecting them with experts in our network. For example (cofounder) Swati Kulkarni’s father is a gynaecologist and we conducted a question and answer session with him.” The company has also hosted Facebook live sessions with Cloudnine Hospital’s gynaecologist to answer the huge inflow of questions.  

“Community building is not a one way road, it has to be two way conversation.” Ravi Ramachandran said.

The Currency Of Trust

“The single biggest reason why a person buys a wellness product or brand is trust. Trust is what underpins this sector specifically, thus our constant endeavour is to build trust in our customers. This is why the holistic experience helps, the more we do for them, the more their trust builds. I think online is the best place to do it, at least the best place to start with,” Ravi said.

A clear metric of their success is the fact that while being distinctly urban in their branding, more than 50% of NUA’s customers are from Tier 2 cities. Which shows that the company clearly understands that the basic human needs for being understood and having a sense of belonging, transcend market demographics.

Commenting on the product adoption in mid-tier cities, Nua’s cofounder Swati said, “The big gap in Tier 2 cities is even access to some of these things. When we talk to our consumers there, small things like home delivery is a big value addition, because they don’t have to go out to buy or ask their elders to get it from them.”

From a product point of view, Tier 2 consumers see a great value in the product and with the increased internet penetration, a lot of people have come up and engaged with the content too. From the content point, the big gap is women don’t have access to expert opinions. Girls from very small towns have used Nua’s social media platforms to ask questions about hormonal issues or simply voicing their period experiences, Swati added.

Talking of the company’s direct to consumer model, Ravi said, “If you do not have a direct to consumer model, you will lose out in today’s world. Post the emergence of Jio, India’s internet consumption has gone off the charts. There has been significant innovations in ecommerce, and financial payments. This is a channel where every brand in the country should invest. Not to say, offline channel is dead, it will stay. But fortunately or unfortunately online is where the world is headed.”

Today, menstrual hygiene is no longer an afterthought. According to IMARC Group, “Indian Sanitary Napkin Market: Industry Trends, Share, Size, Growth, Opportunity and Forecast 2019-2024”, the Indian sanitary napkin market reached a value of $511.5 Mn in 2018. Further, the market is predicted to reach a value of $ 992.8 Mn by 2024, growing at a CAGR of more than 12% between 2019-2024.

Recently the femtech segment in India has seen the foray of multiple new age startups focusing on women’s sexual and reproductive health. Starting with Gurgaon-based startup Sirona which is offering innovative products like Pee Buddy which allows women to pee while standing. And, many menstrual cycle trackers like Maya and Clue. Stressing on the potential of femtech sector, a 2018 Frost & Sullivan study said that Femtech could become a $50 Bn global market by 2025.

The post LightBox Venture-Backed NUA Is Reshaping The Conversation Around Women Wellness appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Change is the only constant in life, and in the world of business. Like everything else, music — from how it’s composed to how it’s consumed has evolved dramatically over time.

In terms of music types — from folk and country music to hip-hop and electronic dance music (EDM), and in terms of output i.e. from gramophones in the late 1800s to CD players in the late 1900s to iPods in the early 2000s and finally to wireless digital playback systems today.

The current size of India’s music industry is $122.2 Mn (including both physical and digital music platforms), showcases the growing demand for not just production but also on how it will be consumed. For example, income from subscription-based audio streaming stood at a staggering $31.6 Mn in India in 2018, a three-fold growth from subscription-based revenue in 2017.

And to cater to these diversifying needs for music, global giants such as Apple, Sony, Bose, JBL, and Sennheiser offer a plethora of output devices ranging from wired headphones to wireless bluetooth speakers.

However, not every Indian can afford these high-end products. But on the flipside, their low-cost counterparts lack quality — both in terms of music output and shelf life. However, despite being a price-sensitive country, Indian users want a great experience at an affordable price.

This was the thought that led Aman Gupta, a music aficionado and a chartered account on a quest to find the right product for the right price. Soon after starting, Gupta, a former director of sales at speaker maker Harman International, met Sameer Mehta, a former executive director at Kores (India) Ltd, who shared his passion for music. The result — the inception of boAt, a consumer tech company offering bass-focused music accessories.

Launched in January 2016, the startup produces fashionable consumer electronics such as earphones, headphones, speakers, travel chargers, and premium cables for millennials — who are primary consumers of high-bass (a powerful, low-pitched and deep-toned musical sound) music. Interestingly, India has the largest youth population of 400 Mn as of 2017.

“boAt creates the kind of music experience millennials in India desire,’’ says Gupta.

Within two years into operations, boAt registered $15.4 Mn (INR 108 Cr) gross sales in FY18, which is almost a 300% hike since the last financial year.

At present, boAt sells roughly 6,000 units per day at an average of 4 units per minute.

boAt’s Fight For Acceptance

It hasn’t always been smooth sailing, though. Like any other startup, boAt has had its share of hurdles. Gupta says that the biggest challenge was winning the trust of people, especially in the presence of bigger and established brands in the music output space.

Back in 2016, the acceptance rate of boAt products by both consumers and retailers was low. But with time, things have changed. “People started using boAt products and building faith in us,” adds Gupta. This is one of the reasons that 30% of its customers fall under the repeat category.

In terms of distribution, boAt started out with selling its products on only popular ecommerce platforms such as Amazon and Flipkart, and has now adopted the offline mode as well by selling in third-party retail stores.

An Ocean Of Competition

The music accessory sector is crowded with a number of well-established brands, including renowned brands such as Sony and Sennheiser and Indian players such as Karbonn, iBall and Intex and MuVu. Then, there are the ‘easily available’ low-cost Chinese products that inundate the market, giving a wide range of choices to millennials.

So, how did boAt strike the right chord?

boAt sets itself apart in this crowded sea of players with its focus sharply set on millennials who want to experience high-bass music and for whom music accessories are more than just a piece of audio equipment.

While products of these global brands start at an average price of $15, boAt offers similar products in a price range of below $10. Whereas other locally manufactured products offer music accessories at as low as $1.43, but they lack quality and have a low shelf-life. On the other hand, boAt products are made up of tangle-free wires and with metallic finish, small touches which go a long way.

According to the company, the low-price devices, which come with value-added features have been important factors fuelling the growth for them. For instance, boAt Airdopes 211 True Wireless Earbuds are available at a price of $35.9 (INR 2,499) whereas products similar to it offered by big players such as Apple are priced at $184.24 (INR 12,900), Nokia at $142.81 (INR 9,999), and Sennheiser at $357.05 (INR 24,999).

Being a tech startup, boAt has always focussed on innovation. It recently came up with boAt Stone 700A — a waterproof and shockproof portable smart speaker with built-in Alexa, priced at around $49.97 (INR 3,499). Similar products from other brands start roughly around  $57.12 (INR 3,999). boAt even offers Apple-certified metallic lightning cables for iPhones and iPads which they claim are indestructible.

boAt products, which are manufactured in China on a contract basis, undergo a “six-people quality check” to ensure better-build quality. They are made of eco-friendly and non-hazardous materials.

“If the rating of any of our product goes below 3.5, we discontinue the product and look for better ways to improve our next product.” — Gupta

However, although India is a price-sensitive market, it is also value-driven. Gupta says, “If we reduce our product prices further, we will get a better market, but we are here to build a sustainable business.”

Tuning Into The Future

According to Inc42 DataLabs, with a total of 27 deals securing $111 Mn funding from 2018 to February 2019, the consumer technology sector looks promising. Industry reports state that the market of Indian appliances and consumer electronics (ACE) reached $31.48 Bn (INR 2.05 Tn) in 2017, making the country one of the largest electronics markets in the world. It further states that the market is expected to grow at 41% CAGR between 2017-20 and reach $400 Bn. Analysts also forecast that with the rising number of startups such as GenRobotics, SectorQube, boAt and Planys Technologies, the consumer technology sector is set to make a mark in the overall Indian startup industry.

Building a product for the younger generation makes sense, especially when it comes to music. “Millennials shop in a different manner, which is more logical. They conduct a wide research and know the difference between low-cost and quality yet affordable products,” adds Gupta.

Encashing on the opportunity, boAt has hit its benchmark of $15 Mn in gross sales in a short span of two years. Moving forward, the startup plans to come up with more fashion-oriented innovative products, home-audio devices and aims to reach its next milestone of more than $70 Mn in sales within the next five years.

boAt was a Gifting Partner At Inc42’s flagship conference — The Ecosystem Summit.

The post How boAt Is Striking A Chord With Millennials And Competing With The Likes Of Apple & Bose In India appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Coffee brings people together, but not often do people come together and end up changing how coffee is made and drank. That’s what Arman Sood and Ashwajeet Singh did, even if their idea of building a venture came to fruition, many years after they first met.

Sood and Singh, cofounders of Sleepy Owl, met in law school and knew even back then that someday they wanted to build their own venture. Their sweet dream became a mini-ecommerce venture on campus called ‘eShack’ making it the first online store for beverages and party accessories. Soon after graduation, though, the duo went their separate ways; while Sood joined an edtech startup, Singh joined an apparel company.

To their credit, they never gave up on starting something on their own. And in 2016, Sood and Singh along with Ajai Thandi, the latter’s childhood friend, founded Sleepy Owl.
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The ‘Brew’ At Sleepy Owl

Sleepy Owl packages cold brew coffees, which are extracted by steeping ground coffee beans in cold water. The entire process takes about 18-24 hours and the final result is a ready-to-drink brew, straight-up, with milk or hot. This process helps cut down the acidic content and bitterness of the coffee.

”Each batch of Sleepy Owl cold brew coffee is made using the highest quality beans sourced from Chikmagulur, Karnataka and medium-roasted to extract all the chocolatey, nutty flavours. Each batch is then cold-brewed for 18-24 hours which gives it a naturally sweet, smooth, non-acidic flavor which is then delivered fresh,’’ says Singh.

Since cold-brewing quality coffee is complicated and tedious for consumers, Sleepy Owl came up with a Brew Boxes and Brew Packs and Brew Bottles, targeting the cold brew market. Sleepy Owl manufactures its Brew Boxes and Brew Packs in Shahpur Jat in New Delhi and its ready-to-drink coffee is manufactured in Ghaziabad. The Brew Box is a cardboard box which contains brewed coffee. Each box contains 10 cups of coffee which stay fresh for a month. Currently the startups is selling a pack of 3 boxes at $23.75 (INR 1,650) where each box is delivered in a gap of 7 days. These are available online and for retail in Delhi-NCR.

The Brew Packs on the other hand contain balanced and ground coffee, packed in a filter bag, which can be dropped in 500 ml of water and left overnight. A pack of 5 is priced at $7 (INR 500). The Brew Packs are available online on the Sleepy Owl website pan india and in retail outlets in Delhi-NCR and Mumbai.

‘’We believe the genesis of Sleepy Owl took place at a very fertile time when the Indian coffeescape was undergoing its third wave. We timed it with the growth in popularity of cold brew in the West and were confident it was a direction we could bring and establish in the Indian market,’’ says Thandi.

Satiating The Indian Demand For Cold Brew

The founders started brewing their cold brew concoction in a two-bedroom apartment in Dwarka. It took about six months of experimenting with different beans, and processes to get the right concoction, which they took to retailers. This became the biggest challenge for Sleepy Owl, as retailers were skeptical to shelve these new brews. The team then decided to go online to promote its products, and built on ecommerce and social media marketing to take its cold brew to market.

The second challenge Sleepy Owl faced was that the cold brew product in its first iteration, was a 1.5 litre package, making it difficult to ship owing to the high net weight. The company had to go back and figure out other packaging options for the products that could be distributed more easily cater to a wider audience.

Beating tall odds, Sleepy Owl soon saw brighter days and is today backed by DSG Consumer Partners with a seed round of $500K and is present in 120 retail outlets across Delhi-NCR and in 75 stores in Mumbai, besides the online sales presence.

Competitive Landscape For The Oxymoron That Is Sleepy Owl

While Cold Brew as a beverage category is still very niche in India, gourmet coffee has been a more familiar presence in the market. The success of gourmet coffee brands has created a shift in the coffee consumption pattern in India from regular coffees to speciality coffees.

Clearly, the gourmet coffee market has plenty of takers, and Sleepy Owl is just one of the companies gunning to fill those mugs with a razor-sharp focus on cold brews and with competitive pricing.

The Ready-To-Drink (RTD) market according to an industry report, from 2012 to 2017, has observed a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38.85% with sales value of $14.1 Mn in 2017, an increase of 14.96% over 2016. The reasons for this range from the convenience of having a drink in a pack/bottle, to the changing lifestyles that demand easy-to-consume and healthier food & beverages. Add to that is the growing exposure to high quality beverages among urban consumers and a startup such as Sleepy Owl that understands the changing landscape. Sounds like a recipe for success.

”Over the last 3 years, we are proud to say Sleepy Owl has been successful in crafting a narrative on Cold Brew Coffee in urban India,’’ Singh says to sign off.

Sleepy Owl was a gifting partner at The Ecosystem Summit.

The post Can Sleepy Owl Warm India Up To The Cold Brew Revolution? appeared first on Inc42 Media.

For the past few years, India has been battling with higher air pollution, and there’s increased pressure from the global community on India’s increasing population to cut down reliance on fossil fuels. The switch to renewable energy is happening, but at the same time, high pollution rates mean Gurugram is the most polluted city and Delhi the most polluted capital in the world. A major contributor to this growing pollution is vehicular emissions, especially as millions of Indians start using the convenience of online shopping and deliveries.

As internet penetration continues to grow in India, the ecommerce sector has recorded a massive boom, and in order to support this growth, the logistics sector plays a key role to make sure deliveries reach customers on time. However, that has also led to more and more vehicles plying the road, which contributes greatly in increasing emissions. Besides emissions, these traditional petrol or diesel vehicles also eat into non-renewable sources and that’s certainly not feasible in the long run.

To sustain growth in an eco-friendly manner, Indian companies have to adopt electric vehicles for business and public use-cases. While India is aiming to achieve deeper penetration of electric vehicles by 2030, one of the major roadblocks is the lack of a robust charging infrastructure, which adds to “range anxiety” among business customers.

That’s what DOT founder Vineet J Mehra wanted to change. DOT provides first and last mile logistics solution only through a fleet of electric vehicles. Mehra said one of the ways he overcame the fears a typical e-vehicle business might have by thinking about doing “what is right”.

“We really wanted to create a sustainable company for the future, that really cares about the environment, considering the responsibilities and limitations of a company entering into the logistics space,” said Mehra.

Believing In Doing “What Is Right”

Mehra told us DOT or ‘Go With DOT’ was founded to provide eco-friendly and sustainable solutions for the logistical needs of individuals and organizations. It offers first and last mile delivery services using its fleet of e-cargo vans and electric bikes.

The startup currently caters to the ecommerce, food and merchandise segments. It counts companies such as Walmart, Aramex, Amazon, Grofers, Blue Dart, DHL, Lenskart, Swiggy, Faasos, Nature’s Basket, McDonald’s as its client partners. DOT has operations in over 22 cities including Delhi-NCR, Mumbai, Chennai, Pune, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Raipur, Jhansi, Meerut, Haridwar and Bengaluru.

Using a proprietary mobile platform to connect riders and clients, DOT offers seamless connectivity for clients to order rides or pick-ups at any given time in the day. The company operates on a paid per kilometre model where the price per kilometre has been fixed for the vehicles.

While speaking with Inc42, Mehra explained that one of the reasons that led him to launch his startup was believing in doing the right thing. His vision was to build a sustainable logistic solution, which is extremely crucial as shopping and commerce move online.

Electric Vehicles Growth Hampered By Policy?

India is at a nascent state in the electric vehicle segment due to lower rates of electric production in the country due to less availability of electric vehicle parts, motors, and lithium-ion batteries. The central government is looking to push the demand by focusing on using EV for public and commercial transportation purposes.

Mehra added that the fleet which mainly consists of two and three wheelers operate for almost 18-20 hours per day, which is commendable given that businesses often complain about how electric vehicles are not feasible for scaled-up operations. To deal with charging infrastructure issues, Mehra explained that chargers have been installed by both DOT and its clients for the fleet. Further, the vehicles are also equipped with spare batteries which can be swapped once the existing one loses charge.

Mehra also explained that the DOT fleet could also avail the scheme under FAME II as the vehicles have a  range of over 75 km which meets the specification requirements under the scheme.

The adaptation of electric vehicles is the need of the hour. While DOT may have taken the first step to operate the largest last mile electric vehicle delivery fleet, other companies are also looking to enter into the segment in order to protect the environment.

One such player is Bengaluru-based logistics company Shadowfax. In April 2018, the AI-based logistics service provider had announced its plans to use electric light commercial vehicles (LCV) for last mile deliveries.

Apart from logistics, commercial fleet operators such as Ola is also looking to offer electric vehicle services. This will ensure that more number of EVs are present on the roads.

Expanding Beyond India

In terms of plans for expansion, Mehra told us DOT first wants to have a presence in over 17 states in India, and is working towards introducing electric buses in the metros. Internationally, the startup is planning to expand to Southeast Asia and Canada by 2019 and China by the end of 2020.

Apart from logistics, the company is also looking to offer data-based services to other automobile companies to help them foray into the segment. According to Mehra,  DOT Global has tied up with Nanyang Technological University (NTU) Singapore for developing charging and battery technologies.  

Mehra also said that DOT is yet to raise funding from external investors. Currently, all the investments had been made internally through stakeholders. However, it revealed his plans to raise funding in the second half of this year.

Some interesting statistics about the company:

1. DOT is growing at over 50% Y-o-Y
2. Currently consists of 500 two wheelers in its fleet
3. Operates 125 electric cargo vans
4. Presently delivering  about 7-9 Mn orders a year

What Does India Need For Success Of EV Ecosystem?

In order to boost the electric mobility in India, the central government launched the second phase of FAME scheme (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles) to incentivise the production of electric vehicles in March.

In its policy, the government has proposed to invest INR 10K  Cr ($1.4 Bn) over three years to support 10 Lakh two-wheelers, 5 Lakh three-wheelers, 55K four-wheelers, and 7K buses that operate on lithium-ion batteries or other electric power-trains.

However, the electric vehicle industry has pointed out several loopholes in the policy. One of the major one being the mandate of having 50% of localisation. Mehra too explained that while the localisation aspect is needed to encourage local production of electric vehicles, the problem lies in the timeline. According to him in the policy’s current state, it is not possible for any manufacturer to comply with the localisation ruling as there is a lack of electric vehicle components production in India.

“It (FAME II) is a good policy and there is a big push from the government to Indianise and make things local which I completely support as it reduces cost and makes things easy to create an ecosystem. But I think, you cannot release a policy on March 29th and implement it from April 1st for localisation as it is a bit difficult because we are truly aware of the motor power trained battery technologies are nascent in India,” said Mehra.

Recently, the Society Of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicle (SMEV) also wrote to NITI Aayog saying that the localisation process involves safety tests, checking, vehicle testing will take at least 1-1.5 years. Thus it is too early to link incentives with localisation norms.

Mehra believes that Indian electric vehicle companies need more of a financial push from the authorities. He also added that banks need to step up and invest in electric vehicle companies.

Apart from FAME II Mehra also said that each and every state needs to have an electric vehicle policy of its own as different states have different requirements. The most polluted cities need more focus on EV adaptation. He added that secondary cities can meanwhile work on lower cost vehicles to incentivise people into buying EVs.

“Every state should come out with their policy (EV) which they are working on so that it becomes more centric, today Delhi and metros need it much more than secondary cities.”

The post Logistics Startup DOT Puts An Eco-Friendly Spin On Ecommerce Deliveries in India appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Most people might not even be aware of a Indian town called Rajamundri in Andhra Pradesh, but the small town could just have played a big role in changing one of the hottest marketing categories in the world right now — influencer marketing.

Here’s a little background on why India has a big part to play in the next big influencer marketing innovations. It is set to bring 500 Mn first time internet users to the world within the next decade, could become the world’s largest middle class consumer market by 2030, surpassing both China and the US, according to the World Bank. As much as this represents a high growth opportunity for consumer and social media companies, it also means there will be increased competition to grow aggressively, especially as markets outside India slow down.

It is no surprise then that India is seeing a huge surge in digital marketing spend with the digital advertising industry slated to grow at 32% CAGR to reach INR 18,986 Cr by 2020.  

One significant trend to sprout from this growth spurt in digital advertising is influencer marketing across online and offline platforms. Influencer marketing essentially involves public or non-public figures who have a significant following on social media, especially from the brand’s core target audience.

An influencer is someone who has the power to influence the perception of others or gets them to do something different – Forbes

But influencer marketing has its limitations especially when it comes to campaign’s reach, lack of analytics and tools to effectively measure the return on investment for the influencer campaign, as well as the relatively expensive upfront cost of identifying various influencers.

Creating A Wave Of Influencers

That’s where Brandie, an app created by engineering graduates Douglas Andersson and Pranav Kosuri from Sweden, could play a key role. Brandie is looking to address the influencer problem and has selected India as a platform to launch the “nano influencer” service.

The duo met in 2014-2015 when Andersson was studying engineering in China and had a chance meeting with Kosuri, a fellow Sweden-native, student in Beijing at the time. This set in motion a friendship and an entrepreneurial journey that would lead to conceptualisation of Brandie.

Brandie claims to be the world’s first social media loyalty platform that rewards average users for posting brand related content on social media.

Users can download the Brandie app, available on the Google Play Store and apply for brands they want to promote. The users have to give a brief descriptor as to why they want to promote a particular brand after which their responses are reviewed and they are either shortlisted or rejected for the brand engagement. Once an influencer  gets access, they can share pictures and social content promoting the brand on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr and Twitter which are already linked in the Brandie app.

“The core answer here is that of transparency. One question that always arises when viewing a post by an influencer is if the post is actually their opinion or if a brand has written it for them. We think influencer marketing is great and we are an extension of that,” said Andersson.

Users don’t get monetary rewards and users are rewarded by incentives that could be invitation to brand events, discount on brand products, etc. According to Andersson, people who share these posts are actually consumers of the brand and that the posts in smaller networks will be more concentrated and have more of an authentic impact.

The biggest influence comes from our near and dear ones — Andersson

Brandie’s Rajamundri Experiment

For brands, the question is — wouldn’t it be simpler to manage few influencers who have a large following instead? To prove that that’s not the case, Brandie chose Rajamundri for its pilot.

Rajamundri is a hot and humid city in Andhra Pradesh. In late 2017, Andersson and Kosouri flew down from Sweden to the city to conduct their first beta testing of the app.

At first glance, Rajajmundri does not have any particular quality that makes it suitable for such tests. Since Kosuri’s family hails from the town, it had sentimental value too, but what helped is that it’s far removed from the hustle bustle of metros and larger cities which are usually the breeding ground of top influencers.

“In places like India and China people are especially proud of the brands they buy and which they like to show around. We saw this as a unique opportunity for us to explore how we can take this trend and apply it to influencer marketing,” said Andersson.

They chose India over China because of advantages like a much liberal internet regulation, lack of language barrier and the fact that both the countries represented great growth opportunities and thus they went ahead with India.

In Rajamundri Brandi worked with small merchants like cafe owners and other eateries for the beta test.

“When we checked the population of the city, it was around 450K people and we built a minimum viable product (MVP) so that users could unlock rewards by sharing photos and we decided to test the beta app on Android. Our target group consisted of those aged 18 years-36 years, who had Android phones and a Facebook account. We were mainly targeting the students,” said Andersson.

21 days later, Brandie users in Rajamundri had shared about 15,000 photos through the app, creating close to 3.1 Mn impressions. Brandie threw in simple rewards such as getting a free coke and Andersson claims that the partners saw a spike in sales.

“We sometimes saw a group of 20-30 people who would come at one time because they wanted the deal. It reminded me of PokemonGo. The traffic that we saw (especially when free cookies were part of the incentive) was so huge that our vendors could not handle it and we had to work on getting other scalable rewards,” Andersson added.

The Rajamundri pilot ran for a month after which Anderson flew back to Sweden to iterate further. At the same time they started to talk to larger brands in India. By the time the product was ready for a final release, they had already engaged premium brands that wanted to be part of the launch.

Fine Tuning Brandie

Brandie currently monetises by getting brands to subscribe for monthly plans. It intends to transition to an ROI-based model which would be based on the number of stories getting created, impressions and the impact, which is how digital advertising has worked traditionally.

“We only want to charge brands when see actual results. So the pricing will be based on the number of stories getting created and the impact,” said Andersson, adding that It Brandie also plans to introduce alternative revenue streams in the “near future” driven by lead generation and sales conversions. That’s where the company could face the same challenges that current marketing agencies face when working with influencers, such as content moderation.

To ensure there is no spamming, only users with Facebook accounts can register and need to link each social media platforms individually. Moderating content will be a challenge, acknowledges Anderson, especially in a country like India where spamming and abusive trolling are rampant online. He said Brandie is using a combination  of AI solutions and manual moderation of pictures and plans to automate this in the years to come.

In India, it has engaged more than 10 new-age and established brands such as Raw Pressery, Bengaluru FC, Club Mahindra and Godrej Nature’s Basket.

For the founders of Brandie, their belief in the platform is driven by the idea that this solution will be an alternative to the present influencer marketing process, and it’s banking on the rise in brand spending on influencer campaigns.

One vital step is to put in place tools for measuring the impact of campaigns, which is critical for brands and also for Brandie in order to convince mega brands to switch over to their model, instead of the traditional approach. And there’s a big chance that influencer marketing conventions will change this year.

According to Influencer marketing analytics company Buzzoka, more than two-thirds of marketers in India said they spent an average $50,000 on each influencer campaign per year, per brand. And while last year, most companies spent just 5% to 7% of their total marketing budget on influencers, 73% of the respondents said their budget allocation would rise in 2019.

According to Ashutosh Harbola, co founder of Buzzoka, “When you out the pic on FB, you typically get around 100 likes but relative to your following, your engagement rate is 20% and also add the fact that if the product is being endorsed by your mother,…that is some serious credibility.”

For that to be a reality, Brandie will need to particularly target Indian regional language content consumers and users, who are expected to collectively account for 75% of India’s digital user base by 2021, according to a report by Google and KPMG.

“If you go to Instagram today and look at the hashtag of any big brand, you will see millions of photos about the brands without incentives. We see that every voice on social media has value and even the smallest ambassadors should benefit,” said  Anderson.

The company will also need to garner enough users so that brands with drastically different target audiences can still utilise the platform. If it does get it right, it can offer brands a massive opportunity to customise their messaging more than ever before, engaging an army of influencers, instead of just a handful.

The post Shot of Brandie: Swedish Startup Aims To Disrupt Influencer Marketing With India Launch appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Handling around 4-5 Mn rides a day across the country, Ola and Uber have now become an essential part of Indian mobility space, particularly in major cities and metros. However, those figures are still insignificant compared to the trips completed in micro-mobility space which stands at 66% of the total trips. Therein lies a huge untapped opportunity.

In 2016, not only did Ola and Uber launch their bike taxi services in India, a host of other startups also entered the space. However, just the bifurcation of the cars market into ride-hailing/sharing companies such as Uber, and self-drive car rental service platforms such as Zoomcar, the two-wheeler ride servicing platforms are also split into models with platforms offering bike taxis (Rapido) and platforms offering on-demand rental services (VOGO).

As with many other startup sectors, Bengaluru remains the hub for two-wheeler ride servicing platforms as well. Around a dozen of startups — Rapido, Bounce (Metro Bikes), Fae Bikes, QuickRides, VOGO, Wheelstreet and Yulu — have mushroomed in the city, in the last couple of years. It’s not just Bengaluru alone — other apps such as Mobycy and Baxi are headquartered in Gurugram.

The micro-mobility space has its own set of challenges, such as poor road infrastructure, increasing carbon footprint, and policy-related hurdles. Recently, the Karnataka state government had asked Ola and Rapido to stop bike taxis’ operation due to the fact that the state has no policy for bike taxis and the government thus has termed bike taxis illegal.

Given this situation, a few startups such as Mobycy, Fae bikes and VOGO have managed to carve out a niche in the untapped bike-sharing and rental space.

Founded in 2016 by Anand Ayyadurai, Padmanabhan Balakrishnan, and Sanchit Mittal, Bengaluru-based VOGO, growing at 10X annually has been on a dream run since coming on to the scene. Interestingly, it started out with a fleet of cars and scooters, before pivoting to a scooter-only model. Currently, it’s looking to expand its fleet and increase the share of electric scooters in its roster.

Unlike the popular Goa-model where bikes are rented for days and months, VOGO provides on-demand dockless, scooter-rental services where charges are levied per kilometre and/or per minute. The company has also filed patents for its innovations, which make it a lot more customer-friendly. For instance, their app which earlier used OTP to authenticate bookings, now uses Bluetooth to unlock the parked scooters, which helps reduce friction for the customers.

Inc42 spoke to cofounder and CEO Ayyadurai to decode the mantra behind VOGO’s initial momentum.

Inc42: Tell us about the making of Vogo?

Anand Ayyadurai: After post-graduating from IIM Ahmedabad, I worked for AstraZeneca for two years and then with Flipkart in various leading capacities for almost three years and later joined Housing.com, as the associate vice president for few months.

At Flipkart, I got in touch with Paddy (Padmanabhan Balakrishnan) who also used to work at Flipkart and Zoomcar and at Housing.com, I met Sanchit. I am thus a common link between the two.

By 2015, with a desire to set up our own business, we were exploring different ideas. The idea was not only make something big but something physical. We wanted to build and operate physical products which are equally backed by technology. I, personally, at Flipkart loved the idea of delivering physical products to the customers.

In the ride-hailing, we saw a lot of friction and gaps at various points during the ride. And, therefore, the initial idea was to build a car and scooter-sharing platform. While cars were supposed to meet the inter-city requirements, scooters were to meet intracity requirements.

This is how we started.

Inc42: So, you started with cars and scooters, but now only focus on scooters; why did you drop car-sharing?

Anand Ayyadurai: There were numerous factors behind this. First, Indians use scooters far more than the other forms of transport. The number of scooter-trips in India is far more than the number of trips by autos and taxis combined.

Second, in most of the cities of India, it is the scooters which are not only economical but also cater to the Indian riders needs, considering the traffic and road infrastructure. A large segment of people can’t afford cars or taxis at all.

As we grew, we realised it is better to focus on one opportunity at a time.

Inc42: Many of the Indian states do not have the right policies for bike taxis. Recently, Ola and Rapido were banned from operating bike taxis in Bengaluru. Do such news bother you?   

Anand Ayyadurai: Bike taxis are operated under different permit mechanism. Our model is completely different from that of Ola. Our permit is similar to what Zoomcar has.

Inc42: Which cities are you operating in? What is the current fleet capacity?

Anand Ayyadurai: We are present in Bengaluru and Hyderabad. In Bengaluru, we have deep penetration in the areas of Marathahalli and HSR Layout. In terms of fleet, we have currently around 5K scooters with 60% of them in Bengaluru and rest in Hyderabad.

Out of the 5K, 200 scooters are electric which we have launched in HSR layout on a pilot basis. In Chennai also, we have introduced some electric scooters at some of the metro stations in order to provide last mile service.

Among the Tier 2 cities, we are keen to launch in Mysuru as well.

Inc42: Electric bikes have their own pros and cons. The high charging time and limited running time scales down their availability. What’s your take?

Anand Ayyadurai: We launched electric scooters in January. Yes, with electric scooters, there are other issues that we have to tackle. For example, we have asked their manufacturers to add extra features such as data related to battery management; how many kilometres the electric scooter may run with the remaining battery etc. We have also asked them to make these scooters more rugged to have a longer life.

In the case of electric vehicles, it is essential for customers to know how long this vehicle could run. Most of the electric vehicles run 40 Km-50 Km on a single charge. Once the vehicles are below half charged, customers are always worried if it would at all take them to the destination.

Currently, we have electric scooters only at HSR layout where we have installed 10 charging stations.

Inc42: The government intends to go 30% all-electric by volume by 2030; but, there is no policy in place outside FAME. What needs to be done?

Anand Ayyadurai: Today, the largest electric vehicle (EV) market (In India) is of 3-wheelers. In Delhi, there is a very large 3-wheeler EV market and now slowly, 2-wheelers have started picking [up].

We bought our vehicles before FAME II came into place. However, we did get the benefits of around 20K-25K bucks per vehicle in accordance with FAME I. So, definitely, FAME has been a beneficial scheme for us.

However, for us, keeping the uptime of vehicles high is important, and there are areas where the government is expected to bring clarity.

First, the standardisation of EV infrastructure. The government must look into standardising the EV-related infrastructure. For instance, what should be the battery voltage which currently varies from 12V to 48V? The battery size should also be standardised. It varies from one manufacturer to another. This will help develop modular infrastructure, which will make things easier for buyers.

Secondly, the government needs to clarify what kind of infrastructure it is going to promote — charging or swapping.

This will attract investments. If today, we find swapping is going to be the future, we can think of investing INR 50-INR 100 Cr in developing the infrastructure.

If the government won’t do, the industry will find its own way; however, it might take time.

By the end of the next year, I see there won’t be much of charging issue. There are more companies planning to enter electric scooter space in a big way including Ather Energy. And, we can expect more charging stations across the city which will definitely resolve the users’ worries.

Inc42: Maintenance could be a huge issue. How do you meet the maintenance requirement of these dockless scooters?

Anand Ayyadurai: A lot of effort has been made to upkeep the vehicle’s conditions. It is not just to reduce the maintenance cost, but the downtime as well. More the downtime of vehicles, the more it impacts the revenue. This adds to the time loss as well as customer loss.

We have built lots of in-house IoT technologies. Out of 130 staff, we have around 70 hardware engineers. We have developed an in-house mechanism for tracking vehicles, anti-fuel theft or tyre theft mechanism. This has reduced the probability of consumers harming scooters. We have filed patents on anti-fuel theft and tyre theft mechanism. We have even designed our own sensors.

We have a mixed setup for the maintenance. Besides having partnered with the authorised service centres, we have our own set up for the maintenance too.

Unlike four-wheelers, scooters are hired for short trips. Hence the customers’ expectations are also small. They want just to reach out to the destination safely. While maintenance is done frequently almost on a monthly basis, in case of any sudden breakdown support could be provided within a few minutes.

Inc42: What’s cooking with Ola?

Anand Ayyadurai: We are doing multiple things with Ola. One of the stuff (sic) that you might have heard is that Ola has invested $100 Mn in VOGO to enable the later to get 100K scooters.

The second thing is getting listed on Ola platform. We are still working on the mechanism. By the end of this year, you will see VOGO listed on Ola too.

Inc42: What’s your revenue model?

Anand Ayyadurai: On the supply side, unlike ride-hailing platforms, we don’t need to incentivise anyone. It’s simply a scooter which comes at a fixed price. The cost is less than INR 4/ Km which includes fuel, maintenance and EMI combined. We are currently charging INR 5/Km.

Operationally, our business does not need money but for faster expansion.

Inc42: What’s the plan down the line?

Anand Ayyadurai: Our plan is to be across all the cities in the next 2-5 years. But, for the next 9-12 months, the focus remains at deepening our presence on Bengaluru and Hyderabad. However, at the same time, we are also making our small presence in other cities like Chennai, which could be scaled up later.

Currently, we have 100-110 spots where bikes could be found. Within 2-3 months, we aim to double this. In the case of electric bikes, we are still figuring out the best places to park the scooters as it needs charging points as well.

With an aim to achieve 10% electric scooters, we have planned to have 100K scooters by this year-end.

The Changing Equation In The Mobility Space

VOGO, in a short span, has managed to raise over $116 Mn and the business model looks especially promising; be it, going 10% all-electric or acquiring 100K scooters by 2019-end.

And, it is not only VOGO but the fact that two-wheelers makes 81% of the total domestic market implying that Indians are more accustomed to riding two-wheelers than any other vehicles that has also attracted big investors from India and abroad.

VOGO, along with YC alumnus Wheelstreet, and the likes of Bounce, Mobycy, QuickRide have attracted large investors such as WestBridge Capital, Ola, Flipkart cofounders Sachin and Binny Bansal, South African media giant Naspers, venture firm Sequoia Capital India and Matrix Partners. This definitely gives hope to new players and stability to the segment.

However, expansion of this new market is not all good as two-wheelers are also the significant carriers of carbon footprints. Despite the lack of an effective policy, as has been the complaint from many ventures in this field, startups and entrepreneurs dealing with micro-mobility have already stepped up to embrace the e-mobility as future, a route which Ola is badly struggling to keep up.

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While the Indian government is bullish about boosting manufacturing and sales of electric vehicles in India, one of the major roadblocks is the lack of proper technology and charging infrastructure.

It is perhaps safe to say that the Indian automotive industry has the drive to develop electric vehicles, but there is an immense requirement for an improved charging infrastructure and technology to achieve the emobility targets set by the government for 2030.

In order to eliminate fears related to range anxiety, the government has proposed setting up of 2,700 charging stations, with the availability of at least one charging station in a 3km x 3km grid, as a part of the FAME II scheme.

At the same time, private companies are also doing their bit to ensure good infrastructure for greener mobility in India. A key part of this is building better and EV batteries and ION Energy is playing a big role in order to achieve this goal.

Mumbai-based energy storage startup ION Energy provides a technology platform that leverages software analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) to improve performance of EV batteries.

ION Energy’s initiative is geared towards helping Indian EV companies produce their own batteries, built on technology licenced from ION. The company believes this will help increase the penetration of electric vehicles across India.

ION Energy’s Initiative To Develop EV Batteries

ION Energy was founded by Akhil Aryan in 2016. Aryan’s interest in physics and energy was the primary reason behind him looking at this segment. Before setting up ION energy, Aryan had worked with Mumbai-based digital customer service platform Haptik. At the core of the company is a battery management and intelligence platform that lets companies design their own battery management system (BMS). The BMS is considered the brain of a battery, and its most significant function is to provide cell protection.

“We are building the core technology platform from software management and intelligence standpoint to support all the verticals of the electric vehicle ecosystem,” said Aryan. These include —  battery pack makers, OEMs, companies working to develop charging infrastructure.

In 2017, ION Energy had raised an undisclosed amount of angel funding from a clutch of investors, including Sushil Jiwarajka, Chairman of OMC Power and founder of Nippo Batteries; Aakrit Vaish and Swapan Rajdev, the founders of Haptik. In 2018, ION Energy also became a part of the coveted list of India’s most innovative startups — 42Next by Inc42.

In an interview with Inc42, Aryan revealed his plans to raise more funding by the end of this year with an aim to expand to international markets.

Last year, the startup had acquired France-based battery management company Freemens SAS, which saw Alexandre Collet join as cofounder. Following the acquisition, the entire Freemens engineering and sales team joined the core team of ION.

Following the acquisition, ION unveiled its battery product UDYR. It is an intelligent, modular, and portable 48V lithium-ion battery powered by ION’s proprietary BMS software platform, and backend analytics. The company claims that this combination increases battery life in EVs by up to 200%.

Aryan explained that the company earns its revenue by following three business models. “The first one is the BMS sale where a bunch of companies buy our battery management system, the second is the BMS platform licence which means companies can use our platform to accelerate their BMS development by two-three years and save million dollars expenses and thirdly, the subscription to our software analytics platform which the companies use for diagnostics and warranty validation”.

Talking about other potential growth areas and ION’s plans, Aryan explained that they plan on identifying how machine learning and AI can be leveraged to manage fleet and the host of these EV batteries.

This is perhaps one of the major reasons which drove him to launch ION in the first place.

“I was fascinated by the nature of electrons and the energy space has been close to my heart. The idea was how can we leverage machine learning and artificial intelligence to increase the life and performance of the battery,” Arya added.

Plans To Expand, And Ecosystem Challenges

ION is currently focusing on building the business as it has been garnering a lot of traction from international markets. And thus, it’s planning to scale its team across Europe, the US and also aims to potentially establish a presence in China once it raises the next round of funding.

While battery development is in a nascent stage in India, ION energy faces competition globally. One of the notable players in the BMS development sector in Austria-based AVL which offer similar kind of services.

When asked if ION has any plans to expand its services to other electric vehicle verticals, Aryan said that it will continue to focus on developing the infrastructure and technology for the ecosystem and also explore asset management and insurance of lithium-ion batteries

While his interest in electron led him to set up ION Energy, the road to success was not easy for them. While electric vehicles parts or batteries are relatively easier to explain, it was a little difficult to get the battery performance technology across to investors.

The Million-Dollar EV Infrastructure Question

Lack of infrastructure to support the developing electric vehicle ecosystem is one of the major reasons for many players to roll back or fail in their EV ambitions.

Most recently in March, JSW Group also rolled back its plans to enter into electric vehicles manufacturing space citing a high level of uncertainty associated with space and also problems to maintain capital for growth opportunities in the power sector.

In order to revamp the infrastructure and adoption of electric, the central government recently launched the second phase of FAME II. However, the much-awaited scheme received mixed reactions from the industry players. While some say that the scheme will affect the two-wheeler industry due to reduced incentives, some have critiqued the policy due to the 50% localisation ruling.

While Aryan agreed that immediate localisation and manufacturing of EV batteries is not possible for India, he highlighted the importance of enforcing the idea of localisation among the players.

He believes that FAME is intended to help the companies realise that importing will become difficult in later years.

Aryan explained — “The policy is trying to set expectations and set the foundation that the government is serious about localisation, that it does not want to increase dependency on countries like China and it wants to enforce better regulations to companies that are keeping a make in India mindset. The FAME II construct is meaningful but the execution is not ideal. It is demanding for Indian OEMs to adopt the technology and develop it.”

Last year, cab aggregator Ola’s electric vehicle pilot project in Nagpur failed to take off after months of work, as drivers expressed a wish to return the electric cars to the company, due to higher operating expenses and a long wait at charging stations.

However, even after experiencing failure, Ola has now ramped up its efforts in the electric vehicle space. In March, Bhavish Agarwal-led Ola had set up an independent company Ola Electric Mobility to drive its EV goals. Ola Electric also raised funding of $56 Mn (INR 400 Cr) from Ola’s early investors, Tiger Global and Matrix India among others.

The Ola Electric investment has reinvigorated the electric vehicle segment in India, and this is the right time for companies in this space to bet big on their products and services. ION Energy has the product, platform and momentum to make the most of this window of opportunity.

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