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  • The Rise and Fall of the iPod

    Do you remember the days when you shared MP3 CDs with your friends? Back then, listening to your favourite music was a hassle.

    Then came iPod, which changed the way we listened to music.

    In 2001, Apple introduced the iPod under Steve Jobs, who transformed Apple from a business on the verge of bankruptcy to a $3 trillion company. On May 10, 2022, almost 20 years after releasing its first iPod, Apple said it would no longer produce the device. But, the iPod touch will continue to sell until supplies run out.

    Why did Apple stop producing iPods?

    Discover the journey of a whopping 40% revenue share in 2008 to a meager 1% revenue share by 2014 – The success and decline of the Apple iPod.

    The Introduction of Apple iPod: A Love Story Between Music and Computers
    iPod Revolutionizing the Music Industry
    Apple Taking a Risk With iPod to Achieve Success
    What Led to the Decline of the iPod?

    The Introduction of Apple iPod: A Love Story Between Music and Computers

    1999 was the best year yet for the US music industry. Two things were expanding during this period. There were computers in more than 40% of homes.

    Additionally, internet usage was multiplying.

    People were burning CDs and listening to their friends’ mixes. They downloaded songs from Napster and then bought MP3 players. But they were bulky – gray rectangles that weighed down your purse or pocket.

    Apple introduced a portable music player iPod in October 2001. The iPod mp3 player, with a 5GB hard drive, promised to hold 1,000 songs in your pocket. It was easier to use for loading and purchasing music.

    Apple offered a physical portable music player compatible with iTunes’ online platform. The iPod allowed users to scroll through songs with their thumbs in a circular motion. People took notice of this easy-to-use control scheme.

    Due to its high cost and only being able to be used on iMac computers, the device was received with mixed feelings.

    As a result, Apple opened the Itunes music shop in April 2003. The Windows version was released six months later. It allowed customers to start their music libraries for $0.99 per song.

    Anybody could now use an iPod and buy music.


    Evolution of Apple and Its Business Model
    Apple Inc. is an American multinational tech company headquartered in California. It designs, develops, & sells electronics, software, and online services.


    iPod Revolutionizing the Music Industry

    When the iPod came out, it was a game changer.

    The Sony Walkman had been the standard portable music player before the iPod mp3 player. With Apple’s iPod product, Sony’s device became obsolete since it could only hold 250 songs with no expansion or more storage options. Apple’s device allowed for up 1500 songs on one device alone.

    With an iPod, you can listen to only the music you want when you want it. You don’t have to buy the entire tape to listen to the one song you want. You don’t have to wait until you can afford your favorite CD. You can listen to music while doing something else.

    Now you have a tool that allows you to change the parameters of the tape and select only songs you enjoy. In turn, it had a ripple effect on the economy and how music was produced.

    Apple Taking a Risk With iPod to Achieve Success

    In 1999, CD sales accounted for $21 billion in US music sales. But CD players and early portable music players had many issues, including being big and clunky, skipping during playback, and holding few songs.

    Apple saw an opportunity to create something small and powerful but needed to know what it was. Until former head of hardware, Jon Rubinstein met with Toshiba at a Macworld expo in Tokyo, who displayed a 1.8-inch hard drive. This small but revolutionary hard drive combined portability and storage.

    On October 23, 2001, the first iPod was unveiled.

    The iPod underwent design iterations throughout its existence. From a music player with a hard drive to a screenless fob to a scaled-down iPhone. It acquired several other capabilities over time.

    The iPod Shuffle had only a few controls. It was called the “radio station” of iPods, making sense by its motto, “Controlling your radio station.” The Nano, Mini, and Touch models followed. The Classic has a scroll wheel and is relatively large compared to its counterparts.

    Due to the iPod’s closed environment, Apple attributed its success to its popularity. Apple went on to become the largest company in the world thanks to this device.

    What Led to the Decline of the iPod?

    Tony Fadell - The co-creator of the iPod
    Tony Fadell – The co-creator of the iPod

    Apple kept the momentum going by introducing the iPod Mini and iPod Nano in 2005. Apple sold 22.5 million iPods in various configurations that year. It doubled its previous record from 2004 and four times the volume moved in 2003.

    During its peak, iPods captured 80% of the market share. The true rivalry occurred when cell phones began to get data and MP3 capabilities. The co-creator of the iPhone, Tony Fadell, said that cell phones started to be 2.5G and started to resemble Sidekicks when they began putting on MP3s.

    Before Apple introduced the iPod touch in 2007, they offered another device. It was known as the iPhone and included a phone, internet communicator, and iPod music app. It’s not an iPod with an antenna. It allows users to browse the web, make phone calls, and play music.

    The above graphs show the global sale of Apple iPod from 2006 to 2014 in million units
    The above graphs show the global sale of Apple iPod from 2006 to 2014 in million units

    In 2008, Apple introduced new iPod models. But the sales started to fall off when the iPhone experienced rapid expansion. There was a gadget with all the features of an iPod combined with a cell phone and internet capabilities.

    Apple sold 14.4 million iPods in 2014, down from 55 million in 2008. The iPod only contributed 1.25% of Apple’s revenue that year (2014). Apple stopped making the iPod classic, shuffle, and nano in 2017.

    The iPod touch was last updated in 2019. It has stayed popular among kids and app developers as a low-cost iOS device. The upgrades were insignificant, though, appearing more like a feeble attempt to prolong the life of the last iPod.

    Conclusion

    Apple’s iPod had a massive impact on music. It was the first device to popularize the concept of having music on the go. Although it is no longer for sale, the iPod touch pioneered that now-commonplace ability.

    It’s exciting and sentimental to remember what the iPod meant to us. It was an era when you could access music through infinite possibilities of streaming services.

    FAQs

    Does iPod still exist in 2022?

    Yes, iPod does still exist in 2022 as Apple still has an availability of the 7th generation of iPod touch which was first released back on May 2019.

    What replaced the iPod?

    Some of the devices that replaced the iPod are iPhone, Sony NW-A105 Walkman A Series, Aiworth, M17 Media Player, etc.

    iPods were popular for multiple reasons. The best reason for it being popular was that no other company was able to introduce such a product in the market before Apple integrated iPods. iPods were way much easier to use and carry. The iPods were connected to iTunes stores for easy services.

    Why did Apple stop selling iPods?

    Apple slowly declined the production of iPods primarily because of the declining sales rate of iPods. Another reason was the introduction of a device with better abilities being made available in the market by Apple led to the shift in focus of customers that eventually closed the doors for the iPod market.

  • How to Use the Power of Mascots to Market Your Brand?

    Apart from conducting research, building a sales funnel, identifying and targeting potential prospects, and channelizing your products and services through effective marketing, sometimes you need LUCK! Yes, you heard it correctly, to be clear, I’m not here to promote superstition.

    Even though top brands believe in lucky charm, I know it will sound a bit odd to say in today’s era that some brands continue to exist by following mascot marketing in their brands.

    Yes, some businesses indeed adopt mascot marketing intending to gain sales. The mascot, which is referred to as a “lucky charm” in French, is a virtual personality or character that many firms have adopted lately, for instance, whenever you hear the brand name ‘Cheetos’, the very first thing that comes to your mind, is the picture of ‘the cheetah’. It could be an image of a person, an animal, or an object that has come to symbolize the company.

    For some groups of people, the mascot is considered positive energy that carries luck and ultimately generates maximum profit for a brand. Notable, one of the intelligent brand elements is- Mascot marketing which plays an influential role in humanizing a brand.

    There are various types of mascots you could use in your branding from corporate mascots, animals/objects mascots to sports mascots which are appalling to the eye of the public.

    You may wonder, what are the qualities a mascot marketing inherent? How can a slightly amusing caricature entice people or even become a public image? And most significantly, how could you still believe in luck, if it is not entirely done via effective marketing? To those curious cats out there, this article is for you to crack all the ques about mascot marketing in brands.

    Benefits of Using Mascots in Branding
    How to Use Mascots to Market Your Brand?

    How to Design a Character to Help Your Brand Grow

    Benefits of Using Mascots in Branding

    Connect Emotionally

    A mascot is a tool that connects an emotional thread between the company and the public (users). As the mascot is designed more user-centred it triggers emotions as well as provides customers feedback about their company, which results in easy decision-making for the businesses.

    As I said earlier, apart from logo and banner promotion, a mascot represents your company’s spirit/story effectively. For instance, the commonwealth sports event mascot known as Perry, a multi-coloured bull jazzy bull with an athletic build connects a relationship between Birmingham with the animal Bull.

    Perry, The Mascot of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England
    Perry, The Mascot of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England

    Effective Communication

    Another major advantage of adopting mascot marketing in your brand enhances effective communication with the public. Just by changing the appearance of the mascot (for example- mood, outfit, or avatar) according to the prompt, you can easily convey the message to the right group of customers.

    Memorability and Recognition

    Similarly, when you think of Amul dairy products, a girl comes to mind—the image was a hand-drawn cartoon of a young Indian girl dressed in a polka-dotted frock with blue hair and a half pony tied up.

    Thereby, a mascot is used as a virtual image that can be easily recognisable and more memorable than abstract images (example-text) while creating a strong brand awareness pattern.

    Amul Girl Mascot
    Amul Girl Mascot

    Strengthen Brand Voice, Tone, and Character

    A mascot is nothing but a character that represents your brand’s voice, ideas, and tone of message in a virtual pattern. They are a social medium to capture users’ attention to buy your products.

    Furthermore, a mascot is considered a direct communication, where speech bubbles, provide visual prompts with various facial expressions and reflect the mood of the user with different graphic variations of the mascot can be done with the help of UI design.

    Virality

    Of course, if you develop a memorable and unique mascot for your brand, you can become more well-known. Speaking of virality, the mascot of your company can be used to create memes, such as “Gritty evolution from mascot to the meme that caused the brand gain popularity over time, which eventually increases desirability.”

    Gritty Mascot
    Gritty Mascot

    Creates Original Personification

    Disney’s mascot, Mickey Mouse—reflects aspects of adventurous enjoyment while also being calm and gentle, wearing his iconic red shorts, yellow shoes, and white gloves. To make its brand more identifiable and original in its mascot marketing, the company develops a special personality of mascots.

    Visual Marking

    Mascots open up a variety of possibilities for the visual branding of various identity carriers, applications, or websites because they may be included in logos, interface illustrations, chatbots, brand promotions, etc.

    How to Use Mascots to Market Your Brand?

    To get the most out of mascots, they must be used correctly. To that end, we have provided some advice on how to market your brand with mascots.

    Use Mascots on Social Media

    Top Social Media Channels Leveraged by Marketers
    Top Social Media Channels Leveraged by Marketers

    We are all aware of how effective social media is at bringing in large amounts of online traffic and clients. These days, social media is home to several well-known firms in the IT, medical, automotive, and other industries. They understand how to harness this channel’s potential to establish a significant market presence.

    Mascots are undoubtedly a great way to add a creative element to your social media banners. Because so much depends on it, you must have excellent design skills to do it. Try to seek assistance from any agency or professional designer if you don’t have much experience in design.

    Offering specialised design services, numerous digital agencies are operating in the market. When it comes to creating mascots for social media banners, you can get some helpful advice from them, which can strengthen your online reputation.

    TunnelBear Mascot in Logo
    TunnelBear Mascot in Logo

    Your brand’s logo serves as its key representation across all platforms. It must be distinctive from the competition if you wish to establish an identity. In addition to having a distinctive logo, it must increase its overall engagement and vibrancy to gain a stunning presence.

    A good mascot may help by adding some much-needed shine to your logo. You may develop the logo’s presence across all branding channels by pairing it with a mascot. This is because all forms of marketing, from print publications to internet marketing, will promote your logos.

    Your artistic mascot will therefore be included with it wherever it is published. This will gradually turn your mascot into an automatic component of branding, boosting the popularity of your company.

    Use to Promote Your Products and Services

    McDonald's Mascot Gift
    McDonald’s Mascot Gift

    Mascot advertising is an innovative strategy that yields higher conversion rates than conventional marketing. Using this strategy gives your items a competitive edge over the rest of the market, which is its main benefit.

    The majority of products in the market are simply advertised, with little preference given to the use of innovative methods. By incorporating mascots into your product branding, you may provide a special touch.

    You can advertise a free giveaway by including complimentary mascot collectables with the merchandise. Although it won’t break the bank, this will help you improve your brand recognition in the marketplace.

    Offering free mascots will boost interest in the products by utilizing a variety of clever characters. It would be economical and a terrific idea to draw children.

    Use as CSR agents

    CSR aids in customer connection development and enables businesses to create a robust consumer base. To improve connection with the public, the CSR interface should be distinctive. Therefore, employing mascots as CSR representatives seems like a good idea. It can strengthen a sign of individuality in your assistance so that you can communicate with consumers more effectively.

    The mascot serves as a way to engage with potential customers in addition to being one of the company’s key identities. People can always receive more individualized messages thanks to its effective branding strategy.

    Use Mascots on Blogs

    One of the hottest trends nowadays is blogging, which individuals use to remain current on global events. The blogging format evolves along with the industry’s growth. Because readers prefer to notice a few other things as well, writing a high-quality blog post is simply not enough anymore.

    To increase interaction, you can utilize mascots with them. Your blog will be innovative thanks to this strategy, which is unique. Put a mascot in the sidebar or create a banner advertisement that appears in the centre of every blog.

    Your brand strategy’s desired style will determine everything. The location of this character should be considered because it is a bit imaginative.

    Use Mascot Design on Merchandise

    An excellent way to strengthen your brand is to use official merchandise featuring mascot artwork. T-shirts, hoodies, backpacks, and other items are examples of official business swag.

    By enabling people to identify with your mascot’s persona, it will naturally aid in its market recognition. This method, which is employed by many businesses, aids in both the sale of the goods as well as the attraction of customers to the actual products.

    Conclusion

    Use mascots to make your user interface design more interactive for the user. If used correctly and at the appropriate place on websites, they are quite effective at capturing viewers’ attention. It is advisable to put mascots on a website’s home and signup pages to inspire visitors to complete the desired actions. We have therefore provided some advice on how to use mascots to advance your brand.

    FAQs

    How do you create a brand mascot?

    Add depth to your brand’s mascot, understand the colour psychology, and name your mascot that is easy to remember.

    Why do brands create mascots?

    Brands create mascots to engage consumers and promote their brands and increase visibility.

    What are the benefits of mascots in branding?

    Benefits of mascots in branding include:

    • Connect Emotionally
    • Effective Communication
    • Creates Original Personification
    • Visual Marking
    • Virality
    • Strengthen Brand Voice, Tone, and Character
    • Memorability and Recognition
  • 10 Best BNPL Service Providers for Ecommerce in 2023

    The COVID-19 lockdown brought a dynamic shift in how consumers interact with businesses. Along with this, it saw a huge increase in digital adoption and more people are online than ever before. With e-payments in full swing, it gave online retailers the option to integrate their e-commerce platform with BNPL service companies.

    While shopping online, most of you would have come across websites that allow Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) service while shopping on their website. However, with a sense of scepticism about online banking, we never quite reached out to find out what it all meant.

    As online stores are gradually becoming more aware of their customer’s needs and requirements, they are simultaneously coming up with customer-friendly payment solutions. All these solutions are continuously being integrated with e-commerce platforms.

    In addition, BNPL service companies and traditional banks have entered into the system allowing similar payment arrangements. So, what is a BNPL service provider? How does it work? Let’s find out

    What Is a BNPL Service Provider?
    How Do BNPL Service Providers Contribute to E-commerce?
    Top 10 Best BNPL Service Providers

    1. Simpl
    2. Monoova
    3. PayPal Pay Later
    4. Afterpay
    5. ZestMoney
    6. Klarna
    7. Zip
    8. Sezzle
    9. Affirm
    10. Upstart

    What Is a BNPL Service Provider?

    Once a completely unknown concept, BNPL companies are slowly starting to make their way into the world of e-commerce. A “Buy Now Pay Later” company allows customers to pay for goods and services in a series of instalments rather than paying the full amount upfront.

    A few popular examples of such BNPL companies include apps such as AfterPay, Affirm, Laybuy,  Klarna, and others. A BNPL service provider, popularly referred to as BNPL apps are easy to use and generally has low-interest rates and high credit limits allowing customers to make common purchases with ease.

    BNPL service providers develop and create an app-based form of payment that can be used for both in-store and online payments. The BNPL model is relatively similar to a credit card as BNPL apps allow users to pay for items in a series of instalments over time.

    In simple words, a BNPL is a micro-credit option that allows you to shop online and pay off the amount in either days or weeks with little or no interest whatsoever.  The rise in BNPL services has filled in a huge gap brought about by the pandemic. Apart from the e-commerce platform, BNPL service options can now be found on food delivery, travel booking, grocery shopping and other relevant platforms as well.

    How Do BNPL Service Providers Contribute to E-commerce?

    Not just an e-commerce platform, BNPL Service App can also be used for in-store payments. Every time a consumer buys a product using the BNPL Seva App, the seller (merchant) gets the full payment instantly. Meanwhile, the customer can pay the fee in a series of instalments over time.

    Moreover, these BNPL applications charge no interest for customers that stick to their payment deadline. The process of using a BNPL app is simple. Approvals are straightforward and BNPL Company can run a quick and easy credit check that will not affect your credit score.

    Top 11 BNPL Product Categories

    BNPL service applications not only benefit the customer but also have several advantages for retailers and online store owners. There are several reasons why an online store owner chooses to integrate a BNPL service into its e-commerce platform. Such benefits are

    • Makes it easy for merchants to sell to a particular of customers who use a BNPL service regularly
    • Offers customers the ability to buy an item even when they don’t have the full amount upfront.
    • Stay on top of the market competition or try to get an edge over the market by matching the customer experience offered by other market players.
    • Helps improve and increase consumer spending by enabling customers to make larger purchases without requiring a credit card.
    • This opens up another market segment comprising a young audience that has a higher shopping frequency.

    Recently, BNPL companies have started to market various brands they work with by mailing vouchers and other exciting offers directly to their customers either via email, newspapers and others. The primary intent behind this isn’t to attract new customers, but to increase the purchasing frequency of the existing ones.

    Top 10 Best BNPL Service Providers

    The market is highly dynamic in the 21st century. So, if you are a store owner or an e-commerce website, you must be aware of the market trends to better serve your customers and create a completely satisfactory user experience.

    Along with this, you need to pay due attention to the payment method used by your customers to pay for their purchases. Being aware of this will only aid in customer satisfaction and help improve the purchase frequency of your existing customers. To achieve this, many e-commerce websites have integrated themselves with BNPL service companies, allowing their customers to have BNPL options as they check out. However, given the abundance of BNPL service companies at your disposal, choosing the right company for your business can be difficult.

    To make things easier for you, we have put together the top 10 BNPL service providers that you can opt to go for in 2023.

    Simpl

    Rating 4/5
    Founded 2016

    Beneficial to both merchants and customers alike, Simpl was launched in India way back in 2015. Over a period of time, it has grown to become one of the largest players in the BNPL segment in India. Launched as a mobile-first platform, Simpl offers instant approvals that allow a user to pay with a single tap.

    Simpl

    With Simpl, you have the option to pay later at your convenience. Alternatively, you also have the option to pay in a series of 3 instalments with zero additional charges. Simpl is known to have partnered with 4,500 sellers and merchants across India with a customer base of almost 7 billion.

    Pros:

    • Customisable checkouts option
    • You can do mobile payments anywhere

    Cons:

    • No free trial provided

    Monoova

    Rating 4.2/5
    Founded 2017

    If you are looking to add to the efficiency of your payment workflows, then Moonova’s API integration is exactly what your business needs right now. Thanks to the app’s simple API integration, you get instant account reconciliation, real-time debts and payments, and can assign unique account numbers to the different accounts on your payroll.

    Monoova

    Moonova uses multi-factor authentication that helps to protect you from online fraud, phishing, and other malicious websites by adding another solid layer of security to all your transactions. The company has recently partnered with Truelayer, a global leader in open banking to ensure smarter, faster, and streamlined data-enabled payments in the market.

    The platform’s rock-solid algorithm allows you to conduct the heaviest of transactions with maximum ease. Additionally, the platform offers local support at all times followed by easy-to-use developer tools that you can use within your existing infrastructure

    Pros:

    • Streamlined data-enabled payments
    • Muti-factor authentication
    • Maximum stability

    Cons:

    • Needs regular updates and maintenance

    PayPal Pay Later

    Rating 4.4/5
    Founded 2020

    Whether you are a small business owner or a company with your own name, PayPal Pay Later is a great option for both. Not only is this great for business owners, but it is also highly convenient as a payment method for BNPL application buyers, allowing them to opt for PayPal Pay Later credit plans.

    PayPal Pay Later

    The PayPal Pay later credit plan allows users to choose from six to 36 months as their preferred payment plan. Business owners using PayPal for their transactions have direct and automated access to BNPL services. For this, all the business holders need to integrate the BNPL option of PayPal on their website.

    Though the app is not compatible with in-store purchases, it integrates with most of the e-commerce platforms present in the market. Finally, PayPal offers a PayPal Purchase Protection Plan that assumes all credit risk and can be used for all PayPal purchases.

    Pros:

    • Low processing fees
    • PayPal purchase plan
    • Integrates with most eCommerce platforms

    Cons:

    • Not available for in-store purchases
    • High late fees

    Afterpay

    Rating 4.1/5
    Founded 2014

    Afterpay is a pay-in-four BNPL app that lets users enjoy interest-free instalments with a guaranteed payment of 48 hours to the seller. This BNPL service primarily caters to the needs of Gen Z who are learning to manage money on the go. Smart cards have limits for customers who want to inculcate good spending habits. By 2022, the app has been integrated with around 19 e-commerce websites and can also be used as an API. Operating in 8 countries, the app does not charge any cross-border fees.

    Afterpay

    Although pricing is not available on the website, popular user reviews indicate that this BNPL service charges between 4% to 6% plus 30 cents per transaction. As a Gen Z shopper, all you need to do is add Afterpay to your digital wallet.

    Unlike PayPal, Afterpay is available for both in-store and online purchases. When using Afterpay, you need to put down 25% of the amount in the first phase and then pay the balance in six weeks without any interest charges.

    Pros:

    • 48-hour guaranteed payout
    • Works on the POS system
    • Integrates with several eCommerce platforms
    • 0% APR

    Cons:

    • Pricing not available
    • No monthly financing plan present

    ZestMoney

    Rating 4.2/5
    Founded 2015

    ZestMoney has rapidly grown to become one of the fastest-growing fintech companies in India. Similar to most BNPL services, ZestMoney allows users to make online purchases and pay back the money in a series of instalments with minimal interest charges.

    ZestMoney

    The platform’s algorithm integrates mobile technology, digital banking and AI under the same bracket to provide capital access to those who cannot afford loans through traditional mediums. However, unlike the rest, ZestMoney is designed explicitly for heavy purchases such as furniture, flight tickets, or other so on that aren’t covered by other BNPL lending platforms. The app offers interest-free instalment options to select merchants for a period of six to ten months.

    Pros:

    • No-cost EMI on selected platforms
    • Instant loan approval and disbursal
    • Flexible EMI options

    Cons:

    • Caters to heavy purchases only
    • The issue with user privacy

    Klarna

    Rating 3.5/5
    Founded 2005

    Klarna was started by the Stockholm School of Economics and is one of the most popular BNPL companies of the 21st century. With Klarna, you shop and you have the flexibility to split your purchases into 4 simple interest-free payments.

    Klarna

    You can get more time to make payments whenever you need them by simply extending your due date in the app. Once all the payments are done, all you have to do is report it on the app and all the payments will automatically stop. Shop wherever you are and pay directly from a desktop, smartphone or in-store.

    Pros:

    • Available online and in-store
    • Multiple payment structures
    • Available in multiple countries

    Cons:

    • Each purchase requires Klarna’s approval
    • High late fee

    Zip

    Rating 4.8/5
    Founded 2013

    Earlier known as Quadpay, Zip provides savvy buyers with greater freedom and essential flexibility to make payments anytime, anywhere using the BNPL platform. Established in Australia in 2013, this BNPL service extends to more than 12 international markets.

    Zip

    Whether you are a shopper or a merchant, Zip offers transparent and interest-free credit options to all that don’t hassle or disrupt the traditional credit card model. Similar to Klarna, Zip allows you to pay in 4 interest-free instalments. With Zip, you can pay for products directly using your phone or in-store.

    Pros:

    Cons:

    • Single payment structure

    Sezzle

    Rating 3.5/5
    Founded 2016

    Sezzle has now over 3 million active users comprising over 50,000 merchants on its platform. Operating primarily in the US and Canada, Sezzle serves as an alternative payment platform with 4 instalment free payment options spanning over 6 weeks.

    Sezzle

    As a certified nonprofit B corporation, you have the flexibility to reschedule your payments for up to two weeks at a time. You can shop and pay for your favourite brands both online and in-store using the Sezzle app.

    Pros:

    • Options to Reschedule Payments
    • Virtual Credit Card Options are available both online and in-store

    Cons:

    • Missed payments result in Account deactivation
    • Single Payment structure

    Affirm

    Rating 4.3/5
    Founded 2017

    Since 2017, Affirm has financed over 17 million purchases and is currently available to more than 30,000 retailers in the US. The company primarily operates in financial lending of instalment loans to their customers for use at every PoS purchase.

    Affirm

    Depending on your payment plan and eligibility, you can avail of up to 0-30% interest. This US-based BNPL service provider provides you with a flexible, transparent, and more convenient way of helping customers pay overtime as per the payment selection made by the customer.

    Pros:

    • It has email Notifications
    • It has Customer Portal for financial tracking

    Cons:

    • Very high-interest rates which vary from 10%-30%
    • It requires a credit check

    Upstart

    Rating 3.3/5
    Founded 2012

    The greater the access to affordable credit schemes, the greater the risks and associated costs. However, Upstart is a leading AI lending platform that works with banks and credit unions to help consumers settle their loans with simple payment plans.

    Upstart

    The process of applying for an UpStart loan is quick and easy. You start by checking eligibility without worrying about whether or not it will affect your credit score. Even if you are not eligible for the amount you requested, they offer some other options. You can then choose different amounts to get estimated APRs.

    Pros:

    • Available In-store and Offline
    • Active Notification

    Cons:

    • Single Payment Structure

    Conclusion

    Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world has become a bit reluctant to venture out to shop. This has put an emphasis on online shopping in a big way allowing more and more e-commerce platforms to grow and develop every day. Meanwhile, online retailers and e-commerce websites are also making more efforts to match the user experience as per the market competition. For this, most of the e-commerce platforms have implemented a convenient BNPL service.

    Without further ado, BNPL services are already making an impact on customers and vendors alike. Looking at the pace at which it is developing, BNPL service companies are all set to become a big element of both in-store as well as online shopping in the years to come. Whether you own a store or an e-commerce website, you need to be updated about the modern payment methods customers use to make their purchases. Doing so will only aid in customer satisfaction and ultimately generate more sales.

    FAQ

    How much do BNPL providers charge merchants?

    Most BNPL retailers do not publicly disclose their merchant fees, but they typically range between 2% and 8% of a customer’s purchase amount.

    What are BNPL services?

    Buy now Pay later or BNPL is a type of instalment loan. It divides your purchase into multiple equal payments, with the first due at checkout. The remaining payments are billed to your debit or credit card until your purchase is paid in full.

    What is Amazon BNPL?

    Amazon Monthly Payment is a buy now, pay later (BNPL) option. However, if it isn’t offered on your product or does not meet your payment needs, you could choose a third-party BNPL provider.

    Is BNPL a product or service?

    BNPL products are credit products, just like any other loan, and will take regular repayments from your bank accounts or credit card.

    Is BNPL a payment method?

    The buy Now Pay Later (BNPL) scheme is a method of payment which allows consumers to pay for their purchases in short instalment periods without any interest charges or fees.

  • Best HR Outsourcing Companies | Top HR Outsourcing Services in the USA

    HR plays a crucial role in the management and development of a business. Be it a small business company or a multinational company, all need to be worked out with proper HR resources to have a better check on the working system as well as place.

    The HR department of an organization holds the responsibility of managing one of the most significant assets, human capital. Therefore, its efficient operation directly affects the business’s bottom line.

    In recent years, a trend is prevailing where companies are outsourcing the HR department for several reasons. If you are grappling to understand why you should outsource your HR department and who provides the best service in the field, read on to learn more.

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    What Is HR Outsourcing?
    Why Should You Outsource Your HR Department?
    How Popular Is HR Outsourcing in the USA?
    Top HR Outsourcing Services in the USA

    What are the advantages and disadvantages of Outsourcing?

    What Is HR Outsourcing?

    HR outsourcing is delegating key HR functioning, such as talent acquisition, employee training, benefits administration, payroll and taxes, and risk management and compliance, to a third-party company.

    Businesses are entering into contractual agreements with third-party service providers to handle the management of their human resources for consideration.

    Why Should You Outsource Your HR Department?

    HR Outsourcing Reasons by their percentage
    HR Outsourcing Reasons by their percentage

    The core idea behind HR department outsourcing is that for activities that are not strategically aligned with the business bottom line and can be done cost-effectively by a third party, it is best to get them done from outside.

    The goal of any business is to focus on its core operation and channel resources toward that. Therefore, HR activities that do not contribute directly to the company and are not confidential in nature can be delegated to third-party service providers and save the cost of internal operations.

    If you have a small business, maintaining a separate HR department may be burdensome for you. It will not only add to the cost of the resources but also increase the workload. In such a situation, transferring the management of your HR activities to another entity is the right decision.

    By outsourcing the non-critical HR functioning, you can save money, time, and resources that can be devoted to more productive and mainstream activities. Besides, third-party HR service providers are specialized entities in the field.

    Therefore, they can provide more efficient services than an internal team of HR managers and staff. For example, recruiting agencies have better coordination and understanding of the online job portals and thus can access a richer and wider pool of talent compared to your internal HR team.

    In addition, these agencies also maintain a professional recruitment process to select the best in the market. As a result, you will get the best of the talents with the help of recruiting agencies at a much lower cost and time.

    A report by Technavio stated that the human resource outsourcing market is anticipating a growth of USD 10.90 billion globally between 2021 and 2026. The center of the growth will be North America. This region will contribute 56% of the market growth during the forecast period. The USA and Canada are the two primary countries for human resource outsourcing.

    Two driving forces have pumped up the outsourcing trend in HR activities in the USA: the COVID-19 pandemic and the Industry 4.0 trend. According to Finvisor, 42% of US employees turned into full-time remote workers in 2020.

    The transition was due to the onslaught of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite the subsiding of the pandemic waves, companies continue to keep the work-from-home policies in place. As a result, HR operations are becoming complex for enterprises with smaller HR teams.

    On the other hand, advanced technologies, such as cloud computing, IoT, big data, augmented reality, and analytics, are digitizing business operations and transforming their processes.

    As a result, more resources are needed to be dedicated to the core operations than peripheral activities such as HR. Therefore, enterprises are outsourcing HR activities to lower per-person access costs and enhance overall productivity.

    Another trend that is driving HR outsourcing in the USA is the adoption of recruitment analytics. Several organizations are using analytics to deal with a large volume of employee data.

    They employ scientific and statistical models to draw meaningful insights from raw data. The increasing use of social media in proactive recruitment has also added momentum to outsourcing HR functioning.

    Top HR Outsourcing Services in the USA

    ADP

    Rating 3.8/5
    Best For Overall HR Solution especially for Small Business
    Pricing The Pricing starts from $29/month
    Website www.adp.com

    ADP - Best HR Outsourcing Services in the USA
    ADP – Best HR Outsourcing Services in the USA

    ADP is one of the oldest HR service providers in the USA established in 1949 and Headquartered in New Jersey, USA. With around 58000 employees, this organization is offering services to companies that need HR services on a piecemeal basis.

    They have a lengthy catalogue of HR services. Companies can choose from it as per the solution they need. In particular, ADP is best at providing benefits administration, including Recruitment and consulting, Attendance management, Payroll processing, Business insurance for employees, and Retirement planning.

    Insperity

    Rating 3.8/5
    Best For Mid-Sized Business
    Pricing NA
    Website www.insperity.com

    Insperity - Best HR Outsourcing Services in the USA
    Insperity – Best HR Outsourcing Services in the USA

    Insperity was set up in 1986 and is now headquartered in Houston, Texas, USA. Now with a 3000+ workforce, it is best for mid-sized businesses as it offers Full-Service HR functions based on the employee strength of the hiring company, so, the higher the employee strength, the better the cost-effectiveness of the solutions.

    Insperity HR solutions effectively streamline and automate primary HR operations, such as benefits management, payroll processing, retirement planning, performance and training management, etc. It also assists organizations in providing health insurance coverage to their workforce.

    TriNet

    Rating 3.8/5
    Best For Remotely Reporting and Tracking
    Pricing The Pricing starts from $80 per user/month
    Website www.trinet.com

    TriNet - Best HR Outsourcing Services in the USA
    TriNet – Best HR Outsourcing Services in the USA

    TriNet was established in 1988 in Dublin – California, USA. It is best known for its industry expertise. As an HR service provider, TriNet covers every aspect of the field and is a good choice for established companies.

    TriNet offers simplified solutions to the already complicated HR process of moderate to large companies. Additionally, the company is well known for its highly consistent training programs for all categories of employees, including those in leadership roles.

    ACS

    Rating 3.8/5
    Best For Remotely Reporting and Tracking
    Pricing NA
    Website www.acsicorp.com

    ACS - Best HR Outsourcing Services in the USA
    ACS – Best HR Outsourcing Services in the USA

    ACS was established in 1998 and is renowned for its end-to-end talent management solutions. It is headquartered in Duluth, Georgia, USA, and provides specialized recruitment processes so that the client organization gets to select the right person for the right job.

    ACS also provides training programs if necessary, and manages the critical areas of day-to-day responsibilities. It also assists employee relationship management and drives culture change through various programs.


    Top 10 HRMS Tools in the Market for Human Resource Management in 2023
    According to the latest survey, 55% of companies are using HRMS in their organizations. Here we have mentioned you best HRMS tools for HR Management.


    Gusto

    Rating 3.8/5
    Best For Remotely Reporting and Tracking
    Pricing The Pricing starts from $39/month
    Website www.gusto.com

    Gusto - Best HR Outsourcing Services in the USA
    Gusto – Best HR Outsourcing Services in the USA

    Gusto was established in 2011 as an HR service company headquartered in California, USA. Their speciality is full-service payroll management. Gusto helps its client organizations automatically file payroll taxes and tracks time-off requests and employee benefits. In addition, it keeps the client abreast of the changes in tax laws and stores employee 1-9s, contractor 1099s, and W-2s online.

    With a workforce of less than 5000, it has earned a reputation for its mobile wallet app. With this app, employees can manage their deposits and paychecks, save money, access emergency cash, and do many other things.

    Bambee

    Rating 3.8/5
    Best For Remotely Reporting and Tracking
    Pricing The Pricing starts from $99/month
    Website www.bambee.com

    Bambee - Best HR Outsourcing Services in the USA
    Bambee – Best HR Outsourcing Services in the USA

    Bambee was established in 2016 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, USA. Bambee is one of the newest additions to the HR consultancy market and it has carved a niche for itself as a saviour of startup businesses. This organization mostly caters to the HR needs of companies with less than 500 employees.

    Their HR solutions are customized according to the client’s requirements. Bambee has professionally skilled HR personnel who can devise solutions for its clients and excelled them in automating different HR tasks.

    Rippling

    Rating 3.8/5
    Best For Remotely Reporting and Tracking
    Pricing The Pricing starts from $8 per user/month
    Website wwww.rippling.com

    Rippling - Best HR Outsourcing Services in the USA
    Rippling – Best HR Outsourcing Services in the USA

    Rippling was established in 2016 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California, USA. Rippling is known chiefly for its full-fledged PEO solutions. The company provides a platform/software to its clients that simplify processes, such as talent recruitment and onboarding, right from its start till the end.

    In addition, Rippling also specializes in payroll management and training. The platform has everything integrated for separate HR and IT but it still keeps all data in a unified place of the workforce.

    It allows the customers to automate their workflow with the Rippling Automator, such as adding new hire information, application reviews, employee compensation, and even updates for engineering documentation.

    Paychex

    Rating 3.8/5
    Best For Payroll Services
    Pricing NA
    Website www.paychex.com

    Paychex  - Best HR Outsourcing Services in the USA
    Paychex – Best HR Outsourcing Services in the USA

    Paychex was established in 1971 and headquartered in Rochester, New York, United States. It provides HR consultancy alongside a full range of PEO services with a customized package that suits customers’ business needs. It handles almost all HR tasks, right from payroll and benefits to legal services and training.

    It ensures error-free payrolls for the workers which is one of the most critical tasks for any HR department. It allows employees to change their own personal information and also allows a two-way conversation with employees, receive real-time reports and automate essential activities. It makes HR operations efficient and affordable and provides full PEO service with maximum efficiency.

    INFINITI HR

    Rating 3.8/5
    Best For Large Companies
    Pricing The Pricing starts from $159 per month
    Website wwww.infinityhr.com

    Infiniti HR - Best HR Outsourcing Services in the USA
    Infiniti HR – Best HR Outsourcing Services in the USA

    Another name on the list is Infiniti HR, founded in 2008 and headquartered in Burtonsville, MD. It is an excellent PEO provider for all sorts of large organizations.

    Its HR solutions come in four different strands that cover the critical HR responsibilities of any organization. The strands cover from payroll and recruitment to insurance, risk management, and benefits and all these solutions are extremely customizable.

    G&A Partners

    Rating 3.8/5
    Best For Employee Traning and Development
    Pricing NA
    Website www.gnapartners.com

    G&A Partners - Best HR Outsourcing Services in the USA
    G&A Partners – Best HR Outsourcing Services in the USA

    G&A Partners, founded in 1995 and headquartered in Houston – Texas, United States provides full-service HR outsourcing for things like payroll, benefits, compliance, workplace safety, performance management, and recruitment and it does so with its own WorkSight platform, which offers single sign-on access to a range of easy-to-use modules for tackling every key HR task.

    It provides 24/7 access to services for staff and managers, and it has on-demand data available alongside scheduled reports. It uses advanced technology to help find and track applicants for new jobs. G&A Partners comes with a customizable size and range of services and the firm’s in-house specialists tackle all of the relevant tasks and answer any questions.

    There are two different ways a company can work with G&A Partners— through a PEO or an ASO (administrative services only) model. There are also plenty of reporting tools and dashboards for the company and its employees, in order to provide them with the correct options they need. It has training content including things like quizzes, videos, interactive assignments, and AICC and SCORM courses.

    Tandem HR

    Rating 3.6/5
    Best For Evaluating Risk Management
    Pricing NA
    Website www.tandemhr.com

    Tandem HR - Best HR Outsourcing Services in the USA
    Tandem HR – Best HR Outsourcing Services in the USA

    Tandem HR is another great platform helping businesses by providing them with HR solutions along with infrastructure and expertise solutions too. Tandem HR is known to provide similar multiple services such as payroll, human resources, etc. However, the thing that makes it better than others is its risk management system.

    They allow you to keep track of and calculate your risk management system. They make their client’s businesses prepared for any uncertain situations to arrive. Tandem HR allows its risk management system to help clients by providing services such as safety audits, accident investigations, etc.

    Engage PEO

    Rating 4.5/5
    Best For Medium and Large Complex Businesses
    Pricing The Pricing starts from $15 user/month
    Website www.engagepeo.com

    Engage PEO - Best HR Outsourcing Services in the USA
    Engage PEO – Best HR Outsourcing Services in the USA

    Engage PEO is another great platform one can think of. They are the best choice for most medium and large complex businesses. They provide top-level services in the field of HR outsourcing.

    Engage PEO has multiple services to offer such as payroll, tax admission, hiring, recruitment assistant, etc. However, it is more popular for its client-based work. It is known to provide the services by keeping the client’s needs in mind as a top priority. And the most important fact about Engage PEO is that every HR is an attorney. Hence this makes it a perfect stop for complex businesses.

    Conclusion

    Despite being a core business operation, HR activities are outsourced because they are challenging and time-consuming. A reliable HR outsourcing company can offer stability and clarity to the business and allows the customers to focus more on important areas.

    Specialized HR outsourcing companies adopt the latest technologies and capitalize on outsourcing trends to keep your business one step ahead of competitors.

    FAQs

    What are the top 3 global HR services firms?

    The top 3 global HR services firms are Deloitte, Accenture, and Ernst Young.

    In which country is HR in demand?

    Some of the countries with high HR demand are the UK, the USA, and Canada.

    What are the 4 types of HR?

    There are many types of HR. The most common 4 types of HR are Administrator Human Resources (HR), Human Resources (HR) Assistant, Employment Specialist, and Director of Human Resources.

    What is the best HR platform?

    Some of the best HR platforms are BambooHR, Zenefits, Gusto, etc.

  • 8 Best No Code API Builder Tools for 2023

    When navigating through a web application, SaaS software, or even a software page on the web, you have most likely stumbled across the term API. Although for developers this term has become somewhat habitual, it is not so well understood by everyone. And while there are hundreds of web pages which offer more than enough information about APIs, making sense of it is not so facile.

    Acronym for Application Programming Interface, an API is more like a software mediator, that facilitates communication between two applications. The API in this manner also helps with the privacy and security of your device, since neither your phone is completely exposed to the server, nor the server to your phone. APIs also adhere to HTTP and REST standards and hence have become developer-friendly in the more recent time.

    A no code API builder is a platform or tool that allows users to create and publish APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) without writing any code. These platforms typically provide a visual interface or drag-and-drop tools that make it easy for users to connect different data sources and automate data flows to create custom APIs. No-code API builders are often used by businesses, developers, and individuals who want to quickly build APIs to integrate different systems or expose data without having to invest time and resources in learning a programming language. No-code API builders can be useful for a wide range of applications, including data integration, automation, and application development. However, they may not be suitable for more complex or high-performance applications, in which case a traditional code-based approach may be necessary.

    API, in short, help users make a request, which then they process and extract the requested data for, to return to the user. The communications are generally made possible through JSON, a programming language that uses JavaScript. The requests that can be made to the APIs are-

    • POST: To help the user create a new product.
    • GET: Get requested information by the user.
    • DELETE: To delete an existing piece of data.
    • PUT: To update an existing piece of data.

    Owing to the all-round functionality of APIs, every day more and newer APIs are being developed, and since they are built with JSON, APIs have been created by developers. That was until now since there are web applications which help you build APIs without having to code. These applications do not require the user to have any coding prowess and can help build an API through simple and intuitive tools and interface.

    Here we provide the details on the top 8 no code API development platforms that you can use to create APIs quickly and easily without writing any code:

    Mixed Analytics API Connector
    DreamFactory
    Canonic
    PrestoAPI
    Xano
    NoCodeApi
    Appsmith
    Sheety

    Mixed Analytics API Connector

    Rating 4.4/5
    Free Free Trial and 14-day money-back guarantee
    Best Suited For Creating API without code

    Mixed-Analytics-No-Code-API-Builder
    Mixed-Analytics-No-Code-API-Builder

    Most no-code API platforms work by connecting an API to Google Sheets, and Mixed Analytics API Connector is no exception. It offers an efficient way for users to import JSON files with an intuitive GUI and helps a great deal to users who work with CSV files to export them on different platforms. Whether you have to pull out API data or make API requests, Mixed Analytics makes it easy for users who wish to develop APIs without having to code. You can use Mixed Analytics API Connector to connect API data directly to Google Sheets. Generate personalized reports and dashboards without specialized coding or a complex data warehouse.

    Features Offered by Mixed Analytics API Connector

    • Mixed Analytics allows users to manage data from multiple sources without any manual resources or data warehouses.
    • You can also automate tasks of API requests and time them on an hourly, daily, or even weekly basis using API custom functions.
    • With API connector, you can pull data from thousands of sites through APIs, directly into your Google sheets.
    • API Connector also allows you to base request URL on the sheet cells to turn them into variables, and them reference them in requests.
    • Mixed Analytics is specially designed for working with spreadsheets and can pull data from any platform that uses API keys.
    Pull API data into Google Sheets with API connector

    Pros:

    • Ability to run via google sheet
    • Free plan available
    • Highly customizable
    • More than 100 API integration to use
    • Visual field editor
    • Knowledge base

    Cons:

    • Support via contact form only
    • Not interactive interface

    Pricing Plans for API Connector

    Mixed Analytics API Connector offers a Free plan and 3 different pricing plans, called the Pro Plan, Business Plan, and the Team Plan. While the Pro and Business Plan is meant for individual use, the Team Plan can be utilized by up to 5 users. The pricing details of each plan are given below:

    Pro $15/month when billed monthly or $12/month when billed yearly
    Business $29/month when billed monthly or $23/month when billed yearly
    Team $58/month when billed monthly or $46/month when billed yearly

    DreamFactory

    Rating 4.1/5
    Free Free Trial and Free Version
    Best Suited For Organization looking to unlock legacy data with SOAP to REST

    DreamFactory-No-Code-API-Generator
    DreamFactory-No-Code-API-Generator

    DreamFactory is an API lifecycle management platform that quickly creates comprehensive, well-documented REST APIs. DreamFactory is a no-code API generator for MySQL servers or even other data sources. Its advanced security controls offer users a platform that creates and manages a number of APIs also allowing them to optimize the software by integrating several applications. You can collect and merge data in a single API cell with scalability and robust security. DreamFactory also offers user 24/7 phone, chat and email, support.

    Features Offered by DreamFactory

    • DreamFactory allows users to mask the data while importing, and also create reports and analytics to retrieve and distribute data.
    • DreamFactory also enables users to secure every endpoint with role-based access controls, and also manage API keys behind firewalls.
    • It offers you to create a secure, industry-standard,  reusable and well-documented code, within weeks.
    • DreamFactory also allows users to integrate legacy technology into their applications in turn extending their life-cycles.
    • You can manage and merge data from multiple sources into a single API cell without a line of code and effortlessly turn SOAP to REST.

    Pros:

    • Role-based access control
    • Runs on any OS
    • Excellent support via phone, email, and chat
    • Custom development
    • SSO authentication
    • Compliant with GDPR and HIPAA regulation
    • User-friendly interface

    Cons:

    • Highly CPU intensive
    • Limitations on SQL features via API

    Pricing Plans for DreamFactory

    They offer custom pricing for various packages. You can contact vendor for pricing details.

    Canonic

    Rating 4.4/5
    Free One Free Plan and 21-Day Free Trial on Paid Plans
    Best Suited For Creating REST and GraphQL APIs in minutes

    Canonic - Low Code API Builder
    Canonic – Low Code API Builder

    Canonic is a low code platform that enables you to quickly build and host APIs with minimal coding. Our user-friendly interface allows you to easily define your schema and provides you with hosted backend and essential CRUD APIs. It also allows users to create REST and GraphQL APIs along with webhooks and workflows in no time. Canonic furnishes its users with a graph-based editor and helps them visualize data and relations using content platforms. Moreover, the drag and drop interface along with an efficient CMS makes publishing a piece of cake. Also, with Canonic, users can use a number of integrations including Slack, AWS Lambda, and Gatsby, along with webhooks and workflows based on data changes.

    Features Offered by Canonic

    • Canonic offers users a GraphQL API playground where you can instantly test your APIs, with autocomplete.
    • You can also have the ability to automatically trigger workflows every time your data changes, deploying builds, functions, and messages.
    • Canonic helps develop CRUD API and allows you to create, modify, and delete them at will with the built-in code editor.
    • Documentation is no longer something you need to be worried about, since Canonic does that automatically, along with examples and parameters.
    • Along with auto-generation of documentation, Canonic allows for instantaneous deployment, creation of authentication APIs, access tokens along with user invitations for collaboration.
    Canonic Walkthrough | Low Code API Tool

    Pros:

    • Easy integration with third-party services
    • Drag and drop UI
    • Premade templates
    • Free forever plan is available
    • Built-in CMS
    • Extension learning resources
    • Discord community

    Cons:

    • Support via chat only

    Pricing Plans for Canonic

    Canonic has a Free Plan that allows for 5k API calls per day and limited upto 3 Projects. And four paid plans include, Individual plan, Team plan, Growth plan and the Enterprise Plan. Enterprise Plan offers a custom plan and the user needs to contact support for pricing of this plan. Pricing details are given below:

    Individual $15/month
    Team $99/month
    Growth $249/month
    Enterprise Custom plan

    PrestoAPI

    Rating 4.7/5
    Free One Free Plan and Free Trial on Paid Plans
    Best Suited For Generating REST APIs from any database, without code

    Presto API - No Code API Development Platform
    Presto API – No Code API Development Platform

    PrestoAPI is a powerful, cloud-based, no-code platform for creating REST API’s. With this tool, developers can quickly create REST APIs from any data source, doing away with the backend development of modern mobile, web, and IoT apps. PrestoAPI helps you build APIs with just 3 simple steps. All you need to do is connect with your database through a connections string or a server address, select your data and the data request and customize your API, and voila! Your API is ready to be used. PrestoAPI allows you to connect with a database, create projects, enable collaboration, and all of this without having to type a single line of code.

    Features Offered by PrestoAPI

    • PrestoAPI offers a plethora of database supports including SQL, MySQL, MongoDB, Oracle, and PostgreSQL.
    • PrestoAPI also offers an integrated security feature that allows you to assign roles to different users throughout the completion of the project.
    • With the Enterprise Plan, you can choose any number of databases and projects that you want along with custom server connections.
    • You can also have custom API Endpoints, custom scripts and API statistics.
    • PrestoAPI also offers users with API calls and custom number of users with IP whitelists and SSH tunnels.
    Build CRUD API with PrestoAPI

    Pros:

    • Free plan is available
    • Documentation is available to get started
    • Support via phone, email, and chat
    • Both hosted and self-hosted plan is available
    • Supports Get, Post, Put, and Delete methods
    • Role-based authorization

    Cons:

    • Some difficulties in connecting with DB

    Pricing for PrestoAPI

    PrestoAPI offers one Free Plan with all the basic features. And, 3 paid plans i.e. Basic, Pro and Enterprise. The Basic Plan offers custom scripts with API statistics and more. The Pro Plan offers IP Whitelists and SSH tunnels, while the Enterprise Plan offers custom pricing in accordance with the features. Pricing details are given below:

    Basic $49 Per Month or $239 Per Year (Save 60%)
    Pro $149 Per Month or $719 Per Year (Save 60%)
    Enterprise Custom Pricing


    Top 10 No-Code Development Platforms in 2020 | No-Code Apps
    Explore Outgrow Now [https://outgrow.grsm.io/startuptalkyltd9477]


    Xano

    Rating 4.9/5
    Free Free Plan
    Best Suited For No-code Backend Builder for Everyone

    Xano - No Code API Development Platform
    Xano – No Code API Development Platform

    Xano is an API builder that allows you to create and manage APIs without the need for coding. You can use the visual interface for building and managing APIs, the ability to connect to various data sources, and the ability to create custom logic and workflows. It allows you to easily create and manage endpoints, connect to databases, and automate common tasks without writing any code.

    Features offered by Xano

    • simple and intuitive interface that makes it easy for users to create and manage endpoints.
    • Store data with no limit on PostgreSQL.
    • Every user database is stored separately and dedicated CPU resources are allocated to every user.
    • You have the flexibility to choose the location which is nearest to your customer, this ensures fast delivery of services.
    • Customers with enterprise plans can choose to deploy the Xano at the cloud infrastructure of their choice.
    • It provides easy collaboration with the team of developers to work on a project and share files seamlessly.

    Pros:

    • Free plan is available
    • Powered by the Google cloud platform
    • Compliant with GDPR, HIPAA, ISO 27001, and CCPA
    • Learning resources are available
    • Application of custom code
    • Good support

    Cons:

    • Only capable of building RESTful APIs

    Pricing for Xano

    Xano offers one Free Plan and 3 paid plans i.e. Launch, Scale 2x, and Enterprise. The Free Plan offers 1 Workspace,  10,000 total records, and more. The Launch Plan offers 3 workspaces, no record limit, 10 GB of media storage, and more. Scale 2x plan offers auto-scaling, 2x API capacity, and 2x database capacity while the Enterprise Plan offers custom pricing in accordance with the features. Pricing details are given below:

    Build Free
    Launch $67 Per Month or $708 billed yearly (Save $96 per year)
    Scale 2x $405 Per Month or $4,272 billed yearly (Save $588/year)
    Enterprise Custom Pricing

    NoCodeApi

    Rating 4.1/5
    Free Free Plan
    Best Suited For Connect to APIs without code

    NoCodeApi Builder
    NoCodeApi Builder

    NoCodeApi builder is a platform that helps you to create and deploy APIs. It allows you to build APIs by connecting to various data sources and defining the data flow and structure. You can easily create, test, and deploy APIs using a simple drag-and-drop interface. With 40+ third-party applications, one can easily connect and use the features provided by this tool. It is a powerful tool for automating tasks, integrating different systems, and building custom software that can be used by businesses, startups, and individuals.

    Features offered by NoCodeApi

    • NoCodeAPI builder allows users to test their APIs automatically, ensuring that they are working properly before deployment.
    • It automatically generates API documentation making it easy for developers to understand and use the API.
    • Built-in security features to ensure that the APIs are protected against unauthorized access.
    • The platform allows users to easily connect their APIs with other services such as databases, cloud storage, and more.
    • It is accessible from anywhere and at any time because it is cloud-based.
    • It provides a drag-and-drop interface that makes it easy to create and connect different API endpoints.

    Pros:

    • Free plan is available
    • HTTPS encryption
    • Chat, email, and technical support
    • Create logs of every call
    • User-friendly interface
    • Cost-effective

    Cons:

    • Limited customization
    • Require subscription to utilize its full potential

    Pricing for NoCodeApi

    Xano offers one Free Plan and 3 paid plans i.e. Personal, Professional, and Business. The Free Plan is best suited for hobby projects and experiments. The Personal Plan includes core features and a higher volume. The professional plan includes higher volume to build your MVPs while the Business Plan offers a complete suite of advanced features. Pricing details are given below:

    Free $0
    Personal $12 Per Month or $120 Per Year
    Professional $29 Per Month or $290 Per Year
    Business $49 Per Month or $490 Per Year

    Appsmith

    Rating 5.0/5
    Free Free Plan and Trial
    Best Suited For Building everything you need, 10x faster

    Appsmith - low-code API development platform
    Appsmith – low-code API development platform

    Appsmith is a low-code platform that allows developers to create web applications. It provides a visual editor for building and designing web apps, which can be used to create custom forms, reports, dashboards, and more. Appsmith also includes built-in support for data sources, authentication, and other common app functionality. It helps developers to create custom web apps without being limited by pre-built templates or pre-defined workflows. This provides more flexibility to create the specific app that is needed.

    Features offered by Appsmith

    • Built-in support for connecting to various data sources, including databases, APIs, and cloud services.
    • It helps developers to use JavaScript to add custom logic and extend the platform’s functionality, which provides more flexibility to create complex apps as needed.
    • The hot-reloading feature allows developers to make changes to the code of their web app and see the changes reflected in the app without having to manually refresh the page.
    • Error tracking feature empowers developers to automatically detect and track errors that occur in their web app.
    • Debugging support is provided to help developers debug their web apps.

    Pros:

    • Simple and intuitive user interface
    • Error tracking and debugging support
    • Open-source platform
    • Free plan is available
    • Cloud and self-hosted options are available
    • Learning resources
    • Pre-built templates

    Cons:

    • Live support is not available

    Pricing for Appsmith

    Appsmith offers a Community Plan which is a Free Plan and a paid plan i.e. Business. Pricing details are given below:

    Community Free
    Business $20 per user per month (Regular User) or $0.4 per user per hour (Occasional User)


    No Code Platforms for Web Scraping and Data Extraction in 2021
    No Code Platforms for Web Scraping and Data Extraction with pricing and features including ScraperAI, SimpleScraper, ProWebScraper, AnyPicker, and Octoparse


    Sheety

    Rating 5.0/5
    Free Free Plan
    Best Suited For Building API from Google Sheet in less than 5 minutes

    Sheety - No Code API Builder
    Sheety – No Code API Builder

    Sheety is a tool that allows users to turn their Google Sheets into APIs. It provides easy access to the data in a spreadsheet by providing an API endpoint for each sheet. This empowers developers to access the data in a structured format, such as JSON or CSV, and use it in their applications. Sheety is a free service, with the option to purchase additional features such as custom domains and increased usage limits.

    Features offered by Sheet

    • You can set up webhooks to automatically notify when data in the sheet changes, allowing you to trigger actions in other systems.
    • Password protection to their API endpoint to keep their data secure.
    • Custom domain feature for the API endpoint to give them a more professional look.
    • Filter the data in the sheets using query parameters in the API endpoint.
    • It automatically generates an API endpoint for each sheet in a Google Sheet, making it easy for developers to access the data in a structured format.
    Creating REST API from Google Spreadsheet using Sheety

    Pros:

    • Fully Restful JSON API
    • Easy integration with Google sheet
    • Free plan is available
    • Pre-built templates

    Cons:

    • Only email support is available
    • Limited templates

    Pricing for Sheety

    Sheety offers a Free Plan and 4 paid plans i.e. More Sheety, Extremely Sheety, Extremely Sheety XL, and Extremely Sheety Pro. Pricing details are given below:

    Free Free
    More Sheety $9.99 per month
    Extremely Sheety $29.99 per month
    Extremely Sheety XL $49.99 per month
    Extremely Sheety Pro $79.99 per month


    Top 10 No Code Development Platforms for Database Management
    Best no-code development platforms for databases including Airtable, Actiondesk, Knack, Rows, Calcapp, Assemble, KgBase, WorkMap.ai, Diyotta CloudSync and Stackby


    Conclusion

    Developers today know how No-code API builders are a useful and convenient way to create and publish APIs without writing any code. They provide a visual interface or drag-and-drop tools that make it easy for users to connect different data sources and automate data flow to create custom APIs. While no-code API builders can be a good choice for quickly building simple APIs, they may not be suitable for more complex or high-performance applications. In those cases, it may be necessary to use a more traditional code-based API development approach.

    The above-mentioned No Code API developers can help users in different ways and offer a variety of features and pricing plans. Keeping in mind the number of projects that you need to develop, database requirements, number of users and other factors, you can choose the best suited for your needs. Ultimately, the best no-code API builder for you will depend on your specific needs and requirements.


    8 Best No Code Website Builders for Website Creation in 2023
    Want to create a professional-looking website without any coding experience? Check out our list of the best no code website builders of 2023.


    FAQs

    What is an API?

    API is the acronym for Application Programming Interface, which is a software intermediary that allows two applications to talk to each other.

    What does API stand for?

    Application programming interface.

    What are the types of API?

    Types of API include Open APIs, Partner APIs, Internal APIs, and Composite APIs.

    What are some examples of no-code API builders to use in 2023?

    Some popular no-code API builders to use in 2023 include Mixed Analytics, Assemble, DreamFactory, Canonic, and PrestoAPI.

    Who uses no-code API builders?

    No-code API builders are often used by businesses, developers, and individuals who want to quickly build APIs to integrate different systems or expose data without having to invest time and resources in learning a programming language.

    Are no-code API development programs suitable for all types of applications?

    No-code API development programs can be useful for a wide range of applications, including data integration, automation, and application development. However, they may not be suitable for more complex or high-performance applications, in which case a traditional code-based approach may be necessary.

    How do I choose the best no-code API builder for me?

    The best no-code API builder for you will depend on your specific needs and requirements. Consider factors such as the complexity of your API, the data sources you want to connect, the automation capabilities you need, and the level of support and documentation provided by the platform. It may also be helpful to try out different no-code API builders and see which one best meets your needs.

  • 10 Best App Development Companies in the USA

    The smartphone industry has seen tremendous growth in the last decade. This leap in the smartphone industry has led to a huge surge in the growth of mobile app development companies, especially from the United States. Looking at the decline of apps in the current market, many app development companies are taking the lead in providing services ranging from productivity app development to games and other services. The US is set to be one of the biggest digital hubs in the country.

    It is a goldmine for those who want to create and develop a new application for their products and services. There are over 7000 different mobile app development companies within the United States solely dedicated to creating mobile applications. And with the US tech market flourishing at a rapid pace, one of these app development companies in the US is bound to meet your desired needs and requirements. The article will let you know about the best and most reliable mobile companies in the US as well as give you an idea about the app development market in the USA.

    App Development Market in the USA
    Why Should You Work With an Us-Based App Developer?
    Top 10 App Development Companies in the USA

    1. Andresen Lab
    2. WillowTree
    3. Wunderman Thompson
    4. RightPoint
    5. Wizeline
    6. Sunrise Integration
    7. Zazz
    8. OrangeSoft
    9. Exadel
    10. Ace Infoway

    App Development Market in the USA

    The USA is currently one of the most lucrative markets for every tech enthusiast on the globe. Not only are Americans the leader in mobile app innovation, but American publishers have more than 190,000 apps on Google Play. In its natural consequence, the US tech market is healthy to the core.

    Global Mobile Application Market Size

    The app development market in the US mainly leans towards San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Boston. However, despite the above cities being major hubs for tech development, reports suggest that many app development companies and experts reside in smaller cities as well.

    The growing use of smartphones eventually calls for expansion in mobile app development which is something that can be seen in the US market. With more and more people using smartphones every day, the US is at the forefront of improving innovation design to meet user needs.

    Why Should You Work With an Us-Based App Developer?

    Opportunities and expertise in the field of computer science and information technology (IT) are present in abundance across the United States. Depending on your needs and requirements, you can pair the two with the required set of skills and expertise and get yourself the right developer.

    Companies that have worked with US-based developers in the past were able to ensure long-term success and sustainability in their workflow. Hiring a professional app development company allows you to be more efficient and time-saving.

    But neither of the facts explains why should one work with a US-based app developer. Well, here are a few reasons for you to work with a US-based app development company.

    • Working with a US-based app developer allows you to reach a wider base and target newer market segments
    • Adds to the efficiency of business and leads to time-effective mobile app development.
    • With a US-based app developer, you have access to a diverse set of skills and expertise.
    • Continued app maintenance and support
    • Team support is available 24/7
    • Innovative Development
    • Efficient Workflows
    • Constant Project Monitoring

    Smartphones are gradually being used to provide qualitative opportunities to the user, allowing industries to target a wider market segment and reach a new demographic without being physically present. As businesses are slowly transitioning to a digital landscape, people are also finding it easier to interact with products, services and others online rather than in person.

    This is where the US app development market offers a great opportunity for businesses to acquire a new set of skills, maintain efficiency, and develop optimised apps to help retain existing customers while simultaneously reaching out to a new audience.

    Not only is the US tech market expanding at some pace, but it is simultaneously bringing new experts of every variety into the limelight. All of this opens up the scope for new talent, each with its own unique selection of skills.

    Top 10 App Development Companies in the USA

    Given the number of developers in the USA, choosing the right developer with the required set of skills, expertise, and budget is never easy. To make the right decision, you need to spend hours and hours of research after the interview to find out and understand their skills.

    This is where we come in. Instead of letting you comb through the long list of developers, we have shortlisted the top 10 app development companies to work for in the USA in 2023. All these app development companies and developers have offices in the USA. Furthermore, the 10 app development companies in the list are a mix of budget, skill, expertise, and other relevant factors required while developing mobile applications.

    Andresen Lab

    Founder Alexandr Khomich
    Founded 2007

    Operating primarily within the US, Europe and the UK, Andersen Labs is one of the top software development companies with over 3000 developers, business analysts and QA engineers on its payroll. Started in 2007, the US-based company provides a full cycle of services to those looking to transform the business world by creating effective digital solutions through innovative use of technology.

    Since 2007, the company has worked on over 800 projects and has a constantly growing client base. As a brand or a company looking to stay ahead of the curve, then Andersen lab has a wide range of services on offer such as

    • Software Development
    • Team Augmentation
    • IT Constellation
    • Interface Design
    • DevOps
    • Project Management

    Over the years, Andersen Lab has handled numerous projects in the fields of finance, eLearning, travel and hospitality, supply chain management, healthcare, video and entertainment, real estate, telco, gambling, and more.

    WillowTree

    Founder Prichard and Tobias Dengel
    Founded 2009

    Whether you’re a small business owner or run a personal brand, you’ll always need to stay ahead of the curve by finding ways to incorporate digital goods into your business. This is where you will find mobile apps that can give you a much-needed edge in the modern-day market.

    Realising this need, WillowTree won several awards in the field of app development support and relevant expertise. From process to the end product, WillowTree will guide you through the digital strategy, design, development and growth of your application.

    The company recently partnered with Fox Sports to create a mobile experience for every sports fan looking for up-to-the-minute content. Meanwhile, the company also helped HBO launch its first global OTT experience, which now has over 8 million live users across 8 countries.

    Wunderman Thompson

    Founder Lester Wunderman
    Founded 2018

    Wunderman Thompson has been in the app-development business for many years. The company primarily operates as a creative agency that also provides consultancy services that help its clients find inspiration and provide excellent customer service.

    This New-York based global marketing tech giant has now over 200 offices in 90 different markets around the world. Over the years, the company has delivered several high-profile applications for handsets, tablets, native development, and so on.

    Not only does Wunderman Thompson provide engaging applications on mobiles, but it also engaged with its customers through numerous connected devices such as Apple TV, Fire/Android TV, Roku, Xbox, LG, Samsung TVs, and so on.

    RightPoint

    Founder Ross Freedman
    Founded 2007

    RightPoint specializes in creating an impactful digital experience for its clients and customers pouring in every last ounce of insight, strategy, design and technology. Thanks to the company’s latest collaboration with Raizlabs, the company offers a deep foundation in designing and delivering mobile applications.

    The company specialises in human-machine interface design. It provides multiple software solutions such as

    As of now, Rightpoint has more than 250 Fortune 1,000 companies as their prospective clients with over 450 employees working in 10 offices spread across multiple destinations.

    Wizeline

    Founder Bismarck Lepe
    Founded 2014

    Wizeline specialises as a global tech services provider, delivering high-quality digital products and an accelerated market platform. Over the years, the company has provided seamless, scalable and scalable digital marketing solutions that embed just the right technology, methodology and mindset.

    Furthermore, the company’s technology is mainly focused on AI and machine learning which allows you to build a roadmap for the future.

    Wizeline give you access to multiple software solutions like

    • Software Development
    • Team Augmentation
    • Data Migration
    • Product Strategy

    With Wizeline’s network, you can improve your software delivery through DevOps and ensure comprehensive test coverage. With Wizeline, you get access to a host of QA-like solutions that help you analyze and optimize your data.

    Sunrise Integration

    Founder Coby Pfaff
    Founded 1999

    The US tech market is growing at a tremendous pace, with new experts of every diversity and demographic being unveiled along the way. One like Sunrise Integration, a technology startup providing software development services to brands and companies for over 20 years.

    Apart from businesses, the company is widely popular for its product software services for enterprise eCommerce, data mitigation, and developing mobile applications for businesses both big and small.

    With Sunrise integration, you get access to multiple enterprise development software solutions like

    • API Integration
    • Software App Development
    • E-Commerce Services
    • Data Migration
    • Data Integration

    Apart from mobile app development, the company also specializes in complex data integration services and other workflow solutions that help streamline your business. The data integration experts at Sunrise Integrations have a deep focus on e-commerce, logistics, supply chain management, SaaS software, and more.

    Zazz

    Founder Ian Cruickshank
    Founded 2010

    Zaaz is an American digital agency founded in 2009 and is at the forefront of software development and design innovation. The company takes great pride in adopting, iterating, and integrating the latest technologies as and when it evolves. Zazz can help your architect scale your vision.

    The company is based in San Fransisco and is widely known for developing mobile applications for both iOS and Android with multi-platform frameworks. Zazz is one of the first American companies to specialise in app development by resorting to using contemporary technology such as React Native and Flutter.

    With Zazz, you get access to a variety of services such as

    • Product Strategy
    • Prototyping
    • Concept Development
    • Product Design
    • iOS And Android App Development
    • SAP Development
    • Fluter App Development

    From nurturing your idea to the launch of your final product, Zazz is with you. Whether you’re looking to launch a new app for your brand or undergo a digital transformation, Zazz will facilitate all your projects from start to finish.

    OrangeSoft

    Founder Tatsiana Kerimova
    Founded 2011

    Like most of the entries on our list, OrangeSoft is yet another software development company that offers a full cycle of services ranging from highly productive to cost-effective solutions across multiple domains. With Orangesoft, you get access to a number of web development services such as

    • iOS And Android App Development
    • Web Software Development
    • User Interface Design
    • UX Design
    • Business Analytics
    • Quality Assurance
    • IoT Development

    Since its launch in 2011, Orangesoft has worked on and delivered over 300 projects in mobile and web development. The company relies on the innovative use of technology to create mobile apps using over 100 developers, designers, analysts, and strategists on their payroll

    Exadel

    Founder Fima Katz
    Founded 1998

    Exadel has been in the service of providing app development and software solutions to Fortune 500 companies for over 20 years. This global software engineering company has more than 20 offices in locations spread across the United States and Europe.

    With Exadel, you can finally reach your company’s goal of undergoing a complete digital transformation with the help of Exadel’s technology which helps digitally mould your company both from the outside and inside.

    With Exadel, you get access to a number of web development services such as

    • Business Analytics
    • Concept Development
    • Product Design
    • Quality Assurance
    • IoT Development

    Since the 90s, the company has been providing each of its customers with high-quality software with a wide range of services such as Product Engineering, Cloud Development, Mobile Development, QA, QA Automation, DevOps, etc.

    Ace Infoway

    Founder Amit Mehta
    Founded 1999

    With teams in the US, UK, and India, Ace Infoway has been delivering a plethora of IT services and software development solutions. The company partnered with several remote development teams spanning over 50 web agencies and business industries.

    Over the years, Ace Infoway has become the “go-to” technology partner for many groups who are interested in the company’s web and mobile applications, software, and product engineering services for MSMEs.

    With Ace Infoway, you get access to multiple enterprise development software solutions like

    • SaaS Programming
    • Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
    • ERP Data Exchange
    • Shipping And Logistics
    • User Experience Design

    At Ace Infoway, you get access to a wide range of services such as website development, mobile app development, SaaS development, eCommerce development, web application development, and more.

    Conclusion

    A web presence is essential for every business owner in the 21st century. As a result, business owners are resorting to developing their own applications to stay ahead of the curve. Having an app of your own can bring huge benefits to your business. Looking at the tech market in the US, you can find many mobile app development companies that will have a process integrated with the latest technology followed by an innovative design to better meet your business needs.

    FAQ

    How many mobile app development companies are in the USA?

    In the US market, there are more than 7000 mobile app development companies dedicated to building mobile apps for businesses.

    How can I promote my app in the USA?

    The following will help to promote your app

    1. Customer Research
    2. Influencer Marketing
    3. Leverage Your Website
    4. Email Marketing
    5. Create a Teaser Video
    6. Consider Alternative App Stores
    7. SEO

    How much does it cost to build a mobile app in the US?

    The tentative cost to build a mobile app is $40,000 to $150,000 and can exceed $300,000 in some cases.

    How can one attract traffic to their apps?

    The following can help to increase the traffic on any app

    1. Internet Reviews
    2. Start Blogging
    3. Optimize the App Store Page
    4. Use Social Media and Email Marketing
    5. Leverage Google Adwords
    6. Reach Out to Influencers
    7. Motivate Users to Make Referrals

    When is the Best Time for a Company to Build an App?

    Mobile apps can assist with sales growth, brand building, marketing and communications, data collection, and more. Businesses that need support in any of these areas would find apps very useful.

  • Chumbak & Four Other D2C brands Become a Part of G.O.A.T Brand Labs

    G.O.A.T Brand Labs is all set to grow Chumbak to an INR 500 crore brand in the next three years. Plans to announce the names of the other four brands, one at a time, in the coming days.

    Bengaluru, January 12, 2023: G.O.A.T Brand Labs announces the acquisition of 5 D2C brands, including that of Iconic Home & Lifestyle Brand – Chumbak. With these acquisitions, the size of G.O.A.T Brand Labs’ portfolio reaches 20.

    Chumbak is a brand with unique Indian aesthetics with a wide base of loyal consumers. The brand has strong sales on both online and offline channels.  G.O.A.T Brand Labs plans to grow Chumbak to INR 500 Cr by 2025, leveraging its deep capabilities in brand building, digital marketing, online and offline growth and expansion into international markets.

    Last year G.O.A.T Brand Labs acquired multiple well-known D2C brands including The Label Life, India’s top celebrity-styled brand, and trueBrowns, a premium ethnic wear brand; both of which have grown ~10x since their partnership with G.O.A.T. Brand Labs. The addition of these 5 brands further strengthens its portfolio of fast growing Fashion & Lifestyle Brands. Having raised a round of USD 50 mn a few months back and backed by marquee investors – Tiger Global, Flipkart, Mayfield, Winter Capital, Nordstar, and Better Capital, G.O.A.T Brand Labs will continue to invest in these brands to make them leaders in their respective categories.

    Speaking on Chumbak’s acquisition, Rishi Vasudev, CEO & Co-founder, G.O.A.T Brand Labs, said,

    “We are excited to have Chumbak joining us this year. Chumbak, since its founding days, has been an Indian homegrown D2C brand that appeals to a global audience. Our vision is to make Indian D2C brands world famous and we have built multiple capabilities for that. This partnership is the perfect recipe to grow the brand exponentially by expanding its global reach, both online and offline, through a tech and data-driven approach.”

    Vivek Prabhakar & Shubhra Chadda, Co-founders, Chumbak, added,

    “We are thrilled to welcome G.O.A.T to the Chumbak family. We believe G.O.A.T Brand Labs is the ideal partner for the next phase of Chumbak’s growth globally. GOAT’s expertise in building online brands combined with Chumbak’s great design & product strength will help accelerate our growth as a powerful and global brand in the Home and Gifting space.”

    Rishi Vasudev and Rameswar Misra founded G.O.A.T Brand Labs in May 2021. G.O.A.T works collaboratively with the brand founders and empowers them with the right resources to help scale their brands. It empowers the brands with strong operational capabilities and supports growth by providing data-driven insights, supply chain expertise, financial planning, and deep expertise in brand building, digital marketing, product development, etc. G.O.A.T has emerged as the leading aggregator in the fashion and lifestyle space and is currently in advanced talks with 8-10 other D2C brands.

    Some of the brands in G.O.A.T Brand Labs’ portfolio include – The Label Life, TrueBrowns, Pepe InnerFashion, Abhishti, Neemli Naturals, NutriGlow, Voylla, Pet Crux, etc.

    About Chumbak:

    Chumbak is a globally inspired home & lifestyle brand with a unique modern Indian aesthetic, creating joyful products in categories across home décor, fashion, accessories, and personal care, all designed to brighten up your living space, your office, and your wardrobe.

    About GOAT Brand Labs:

    Founded by Rishi Vasudev and Rameswar Misra in May 2021, G.O.A.T Brand Labs is an aggregator of D2C brands that invests in digitally native brands in the Lifestyle space (fashion, home, nutrition, beauty, and personal care). Its vision is to ‘Make Indian D2C stars world famous’. Some of the brands in their portfolio are The Label Life, Pepe Inner Fashion, trueBrowns, Abhishti, Neemli Naturals, NutriGlow, Voylla, etc. G.O.A.T Brand Labs is backed by marquee investors – Tiger Global, Flipkart, Mayfield, Winter Capital, Nordstar, and Better Capital.

    Have news to share? Write to us story@startuptalky.com

  • The 10 Best Online Survey Tools and Software for 2023

    Customer feedback plays a vital role when trying to manage business insights. Knowing the interests and choices of your customers would not only help you provide them with a better experience next time but, will also let you design better products and business strategies.

    Surveys are the best way to get your customer feedback and understand their opinions. With a number of online survey tools available you can easily approach your customers and collect their feedback. These tools not only let you create and distribute surveys but also help you evaluate the responses to understand customer expectations.

    However, every business has different needs, and hence, choosing the right tool that caters to your business requirements is extremely important. Today, we have brought you the top 10 online survey tools that will help you know your customers better and grow your business faster in 2023.

    Best 5 Online Survey Tools to Check Out

    How to Choose the Best Online Survey Tool?

    The performance of a survey tool is gauged by the amount of information it is able to extract through open-ended questions. The traditional close-ended questions are easy to tabulate but can only collect minimal information. The modern generation survey tools use AI and NLP to clean and organize the gathered information in real-time which would manually take days.

    With the overwhelming number of online survey tools available in the market choosing the right one can be difficult. While deciding which is the best online survey tool for you, you must have a good idea about your requirements as well as your budget. There are tools available for free but they only have limited features embedded, on the other hand, you have tools loaded with every feature you require but are expensive to use.

    Other than this you must also pay close attention to the three basic steps of surveying i.e. creation, distribution, and evaluation while reviewing a survey tool. The tool must be reliable and should provide the best features, as per your business needs, for all three steps.


    Things to Consider before Creating Survey Forms
    If you are creating a survey form for your business or personal use, here are 4 things you should consider to create a good survey form.


    10 Best Online Survey Tools for 2023

    SurveyMonkey
    Typeform
    Jotform
    Google Forms
    Zoho Survey
    Sogolytics
    SurveyPlanet
    SurveySparrow
    Alchemer
    Qualtrics

    SurveyMonkey

    Rating 4.6/5
    Founded in 2009
    Best suited for Best for Survey Reports
    Free Free Trial and Free Plan

    SurveyMonkey – Best Online Survey Tool

    ‌One of the leading survey tools, SurveyMonkey has over 40 million registered customers including 95% of the Fortune 500 companies. This is the best tool if you are a scaling business and need a survey tool that is simple with an easy interface and basic functions.

    It is a flexible online survey tool that lets you design and customizes surveys from the scratch without having any coding experience. It allows you to run the survey and collect feedback via multiple channels such as web links,  mobile chats, social media platforms, emails, etc. It has a basic analytics dashboard.

    This tool uses word cloud and sentiment analysis to break down text responses. After analyzing results it also exports and integrates data.

    Pros:

    • It is free to start with surveys with up to 10 questions
    • Offers 100+ expert templates with sample questions
    • Deeper data analysis through multiple integrations

    Cons:

    • The free plan does not allow you to access the collected data
    • Successive price hikes have made it expensive to use

    Pricing Plan:

    SurveyMonkey Basic plan is FREE. And, its subscription plans are divided into two versions i.e. individual and team. They also have an Enterprise plan, you can also request a demo to get custom pricing.

    Pricing details of Individual Plans:

    Individual Plans Monthly Price Annual Price
    Premier Annual ₨ 4,999 / month ₨ 59,988 billed annually
    Advantage Annual ₨ 1,999 / month ₨ 23,988 billed annually
    Standard Monthly ₨ 899 / month NA

    ‌Pricing details of Team Plans:

    Team Plans Pricing
    Team Advantage ₨ 1,550 / user/month, billed annually
    Team Premier ₨ 3,800 / user/month, billed annually
    Enterprise Custom Price


    Top 6 Signs Your Business Needs An Appointment Software
    The business world has tremendously grown digitally. Almost every business task can be done online from product design, marketing, and project management to invoicing, payments, and even appointment setting. Doctors, dentists, coaches, trainers, and any service-related jobs can use appointment softw…

    Typeform

    Rating 4.7/5
    Founded in 2012
    Best suited for Best for neat user experience
    Free Free Trial and Free Plan

    Typeform – Online Survey Software

    It is an uncomplicated survey tool with advanced design options. Instead of complex questionnaires, it follows a completely different approach to feedback collection. It helps you design surveys, polls, quizzes, and forms that are visually engaging and fun to answer. Also, these are easy to run and can be distributed through multiple channels like email, chats, web apps, etc.

    Typeform focuses on user experience and interaction for better responses. The surveys developed by Typeform have an average of four times the completion rate in comparison to the standard industry rate.

    While the free plan lets you collect around 10 responses per month, the professional plan gets you 500 responses along with unlimited logic jumps, conversion tracking, and HubSpot integration.

    Alongside surveys, Typeform also deals with video apps for face-to-face conversations and no-code chatbots.

    Getting started with Typeform

    Pros:

    • Multiple readymade survey templates with customization options.
    • Break down responses and prepare sharable reports.
    • Scalable pricing and excellent customer service.

    Cons:

    • No protection against bots.
    • Customer support can be improved.

    Pricing Plan:

    Typeform offers one FREE plan and 3 paid plans i.e. Basic plan, Plus plan, and Business plan. Pricing details of each plan are given below:

    Plans Monthly Price Annual Price (save 16%)
    Basic 29 USD / month 25 USD / month
    Plus 59 USD / month 50 USD / month
    Business 99 USD / month 83 USD / month


    Try Typeform for FREE

    Jotform

    Rating 4.6/5
    Founded in 2006
    Best suited for Best for survey templates
    Free Free Trial and Free Plan

    Jotform – Online Survey Builder

    Jotform is an online survey builder recognized for its ease of use and intuitiveness. It is a coding-free solution that helps you to generate leads, distribute and analyze surveys, collect payments, and much more. It has over 100 survey templates and a drag-and-drop survey creator. It helps distribute surveys via shareable links or as website embeds.

    It also has a smart, easily fillable PDF form creator with an option to pre-fill the forms. All its plans have an inbuilt feature for table creation.

    Pros:

    • Design and distributes specific forms.
    • Payment collection feature.
    • Inexpensive and easy to use.

    Cons:

    • Limited technical support.
    • Poor customer service.

    Pricing Plan:

    Jotform offers an unlimited free-to-use plan that lets you collect around 100 submissions, there are other paid plans for which the limit and features extend with the price. A special 50% discount is also available for educational institutions and NGOs. Pricing details of each plan are given below:

    Plans Monthly Price Annual Price
    Starter $0 $0
    Bronze $19.50/month $234/year
    Silver $24.50/month $294/year
    Gold $64.50/month $774/year


    Try Jotform for Free

    Google Forms

    Rating 4.7/5
    Founded in 1998
    Best suited for Best for 100% free surveys
    Free Free Plan

    Google Forms – Free online survey software platform

    ‌Google Forms is a free online survey software platform that lets you create, edit, and share surveys and forms over the Internet. It is one of the best choices if you do not require some kind of exotic or complicated reviews or feedback from your customer. The simple templates make it easy for the user to respond. These are available for free as a part of G Suite for business plans or personal editions and do not require specific skills for the survey conductor or responder.

    The designs of surveys are customizable. The responses are saved in Google sheets automatically, which can easily be transferred into excel format later. You can also gather real-time information and charts from the platform.

    Pros:

    • Very easy to use.
    • These are available absolutely free of cost.
    • Data collected can be synced with other Google products.

    Cons:

    • Very limited template designs are available.
    • Users cannot be tracked easily.

    Pricing Plan:

    You can use Google Forms for free.

    Zoho Survey

    Rating 4.6/5
    Founded in 1996
    Best suited for Best for UI, User Interface
    Free Free Trial and Free Plan

    Zoho Survey – Free online survey software

    Zoho Survey is an easy-to-use online questionnaire and survey-building software. It has a rich array of features but is incapable of handling complex requirements. It has several template options, however, customization options are very limited. The surveys are designed to function optimally on any screen size, making it easier to boost the response rate. This tool enables businesses to obtain feedback through offline surveys, expanding their reach. For ease of use on the go it also offers taking surveys on iOS as well as android devices. Although, a free version of this tool is available, once outgrown you will have to buy the paid version. It allows you to view the responses in real-time.

    Pros:

    1. It also supports offline surveys.
    2. Easily integrates with other Zoho applications.
    3. The mobile app allows real-time monitoring of survey responses.

    Cons:

    1. No support for display logic and question blocks.
    2. The user interface isn’t up to date.

    Pricing Plan:

    Zoho Survey offers a free plan that lets you create unlimited surveys, 10 questions & 100 responses per Survey. It also has three paid plans i.e. Plus, Pro and Enterprise. Pricing details of each plan are given below:

    Plans Monthly Price Annual Price
    Free $0 $0
    Plus ₹800/month ₹600/month, billed annually
    Pro ₹2,500/month ₹1700/month, billed annually
    Enterprise ₹5,700/month ₹3900/month, billed annually

    Sogolytics

    Rating 4.7/5
    Founded in 2009
    Best suited for Best for quizzes
    Free Free Trial and Free Plan

    Sogolytics – Online Survey Tool

    It was previously recognized by the name SoGoSurvey. It is a feature-rich, easy-to-use online survey tool with top-notch reporting options. It has a variety of plans that can be customized to fit any business size.

    Whether you are in need of quizzes, customer feedback, or other surveys, this tool lets you create them easily. It is a mobile-friendly platform that has strong data security, intuitive UI, in-depth analytical reports, and great customer support.

    It is capable of including pivot tables in the records and also offers bulk editing mode. The data storage is secure with SSL encryption. It also has the option to embed audio, videos, images, or descriptive texts in the surveys to help the user understand the context.

    Pros:

    • It has features for working with multiple surveys such as a dashboard, merging, or reporting canvas.
    • Various question types are available such as text boxes, multi-select, radio buttons, etc.
    • Advanced support options are also available.

    Cons:

    • Display logic questions limit re-ordering.
    • Help resources are not strong.

    Pricing Plan:

    Sogolytics offers a free plan that lets you create unlimited surveys. It also has four paid plans i.e. Plus, Pro, Premium, and Enterprise Feedback. Pricing details of each plan are given below:

    Plans Monthly Price Annual Price
    Plus $25 USD/month $299 Annually
    Pro $66 USD/month $788 Annually
    Premium $99 USD/month $1188 Annually
    Enterprise Feedback Custom Plan Custom Plan


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    SurveyPlanet

    Rating 4.8/5
    Founded in 2011
    Best suited for Best for customized surveys
    Free Free Plan

    SurveyPlanet – Online Survey Software

    This tool has an essential user interface with a clean and well-spaced layout. It offers 30+ language options allowing you to gather insights from a larger number of customers. The surveys can be embedded on your site, circulated on social media, or sent through emails to get a response. Surveyplanet offers an intuitive platform for creating and analyzing surveys, as well as exporting data. Businesses can use this online survey tool to create customized surveys such as brand development, market research, exit interviews, job application forms, etc. You can view a live version of your survey while you are creating it on the same page.

    Along with unlimited surveys and questions, it allows you to get unlimited responses even on the free plan. Although it supports skip logic, it does not support display logic, piping, or masking.

    SurveyPlanet Tutorial

    Pros:

    • Clean and minimalist user interface.
    • It is quite an affordable tool.
    • Also provides an overview of branching questions.

    Cons:

    • Limited question types and no support for matrix questions.
    • The panel purchase option is not integrated.

    Pricing Plan:

    SurveyPlanet offers a free plan with a robust set of free features to get you started with your survey. It also offers a paid plan i.e. Pro plan with advanced features such as custom themes, question branching, survey results filtering, and more. Pricing details of the Pro plan are given below:

    Plans Monthly Price Annual Price
    Free $0 $0
    Pro $20 month $180 year

    SurveySparrow

    Rating 4.4/5
    Founded in 2017
    Best suited for Best for Conversational Surveys
    Free Free Trial and Free Plan

    SurveySparrow – Conversational Survey Tool

    SurveySparrow tool offers a conversational approach to surveys i.e. the surveys are engaging with a chat-like experience for the responder. It is easy to use and allows you to create omnichannel surveys, automate feedback processes, and create smart reports post-result evaluation. It also has a customer journey mapping feature.

    SurveySparrow offers multiple types and formats of surveys such as NPS, chatbots, offline surveys, etc. alongside several survey distribution options like email, websites, pop-ups, SMS, and others. Also, it has the option to create templates from scratch.

    Pros:

    • The executive dashboard makes reporting and data analysis easy.
    • Integrations, webhooks, and APIs.
    • The recurring survey feature allows scheduling the re-surveys.

    Cons:

    • 360 assessment and NPS require a separate subscription.
    • Poor customer support.

    Pricing Plan:

    SurveySparrow offers a Free plan that allows 10 questions per survey. It also offers 2 paid plans i.e. Premium plan and the Basic plan with advanced features such as display logic, case management, scoring, and more. Pricing details of the paid plans are given below:

    Plans Quarterly Price Annual Price
    Premium $59 USD per month, Billed Quarterly $29 USD per month, Billed Annually
    Basic $39 USD per month, Billed Quarterly $19 USD per month, Billed Annually


    Try SurveySparrow for Free

    Alchemer

    Rating 4.5/5
    Founded in 2006
    Best suited for Best for Automation
    Free Free Trial and Free Plan

    Alchemer – Online survey software

    Alchemer was formerly recognized by the name SurveyGizmo. Earlier just a simple survey tool it has now turned into a customer feedback management platform. It is a highly capable tool that uses custom coding to accommodate a wide array of tasks.

    Apart from designing and running surveys it also lets you manage your contacts, set up customer feedback workflow, analyze data, and much more. It allows you to run any type of survey and also perform complicated research.

    It offers advanced branching and skip logic features along with multiple survey distribution channels. It also has native integrations including Google Analytics, Google sheets, and Salesforce.

    Pros:

    • It streamlines operations through bulk edit mode.
    • Sophisticated layout and reporting features.
    • Well supported by phones, forums, conferences, and videos.

    Cons:

    • Does not integrate with other tools easily.
    • Poor back-end hosting.

    Pricing Plan:

    Alchemer offers four paid plans i.e. Collaborator plan, the Professional plan, Full Access plan, and the Enterprise Platform. Pricing details of the paid plans are given below:

    Plans Monthly Price Annual Price
    Collaborator $55 per user per month $315 per month per year
    Professional $165 per user per month $1075 per month per year
    Full Access $275 per user per month $1895 per month per year
    Professional Custom Plan Custom Plan

    Qualtrics

    Rating 4.4/5
    Founded in 2002
    Best suited for Best for AI
    Free Free Trial

    Qualtrics – online survey tool

    Qualtrics is a powerful online survey tool extremely suitable for professionals. It has several types of readymade survey templates with more than a hundred types of questions. The key features of this tool include email triggers, logic branching, and display logic that provide a great user experience.‌‌

    It offers over 30 graph types to choose from and also allows you to read real-time web reports as well as export results to CSV or SPSS at your convenience. You can enable the forest or tree view of the surveys using the best-in-class survey flow screen of the tool.

    Pros:

    1. It supports masked or carry-forward answer choices.
    2. Allows editing non-modal questions.
    3. Desktop and mobile questionnaires can be put into synchronized previews.

    Cons:

    • This tool is slightly expensive to use.
    • Does not have the ability to maintain multiple shared reports.

    Pricing Plan:

    Contact the vendor to get a quote.


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    Conclusion

    Customer feedback is the key to a successful business and having the right survey tool is the best way to know your customers better. With its ability to customize the survey questions as per the business and customer requirements, a good survey tool helps you in providing better customer engagement and satisfaction.

    Other than creating surveys that are pleasant for the audience, it lets you distribute the surveys through multiple, relevant, and effective channels as well as evaluate the results efficiently.

    In this article, we have listed the best online survey tools for 2023 with their features as well as pros and cons. We certainly hope this will help you choose the best survey tool for your business.

    FAQs

    What are the top survey tools for 2023?

    The top survey tools for 2023 are currently considered to be:

    1. SurveyMonkey
    2. Typeform
    3. Jotform
    4. Google forms
    5. Zoho Survey
    6. Sogolytics
    7. SurveyPlanet
    8. SurveySparrow
    9. Alchemer
    10. Qualtrics

    What features should I look for in a survey tool?

    When evaluating survey tools, you should look for features such as:

    • User-friendly interface
    • Customizable survey templates
    • Advanced logic and branching capabilities
    • Support for multiple question types
    • Ability to skip or redirect based on previous answers
    • Data export options (such as CSV or Excel)
    • Collaboration and sharing options
    • Robust reporting and analysis capabilities

    Are there free survey tools available?

    Yes, there are many free survey tools available such as Google Forms, JotForm, SurveyPlanet, and Zoho Survey. However, these free tools may have limitations on features and capabilities when compared to paid tools.

    As of 2023, SurveyMonkey is considered to be the most popular survey tool.

    What is the best survey tool for enterprise use?

    As of 2023, Qualtrics, SurveyGizmo, and SoGoSurvey are considered to be the best survey tools for enterprise use.

    How long can I wait before I run my first survey?

    The length of time you should wait before running your first survey depends on several factors, such as the nature of your business or organization, the purpose of the survey, and the resources you have available to conduct the survey. In general, it’s best to run your survey as soon as possible after you’ve established the goals and objectives of the survey, developed the survey questions, and identified the target audience.

    How many team members need access to the survey tool?

    The number of team members who need access to the survey tool will depend on the size and structure of your organization, as well as the purpose of the survey.

    Why should I use a survey tool?

    Survey tools can help you to efficiently collect, analyze, and make decisions based on accurate data, which can ultimately help you to improve your business or organization in various ways.‌‌

  • moneyHOP Success Story – Enhancing the Cross-border Banking Experience

    Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by moneyHOP.

    Being India’s Cross-Border Neobank, moneyHOP is enhancing the cross-border banking experience of Indians like never before! An interesting point to note here is – moneyHOP just commenced commercial operations and is already registering a 30% MoM growth in terms of customers.

    moneyHOP is a neobank that provides a cross-border banking experience to people via two products, i.e. HopRemit and HOP app’s multi-currency bank account with international debit+Forex card.

    In this article, learn more about moneyHOP, its founder, business model, funding, how it started, and more.

    moneyHOP – Company Highlights

    Startup Name moneyHOP
    Headquarters Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
    Industry Financial Services
    Founded 2019
    Founder Mayank Goyal
    Total Funding Raised $2.5 million (Jan 2022)
    Website moneyhop.co

    moneyHOP – About
    moneyHOP – Cross Border Industry Details
    moneyHOP – Founder
    moneyHOP – Startup Story
    moneyHOP – Name, Tagline and Logo
    moneyHOP – Product and USP
    moneyHOP – Business Model and Revenue Model
    moneyHOP – Startup Launch and Customer Retention
    moneyHOP – Funding and Investor
    moneyHOP – Achievement and Recognition
    moneyHOP – Challenges Faced
    moneyHOP – Competitors
    moneyHOP – Future Plans

    moneyHOP – About

    moneyHOP is a neobank that provides a cross-border banking experience to Indians via two products, i.e. HOPRemit and HOP app’s multi-currency bank account with international debit+Forex card.

    HOP Remit extends instant, secure, and cost-effective remittance solutions to Indian customers for their outbound needs. On the other hand, the HOP app empowers its customers with a truly globalized banking experience with the ability to save, invest, borrow, and spend via ‘ONE Global Account, ONE Global Card’. It provides multi-currency wallets, charges nearly 0% forex markup, and offers completely paperless currency exchange in an ‘anytime, anywhere’ format. Furthermore, moneyHOP empowers its customers to lock in currency exchange rates for their future needs.

    Mayank Goyal, Founder & CEO of moneyHOP says “Indians are increasingly becoming global citizens. They wish to live and travel abroad. However, the current banking infrastructure is such that it pertains to a sovereign nation. Our core belief is to leverage technology and provide a seamless cross-border banking experience to anyone, anywhere, and anytime”

    moneyHOP – Industry Details

    moneyHOP operates in the cross-border payments and remittance industry. At around $83 billion, India is the world’s largest market for inward remittance flow. The transaction value of global remittances and cross-border payments is expected to rise from $37.15 trillion in 2020 to $39.9 trillion by 2026.

    Also, the Indian fintech market was valued at $50 billion in 2021 and is expected to grow to $150 billion by 2025.

    As moneyHOP commenced operations only a few months ago, it is still at an early stage and the current market share is not significant. Mr. Mayank expects the industry to grow 15 to 20 percent YoY and by 2024, engage about 45 million global travellers, 2 to 3 million Indian outbound students and a $45-50 billion outbound remittance market.


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    moneyHOP – Founder

    Mayank Goyal is the sole founder of moneyHOP. He spearheads all moneyHOP operations.

    Mayank Goyal - Founder and CEO, moneyHOP
    Mayank Goyal – Founder and CEO, moneyHOP

    Mayank Goyal has completed his Bachelor of Engineering, Telecommunications from PES University and his Master of Science, Financial Engineering from Imperial College Business School. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst. He currently serves as the founder and CEO of moneyHOP.

    moneyHOP has three mentors at present including a banking veteran, foreign exchange payments expert, and senior executives from a Big Tech company.

    moneyHOP – Startup Story

    Mr. Mayank reminisces about the inspiration & background story behind moneyHOP. This is what he says – “The inspiration was a lot personal. My parents used to come and visit me in London. They used to get their money exchanged via a local money changer who would charge them a 5%-6% markup over the Inter-bank rate. Once visiting Dehradun, I wanted to remit money from India to the UK and experienced the ordeal myself. It involved heavy paperwork and I had to wait for 5 days to get the transaction done. The customer experience was absolutely terrible. I realized that thousands of people had to go through such ordeals for the lack of a better service. It was then that the idea dawned upon me to address the need gap”

    He spoke with 100 people having diverse socioeconomic backgrounds. His findings were that this market was dominated by PSBs and the process involved heavy paperwork, was branch based and lacked customer experience. Mayank then obtained an FFMC license from the RBI and initiated our discussions with banks and payment processors. After the association with VISA and an AD-I license holder bank, many prototypes were built, tested, and enhanced. It paved the way for HOPRemit, which was launched in January 2021.


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    moneyHOP – Product and USP

    moneyHOP provides a cross-border banking experience to Indians via two products, i.e. HOPRemit and HOP app’s multi-currency bank account with international debit+Forex card.

    Any person can directly log on to www.moneyhop.co or download the HOP app and register in less than 3 minutes! They can then either send cash via HOPRemit or engage in globalized digital banking with the HOP app plus card solution.

    The solution serves the needs of oversea travellers as well as Indian students who wish to send money abroad. It has minimized the turnaround time for this entire process, making it more cost-effective and eliminating the paperwork while adhering to all regulatory norms.

    “This digital remittance experience, near 0% markup on-demand currency exchange along with ‘One Global Account’ & ‘One-Global Card’ as some of our USPs. We think about the product as a cross-border neo-banking platform which enables Indians to ‘Send’ & ‘Spend’, economically and conveniently across the globe.” Mayank added.

    Tools Used by moneyHOP to Run the Startup

    The tools used by moneyHOP to run the startup are Slack, Atlassian, Google Suite, AWS, and HubSpot.

    moneyHOP
    moneyHOP 

    The idea of Mayank was to provide a platform which enables customers to ‘hop’ the money from one place to another and hence the name ‘moneyHOP’. Its tagline is ‘Smarter, Faster, Better.’

    moneyHOP – Business Model and Revenue Model

    moneyHOP has active partnerships with VISA and AD-I license-holder banks. It acquires customers directly via digital marketing channels (B2C) and also through partnerships with universities, education consultants, international schools etc. (B2B2C). The company didn’t directly reveal its revenue model.

    moneyHOP – Startup Launch and Customer Retention

    As recalled by Mayank, the initial days revolved around brainstorming about how to effectively solve the challenge while using minimal resources. The team at moneyHOP also applied for relevant licenses and worked on the back-end technology infrastructure in the meantime. It had a referral program and the first 100 users were achieved through a mix of referrals and digital marketing.

    “Our cost-effectiveness, time-efficiency, paperless nature of transactions, and transparency on top of a good user experience have all proven pivotal in attracting and retaining customers” says Mayank, Founder & CEO, moneyHOP.


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    moneyHOP – Funding and Investor

    moneyHOP has raised a total funding worth $2.5 million.

    Date Round Amount Lead Investors
    Sep 1, 2021 Seed Round ₹91.2M
    Oct 21, 2020 Non-Equity Assistance Mass Challenge
    Oct 1, 2019 Pre Seed Round

    Please note here that Mass challenge is a non equity investor at moneyHOP.

    moneyHOP – Achievement and Recognition

    • moneyHOP was incubated at IIM Bangalore.
    • It was also the only Indian startup to be a part of the Mass Challenge Boston program.

    moneyHOP – Challenges Faced

    Banking partnership was the biggest teething issue for moneyHOP. Mayank had to constantly visit Mumbai and meet all of the banks. However, they somehow saw him as an outsider. It took him a lot of effort to convince them that “I (Mayank) believe in the India story”. moneyHOP shared its vision with them and explained how powerful it can end up being. The team made the relevance of the product clear with constant efforts, grit, and persistence.

    “Another challenge was more in terms of my own perception. I had never worked in India before. I assumed that the working culture would be similar to the U.K. It was not! It was a different ballgame altogether and I had to constantly tweak the way I interacted with the partners. I also analyzed what were the motivating factors for each individual to get better at it” Mayank added.

    Lastly, Mayank felt that an entirely digital model will work the best. Perhaps, he overemphasized the trust deficit. He now believes that a Phygital model works the best as people need assistance and want to interact with the company, especially in its earlier days.

    moneyHOP – Competitors

    moneyHOP doesn’t have any major competition in the Indian market. However, on a global scale, its top competitors include Airwallex, NiYo, Nium, Fi, Transferwise, and Revolut.

    moneyHOP – Future Plans

    moneyHOP just commenced its commercial operations and is already registering a 30% MoM growth in terms of customers.

    Founder of moneyHOP – Mayank says “The future is bright as the need-gap that we are bridging is enormous and multilayered”

    moneyHOP is working on multiple projects and aims to unveil more offerings for its customers in 1 to 2 years. It is also aggressively expanding its business footprint in India and abroad. moneyHOP plans to launch inward remittances as well as foreign-currency bank accounts.

    FAQs

    Who is the founder of moneyHOP?

    Mayank Goyal is the founder and CEO of moneyHOP.

    What is moneyHOP?

    moneyHOP is a neobank that provides cross-border banking experience to Indians via two products, i.e. HOP Remit and HOP app’s multi-currency bank account with international debit + FX card.

    Who are the competitors of moneyHOP?

    Some of the competitors of moneyHOP include Airwallex, NiYo, Nium, Fi, Transferwise, and more.

    How much funding has been raised by moneyHOP?

    moneyHOP has raised a total of $1.2 million in funding. The last round was raised in September 2021.

  • Vedanta Limited Success Story – One of the World’s Leading Natural Resources Companies

    Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Vedanta Limited.

    The history of mining dates back to around as early as the 1800s. It is considered one of the oldest industrial activities. In India, the mining industry is one of the core industries contributing to a massive part of the country’s economy.

    Mining, as we know, is vital not only for society, but it is equally important for education, science, national defence, and technology. It is more than just digging underground for coal and metals. Furthermore, it is a business that also necessitates extensive financial knowledge.

    Vedanta Group, founded 44 years ago, is an Indian multinational mining company that has built its reputation as one of the world’s leading natural resources companies. It was initially known as Sterlite industries, which was founded by Dwarka Prasad Agarwal. The company was later taken over by his son Anil Agarwal, who founded its parent organisation, Vedanta Resources Limited. Vedanta Group, otherwise known as Vedanta Limited is a mining company with primary operations in aluminium, iron ore, and gold.

    This article gives brief information on the Vedanta Limited’s successful journey. Learn about its founder, business model, revenue, shareholding pattern, acquisitions, key products, and subsidiaries.

    Vedanta Group – Company Highlights

    Headquarters Mumbai, India
    Sector Mining, Oil and Gas, Electric Utility
    Type Public
    Founder Anil Agarwal
    Founded 1979
    Revenue $16.08 billion (FY22)
    Parent Organisation Vedanta Resources Limited
    Website vedantalimited.com

    Vedanta Group – About
    Vedanta Group – Vedanta Resources Limited
    Vedanta Group – Industry Details
    Vedanta Group – Founder and Team
    Vedanta Group – Startup Story
    Vedanta Group – Mission and Vision
    Vedanta Group – Name, Tagline, Logo
    Vedanta Group – Business & Revenue Model
    Vedanta Group – Shareholders
    Vedanta Group – Controversies and Challenges Faced
    Vedanta Group – Acquisitions
    Vedanta Group – Advertisements and Social Media Campaigns
    Vedanta Group – Awards and Achievements
    Vedanta Group – Competitors
    Vedanta Group – Future Plans

    Vedanta Group – About

    Vedanta is a world-class natural resource conglomerate with operations in India, South Africa, Liberia, and Namibia. The company has a diversified portfolio in Oil & Gas, Zinc, Lead, Silver, Aluminium, Iron Ore, Steel, Copper, Ferro Alloys, Power, Glass Display, Optical Fibre, and Semiconductors. It is the world’s largest producer of zinc, lead, and silver, as well as aluminium, iron ore, oil and gas, and ferrochrome.

    Vedanta Group is known for its structurally low-cost and diverse assets that help them to deliver world-class mines and metals. The company has positioned itself as the world’s largest aluminium producer and also the first Indian company to manufacture low-carbon aluminium metal. Although the company was founded in Goa and Karnataka, it has gradually expanded its operations in recent times to Odisha, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, and Gujarat. Vedanta Group has the following subsidiaries:

    • Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO)
    • Lanjigarh Alumina Refinery
    • Electrosteel Ltd (ESL)
    • Sterlite Copper
    • Hindustan Zinc
    • Talwandi Sabo Power Limited
    • Sesa Goa Iron Ore
    • Cairn India
    • Gamsberg
    • Black Mountain Mining
    • Skorpion Zinc

    Vedanta Group – Vedanta Resources Limited

    Vedanta Resources Limited is the parent organisation of Vedanta Limited (formerly Sesa Goa / Sterlite) or Vedanta Group. It is a diversified Indian mining company headquartered in London, England. It is India’s largest mining and non-ferrous metals company, with operations in Australia and Zambia.

    The company, which employs more than 20,000 people, is primarily owned by Anil Agarwal’s family through Volcan Investments, a holding vehicle company owning 61.7% of the company.

    Vedanta Group – Industry Details

    Everyone is aware of how mining plays a significant impact in the development of the country’s economy. Natural resources like minerals are essential in the evolution of most industries. This industry holds vast potential for improving GDP growth, foreign exchange, and other infrastructural expansions. According to some reports, it is seen that the global mining industry grew from $1,825.21 billion in 2021 to $1,990.9 billion in 2022 at a CAGR of 9.1%.

    The Government of India has also launched many initiatives to boost the mining industry of the country. Furthermore, the government intends to sell assets in the mining sector worth Rs. 28,727 crores ($3.68 billion) over the fiscal years 2022-25.

    Vedanta Group – Founder and Team

    Vedanta Group is founded by Anil Agarwal. As of now, Anil Agarwal is the Non-Executive Chairman of Vedanta Limited.

    Anil Agarwal

    Anil Agarwal, Non-Executive Chairman of Vedanta Limited
    Anil Agarwal, Non-Executive Chairman of Vedanta Limited

    With 40 years of entrepreneurial and mining experience, Anil Agarwal has shaped Vedanta into a gigantic multinational company. He holds a 100% stake in Vedanta Resources through Volcan Investments, a holding vehicle company. Born and brought up in a Marwadi family, Anil Agarwal joined his father’s aluminium conductors business instead of attending university. The breakthrough of his career began in the 1970s when he began trading in scrap metal from different cable companies and sold them in Mumbai. In 2003, Anil Agarwal and his team established Vedanta Resources Plc in London to gain access to international capital markets.

    Anil Agarwal’s Vedanta group has made several investments in various Indian states. Vedanta accounts for nearly 4% of Odisha’s GDP. Recently, Anil Agarwal achieved the CIF Global Indian Award 2022 in Toronto, Canada. Besides this, he has won awards like The Economic Times, Business Leader Award (2012), Mining Journal Lifetime Achievement Award (2009), and many more.

    Anil Agarwal lives in London with his wife, Kiran Agarwal, and two children. His family has a net worth of $2.5 billion.

    Sunil Duggal

    Sunil Duggal, Whole-time Director and CEO of Vedanta Limited
    Sunil Duggal, Whole-time Director and CEO of Vedanta Limited

    Sunil Duggal is the Whole-time Director and CEO of Vedanta Limited. He has over 30 years of experience in leading various performance teams. A  graduate in Electrical Engineering from Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, Sunil Duggal has also participated in many leadership development and management programmes across major institutions.

    Sunil Duggal is also the Vice-Chairman of the International Zinc Association, President of the Indian Lead Zinc Development Association, Chairman of the FIMI Non-Ferrous Metals Committee, and Co-chair of the FICCI Non-Ferrous Metals Committee 2017.

    Vedanta Group – Startup Story

    It all started when Vedanta known as Sterlite Industries began in the 1980s. Sterlite Industries was initiated by D.P. Agarwal who purchased mining concessions in various Indian states. With this business, he also ran a small aluminium conductor business in Patna.

    Anil Agarwal decided to go to Mumbai to help with his father’s business at the age of 19. After going through a lot of analysis and experiments, Anil finally came up with his own business, Vedanta Resources. As a true entrepreneur, Anil Agarwal did business that gained a lot of profits and went into the widespread expansion of his business by making notable acquisitions. He established Sterilite Communications in Aurangabad in 1993 and built a plant to produce aluminium sheets and foils as well as another plant to produce optical fibre.

    As the saying goes, when it comes to luck, you make your own. These words inspired Anil Agarwal when he moved to London. Things changed for him and his company when he got Vedanta Resources Plc listed on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and raised $876 million through an Initial Public Offering in 2003. Anil’s company was not only the first Indian company to be listed on the London Stock Exchange, but it was also the first Indian business group to have global mining and metal production within a decade of starting its manufacturing work.

    Vedanta Group – Mission and Vision

    The mission of Vedanta Group is, “To create a leading global natural resources company”

    Through research, discovery, acquisition, sustainable development, and utilisation of diverse natural resources, Vedanta Group aims to create long-term value for all of its stakeholders. The company also abides by world-class governance, safety, sustainability, and social responsibility standards.

    Vedanta Logo
    Vedanta Logo

    Vedanta Group’s tagline speaks for itself as it says, “Transforming for Good”.

    Vedanta was previously known as Sterlite Industries. The company’s name ‘Vedanta’ is derived from ancient scriptures of India, known as Vedas, which depict the philosophical aspects of life. Vedanta means ‘ultimate knowledge’ that an individual gains about his or her innate self.

    The Vedanta logo is made up of a symbol and the company name that are inextricably linked. As seen, the symbol is circular, representing the global nature of Vedanta as a corporate organisation while also representing the earth, the source of its product and business existence.

    Vedanta Group – Business & Revenue Model

    Vedanta Group can be said to have a diversified business model as it has widespread business activities in the mining of iron ore, gold, and aluminium mines throughout India in states like Odisha, Goa, Karnataka, and Rajasthan. Vedanta Group earns its revenue mainly through producing zinc, lead, silver, aluminium, and power. Moreover, Vedanta is regarded as the key leader in zinc, silver, lead, aluminium, and power.

    Vedanta Limited has the following business operations in producing some of the best products;

    • Zinc, Lead, and Silver – Vedanta Group runs the Zinc, lead, and silver business through its subsidiary Hindustan Zinc Limited (HZL). It operates the Zinc India business. By volume, HZL is one of the world’s largest integrated zinc-lead producers.
    • Oil and Gas – Cairn India (a subsidiary of Vedanta Group) accounts for more than 25% of the country’s crude oil output and is India’s largest private-sector crude oil producer.
    • Copper – In Tuticorin, a district in Tamil Nadu, Vedanta Limited operates the largest copper smelter. This accounts for nearly half of Vedanta Limited’s profits.
    • Aluminium – In February 2001, the Government of India approved the sale of its 51% stake in Bharat Aluminium Company (BALCO) to then Sterlite Industries, which is now Vedanta Limited for Rs.551.5 crores in a major dis-investment deal. BALCO has a 345 ktpa smelter capacity and can produce ingots, wire rods, billets, busbars, and rolled products. In the Indian state of Chhattisgarh, BALCO operates mines, refineries, smelters, and captive power plants. In addition, this company has a 1.75MTPA aluminium manufacturing unit in Jharsuguda, Odisha.
    • Iron Ore – Vedanta Group carries out its iron ore mining activities in the Indian States of Goa and Karnataka. Through its subsidiary, Sesa Sterlite, it is the largest private-sector exporter of iron ore in India.
    • Power – Sesa Sterlite, the subsidiary of Vedanta, is considered one of India’s leading power producers. The company also has a commercial power generation business that currently operates the 2,400 MW Jharsuguda Power Plant in Odisha, the 270 MW BALCO power plant in Chhattisgarh, the 100 MW MALCO power plant in Tamil Nadu, and the 274 MW HZL wind power plants in India.
    • Pig Iron – The company is also engaged in manufacturing steel or steel mills, mainly in the Western and Southern parts of India.
    • Metallurgical Coke – The group through its subsidiary Sesa Group consumes nearly 65% of total production for pig iron production.

    Vedanta’s CSR and Sustainable Activities

    To launch Project Nandghar across the country, Vedanta Group has formed a first-of-its-kind, Public-Private Partnership (PPP) with the Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India. The goal of this project is to modernise and build the Anganwadi infrastructure in India. Furthermore, Vedanta focuses on women empowerment through its CSR initiatives in order to supplement inclusive economic growth in India.

    Through its CSR foundation, the company has contributed around Rs 300 crores, which benefited more than 40 million people.

    Vedanta Group – Shareholders

    Vedanta Group Shareholding Pattern
    Vedanta Group Shareholding Pattern

    Since June 2018, Vedanta Group has been owned 50% by the promoters Finsider International and Twinstar Holding, both of which are owned by 12 members of the Agarwal family. The rest 50% is held by the general public. The promoters own 51% of the company through “Westglobe limited” under “Twinstar holdings” which owns 37%, and “Finsider International” owns about 11%.

    The remaining balance of 49% is owned by mutual funds such as ICICI Prudential, foreign portfolio investors (17%), Corporate bodies (7%), LIC India (6%), Citibank New York (4%), individual retail shareholders (5%) and Citibank NYADR (4%).

    Vedanta Group – Controversies and Challenges Faced

    When there are good times, there are also bad times. It happened so when SEBI found Vedanta (then Sterlite Industries), BPL, and Videocon guilty in 2001 of conspiring with broker Harshad Mehta and 17 other brokers (10 from the BSE and 7 from the NSE) to corner shares and rig share prices. As a result, Sterlite industries were banned for almost two from accessing capital markets. Eventually, after all this incident, Vedanta Resources, the parent company of Vedanta Limited, was listed on the London Stock Exchange.

    Vedanta Group – Acquisitions

    To date, Vedanta Group has made only one acquisition. On July 7, 2022, Vedanta Ltd acquired Athena Chhattisgarh Power for INR 564 crore. Athena is a company that plans to build and operate a domestic coal-fired thermal power plant and is headquartered in Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India.

    Vedanta Group – Advertisements and Social Media Campaigns

    To promote the concept of AtmanirbharBharat, Vedanta launched a campaign known as #AtmanirbharBharatKeLiye and #AtmanirbharHumHaiVedanta in 2021 that shows a video of a teacher along with a group of children singing the essence of sustainable India. Later on, an employee of Vedanta joins them in the quest to emphasize the company’s vision of sustainability and how it is empowering India’s growth and prosperity through its mining sector.

    Atmanirbhar Bharat Campaign by Vedanta

    Vedanta Group – Awards and Achievements

    Vedanta Group has achieved some of the following awards:

    • Vedanta Aluminium received the prestigious recognition of “Indian Affairs India’s Most Valuable Aluminum Producing Company of the Year 2018
    • Vedanta Sesa Goa Iron Ore Karnataka Unit has won 46 awards at the Mines Safety Association Karnataka Zone -3.
    • Vedanta Group has achieved Bronze at the Public Relations and Corporate Communications Awards 2019
    • Vedanta Group was recognised as the Most Sustainable Company in the Mining Industry 2021
    • Vedanta Group has achieved the Zee Hindustan Award for its remarkable contributions in the promotion of sporting activities at Zawar mines
    • Vedanta Group has been recognised as a ‘Great Place to Work’
    • Vedanta Group gets listed in The Dow Jones Sustainability World Index, one of the world’s prestigious environmental, social, and governance (ESG) indices.

    Vedanta Group – Competitors

    Some of the major competitors of Vedanta Group are:

    1. Tata Steel
    2. JSW Steel
    3. Coal India
    4. Jindal Steel
    5. NMDC Limited
    6. Lloyds Metals

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    Vedanta Group – Future Plans

    By the end of 2030, Vedanta Group aims to decarbonize all of its light motor vehicles (LMVs). Besides this, Vedanta Group is aggressively setting up major changes in its renewable energy operations.

    KKR, a private equity investment firm, has announced plans to invest in a new renewable energy platform in India. It is reported that KKR will invest $400 million in Serentica Renewable, a renewable energy company promoted by the Vedanta Group. As per sources, Vedanta Group intends to build 5 gigatonnes of renewable energy capacity over the next few years.

    FAQs

    What is Vedanta Group?

    Vedanta Group is an Indian multinational mining company that has built its reputation as one of the world’s leading natural resources companies.

    When was Vedanta Group founded?

    Vedanta Limited or Vedanta Group was founded in 1979.

    Who is the founder of Vedanta Group?

    Vedanta Group is founded by Anil Agarwal. As of now, Anil Agarwal is the Non-Executive Chairman of Vedanta Limited.

    Who are the competitors of Vedanta Group?

    Some of the major competitors of Vedanta Group are:

    1. Tata Steel
    2. JSW Steel
    3. Coal India
    4. Jindal Steel
    5. NMDC Limited
    6. Lloyds Metals