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  • Four Revolutionary Marketing Campaigns by Mercedes Benz

    We all know Mercedes fiercely competes with BMW!  Marketing is such an awesome tool if mixed with the right kind of humor + emotion + need. ✔️ And, with the right mix – you get a brand that stands out from others. Why? Because, they don’t market, they relate!

    Mercedes Benz is a well-known name in the field of luxury products. The automotive industry is quite wide now and is seeing a great increment in its makers. Earlier, the competition between each luxury brand was limited to their name and loyal customers. However, now the competition is huge and includes almost every aspect of the automotive vehicle industry.

    The best practice to get yourself or your products noticed is by taking the help of advertisements. There is nothing hidden about the use of advertisements by the big brands to make themselves more noticeable or introduce new products in the market.

    Even the automotive industry has the same agenda and if you believe the history, many healthy competitions are noticed taking place between different brands by the means of advertisements. For this article, let us look at the biggest marketing campaigns of Mercedes Benz.

    1. Life Gets Big
    2. Unlock With Mercedes Benz
    3. Are You AMG- Ready
    4. Merc From Home

    1. Life Gets Big

    Life Gets Big is an introductory campaign launch to highlight the features of the Mercedes Benz T-Class. The campaign was launched internationally and was developed by the Mercedes Benz lead Van agency Preuss UND Preuss Berlin.

    Mercedes Benz’s “Life Gets Bigger” signifies an improved space within the car that is sufficient for one family. The rear windows provide perfect space for three kids to hop in or for any other pet to take their place. The van has sliding doors that enable better surfacing of doors while in use. Overall, Mercedes Benz wanted to show that “When Life Gets Bigger”, the Mercedes Benz T-Class will be waiting for acceptance.

    The ad campaign includes a 30-second and 60-second video ad and also some other forms of advertisements to share the information about the campaign “Life Gets Bigger”.

    2. Unlock With Mercedes Benz

    Unlock With Mercedes Benz was a campaign launched before the start of the festive season in 2021. It was estimated to be launched from the first week of September till the end of festivals. The reason behind launching this festival was quite different from other basic campaigns. It was introduced as an unlocking point for people after the pandemic and lockdown.

    The change with this campaign was to provide easy EMI options on the selected models of the brand and it was also packed with insurance policies.

    The thing to note about this campaign was not the offers related to it but the reason behind it. As per Martin Schwenk, MD and CEO, Mercedes-Benz India, “Unlock With Mercedes Benz” is a campaign to revive the sentiments of customers by availing them with the option of unlocking their dreams, finding their inspiration, and undertaking new journeys to explore different adventures.

    The campaign will allow the customers ownership and financial details and make a move to unlock their needed practice.

    3. Are You AMG- Ready

    The campaign “Are You AMG Ready” was specially built to introduce the subsidiary brand of Mercedes Benz named Mercedes AMG. This campaign also covers all the aspects of the AMG model and makes it a promising one. The campaign includes one 60-second long film and four different 30-second videos all demonstrating different brand models of AMG.

    The Are You AMG- Ready campaign stands for the message of “This is our legacy, imagine our future. Are you AMG-ready?”.

    The campaign is mainly introduced to implement the change of a brand into a performance-based luxury brand.

    As per Philipp Schiemer, CEO of Mercedes-AMG GmbH, the performance of the AMG brand will be combined with the luxury of tomorrow to provide a strengthening bond for Mercedes-AMG.

    The campaign mainly targets loyal customers and is willing to be tied up with them. Another targeted customer falls in the range of lifestyle-oriented groups who are willing to get some special kick with the most sustainable consumption pioneer.

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    4. Merc From Home

    The campaign Merc From Home was initiated and launched in 2020 with another great revolutionary method to implement for their customers. The campaign was introduced to make the car buying process much simpler and to enable the whole process of purchasing a luxury car available at the ease of home and by the means of the digital process.

    The campaign “Merc From Home” provides an easy and clear method of purchasing the brand product from the comfort of each individual’s home. The process allows complete steps right from the preparation of the car to the fulfillment of the payment by the means of a digital platform.

    To promote this campaign, every outlet of the Mercedes Benz in India will be connected with the e-commerce platform and will enable the online purchasing of the product.

    The campaign also features an online consultation studio by taking the help of virtual platforms. To have a hassle-free experience, the eCommerce platform is supported by backend processes to provide proper security in the transactions and include steps that provide maximum clarity for the customers to take their points.

    The above graph shows the worldwide unit sale of Mercedes Benz from 2019-2021
    The above graph shows the worldwide unit sale of Mercedes Benz from 2019-2021

    Conclusion

    Marketing strategies provide a great way for every brand to get its share of market visibility. All the luxury car brands have their dedicated team to deal with marketing strategies for their products. For some, these strategies provide a way to increase their sale whereas few brands target their competitors using different strategies.

    It is also noted that many healthy debates take place. When we will at the history of different brands marketing openly about their products, many reformative ideas will be found within them. Similarly, in the above text, some of the most known marketing campaigns are explained.

    FAQs

    How does Mercedes Benz promote their products?

    Mercedes Benz uses different ways to promote its products. The most common way is to advertise using television, Online/ Digital advertisements, and print advertisements.

    How did Mercedes Benz become a market leader?

    Mercedes Benz got its chance to become a market leader because of the undivided focus shown by the team of Mercedes Benz and a few useful tactics that help to increase the customer experience. Many other similar reasons finally made the Mercedes Benz a leader in the industry.

    How does Mercedes Benz use social media?

    Mercedes Benz uses social media along with the addition of a few extensive microsites. Mercedes Benz also made a few campaigns to raise awareness using social media.

    What is Mercedes Benz’s business strategy?

    The strategy used by Mercedes Benz for its business application is termed “Differentiation Leadership and Strategy”. The prime focus of the team is mainly on the marketing aspect of the firm.

  • Uber Files Leak: What Was Revealed, How Was It Leaked and Has Uber Changed?

    The online and offline media headlines are screaming about the global ride-hailing platform Uber and its unethical practices over the years to emerge as a global leader.

    On Sunday morning, the world woke up to shocking news of  ‘The Uber Files’. Originally leaked to ‘The Guardian’ and ‘The Internal Consortium of Investigative Journalists’, it was a treasure trove of almost 124,000 documents. These documents showed just how the tech giant was able to expand with rapidity and the illegal and often violent techniques it resorted to achieve.

    On Monday, the shockwaves continued as Mark MacGann, Uber’s former chief lobbyist for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, identified himself as the source of the leaked data. Seeking higher ground, he said – “It is my duty to speak up and help governments and parliamentarians right some fundamental wrongs. Morally I had no choice in the matter.”

    About Uber
    Business Model of Uber
    What Do the Uber Documents Leak Reveal?
    What Did and Did Not Change at Uber Post 2017?

    About Uber

    Founded as Ubercabs in San Francisco in 2009, by Garret Camp and Travis Kalanick, it came to be known as Uber Technologies, Inc. It is an American mobility service provider, allowing users to book taxis for transport via the Uber App.  

    Over the years, it has added various services like food delivery, package delivery, couriers, freight transportation, electric bicycle and motorized scooter through partnerships with various local operators.

    Since 2013, Uber saw unprecedented growth across countries and emerged as the most popular ride-hailing company. In the fourth quarter of 2021 Uber had 118 million monthly active users globally and generated approximately 19 million rides a day.

    Uber has received criticism for its treatment of taxi drivers, disruption of the taxicab businesses and an increase in traffic congestion. It has also been questioned about the low rates and heavy discounts it offers on its ride-share app, thus undercutting taxi drivers and forcing its partners to take lesser pay.

    Unsurprisingly, Uber has reported losses of millions of dollars since 2014.  In 2018, it exited markets in Russia, China and Southeast Asia in exchange for stakes in rival businesses.

    Global Net Revenue of Uber
    Global Net Revenue of Uber

    Business Model of Uber

    Uber acts as the intermediary between cabs and riders. It does not own any vehicles, but partners with taxi owners and receives a commission for each booking. The dynamic pricing model of Uber is based on the local supply and demand at the time of the booking. This fare is quoted to the customer in advance.

    What Do the Uber Documents Leak Reveal?

    Uber has courted controversy since 2009, when it was founded, from violent conflicts among drivers to the use of secret software to evade law enforcement.

    ‘The Uber Files’ span a period of 5 years, from 2013 to 2017, when it was run by its controversial co-founder Travis Kalanick. Kalanick was forced out of Uber in 2017 following constant controversies including allegations of data breach and sexual harassment scandals.

    Travis Kalanick, co-founder of Uber
    Travis Kalanick, co-founder of Uber

    The period of his reign at Uber is controversial and shows how he utilised that chaos to speed expansion. He spearheaded Uber’s expansion globally, albeit with illegal practices and lobbying with government heads to push through favourable laws.

    Launch of Uber in Paris

    In 2014, Uber launched in Paris – its first European launch. Kalanick established contact with Emmanuel Macron (President, France), who was then, the economy minister. Macron interceded on Uber’s behalf, even brokering secret deals with opponents in the cabinet, to help Uber operate undisturbed in Paris.

    Entry into German Market

    In 2014, the then mayor of Hamburg, Olaf Scholz (currently the German Chancellor), pushed against Uber lobbyists to ease the way for Uber to enter the German market.

    Taking the help of Joe Biden

    Kalanick had a meeting scheduled with the then, US Vice-President, Joe Biden at the World Economic Forum. The after effect of the meeting was an amended statement to his prepared speech at Davos when he referred to a CEO whose company would give millions of workers freedom to work as many hours as they wished and manage their lives the way they want to.

    Kill Switch

    Uber took extensive steps to save itself from authorities. In addition to lobbying with politicians and government officials, Uber had also installed a ‘kill switch’ which they activated to stop the authorities from accessing the company’s computers. The ‘kill switch’ was used in Amsterdam, Canada, Belgium, India, Romania, Hungary and France.

    Endangering Drivers

    Kalanick’s theory of embracing chaos included endangering drivers. Almost every market that Uber entered, triggered organised protests from taxi driver unions, that would sometimes turn violent. He mutely agreed to Uber drivers going to such protests. His ideology? “Violence guarantees success”.

    The documents indicate Uber’s adeptness at finding unofficial routes to power.  It shows a company that had a deliberate strategy of breaking or ignoring laws, and that it was very much aware of it.

    The documents go on to reveal the role that lobbying and relationships with powerful politicians played in its global success. They also reveal that company executives were aware of the illegality of their entire operation.

    Uber’s original idea of citizens driving citizens in their private cars without any permits or licenses mostly fell into a grey area legally.

    Post 2017 – What Did and Did Not Change at Uber?

    The chaos that Kalanick capitalized on has grown Uber to a USD 43 billion dollar company. However, soon after Kalanick was replaced by Dara Khosrowshahi accusations about the workplace culture and sexism seem to have stopped.

    Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber
    Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber

    The company seems to have toned down its aggressive approach and now works with licensed drivers using specific permits. Despite all this, it faces multiple lawsuits regarding its employment strategies and its profitability remains in question.  

    Secondly, although it seems to now work in compliance, it does so only as little as necessary to get away from the attention of the authorities. They are not openly breaking rules anymore, but even its new business model remains close to its previous one. It continues to push for its preferred laws and regulations through courts or by finding legal loopholes.

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    Conclusion

    The details of the expose will continue to grow in the coming days as more details will be made public. What is learned from all this is that apps like Uber and many others promised innovation.

    Instead, they brought out barely disguised models of corruption and exploitation. One can only hope that there are severe penalties for tech entrepreneurs who blatantly break and bend laws. Maybe it will act as a deterrent for future cons.

    FAQs

    What is the Uber leak?

    Uber leak is a trove of 124,000 documents that show how the ride-hailing giant expanded its operations using illegal tactics.

    Who leaked the Uber Files?

    Mark MacGann, Uber’s former chief lobbyist for Europe, the Middle East and Africa came forward to take responsibility for the leaks.

  • DrinkPrime – Disrupting Water Purification Industry With IoT-Enabled Water Purifiers

    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 DrinkPrime.

    The Water Industry in India is embracing several changes since years. Growing health awareness and rapid urbanisation has led to rising customer demands for purified water. Still, only half of the Indian population have access to safe & pure drinking water. Water treatment industry lacks behind making drinking water available to every individual in India. Water treatment Market was valued at $2 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach $4 billion by 2029. With the use of technological developments in water treatment, high-quality drinking water can be supplied and enjoyed all around.

    The use of Internet of Things (IoT) technology is not only helping to better manage infrastructure, but with IoT-enabled customized water purifiers, DrinkPrime is creating a huge impact in the Water industry. DrinkPrime is on a mission to provide access to safe & healthy drinking water to all.

    Know more about DrinkPrime, its founders, business model, and marketing strategy. Read to discover how DrinkPrime is helping people to get access to clean water with its tailored solution depending on the input water quality reaching their home.

    DrinkPrime – Company Highlights

    Startup Name DrinkPrime
    Headquarters Bengaluru, Karnataka
    Industry Water Purification
    Founders Vijender Reddy Muthyala and Manas Ranjan Hota
    Founded 2016
    Total Funding Raised ₹35 Crore
    Website drinkprime.in

    DrinkPrime – About
    DrinkPrime – Industry
    DrinkPrime – Founders and Team
    DrinkPrime – The Idea and Startup Story
    DrinkPrime – Name, Tagline, and Logo
    DrinkPrime – Products
    DrinkPrime – Business Model and Revenue Model
    DrinkPrime – Customer Acquisition
    DrinkPrime – Challenges Faced
    DrinkPrime – Marketing Strategy
    DrinkPrime – Growth
    DrinkPrime – Funding
    DrinkPrime – Advisors
    DrinkPrime – Competitors
    DrinkPrime – Tools Used in the Company
    DrinkPrime – Recognition and Achievements
    DrinkPrime – Future Plans

    DrinkPrime – About

    DrinkPrime is disrupting the 30-year-old water purifier market by making clean, safe and healthy drinking water accessible and affordable to all. Less than 50% of the Indian population has access to safe drinking water and 85% of the water in 20-litre cans is not fit for consumption. By providing customized water purifiers on subscription, DrinkPrime brings the best of both worlds – the affordability of water cans and the expected water quality from a water purifier.

    Unlike traditional water purifiers, DrinkPrime does not have a purchase, installation or maintenance charge, thus making it cost-effective and affordable. With its strong reliance on technology, there is real time monitoring of water and a proactive schedule of maintenance checks, making it a hassle-free experience for the end user.

    They believe in making safe drinking water accessible and affordable to all Indians. They serve 1 lakh+ users and aim to provide safe drinking water to 1 million homes in the next five years.

    DrinkPrime – Industry

    The water purifier market in India stands at about $754.2 million in 2020. Every year, just close to 20 lakh water purifiers get sold. This includes both branded and non-branded water purifiers. And every five to six years, the quality of water keeps deteriorating. This means that consumers have to upgrade their water purifiers every 5 years.

    If you consider the five-year time period, close to just 1 crore households would have a water purifier. This means that, out of 25 crore households in India, less than 5% of households will have access to a water purifier. If you extrapolate it to the population level, you will realise that less than 5% of the people in India have access to water purifiers.

    DrinkPrime is not a part of the 30-year-old water purifier industry, they are disrupting the market by making customized water purifiers affordable and accessible to everyone. They are the market leaders in Bengaluru with 6000 installations every month whereas other water purifier seller brands make about 2000 sales on a monthly basis.

    DrinkPrime – Founders and Team

    DrinkPrime Founders
    DrinkPrime Founders

    Vijender Reddy Muthyala and Manas Ranjan Hota were roommates in Bengaluru when they came up with the idea for DrinkPrime. While Vijender is an Indian Institute of Science (IISc) alumni with a master’s degree in computer science and automation, compiler design, Manas is a Pondicherry University alumni with a master of business administration (MBA) degree.

    Being the Co-founder and CEO of DrinkPrime, Vijender focuses on the roadmap for DrinkPrime and product innovation. Whereas Manas, Co-founder and COO, is focused on getting things done – he manages day-to-day operations to make sure that the company is achieving the set targets and milestones.

    The DrinkPrime team has grown over the past six years. They are present in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, and Delhi NCR and have about 250 members. They are hiring aggressively and are looking to add more people across teams – Sales, Operations, Product and Technology, Management, Finance, Collections and Marketing.

    DrinkPrime is a young startup that scaled up quickly and this growth can be attributed to the attitude of the people who work at the company. People at DrinkPrime take ownership of what they do. Everyone who joins DrinkPrime believes in the mission – providing clean, safe and healthy drinking water to all – and is ready to get things done! This attitude has helped build a fun and highly motivated culture of high achievers.

    DrinkPrime – The Idea and Startup Story

    When Vijender Reddy Muthyala and Manas Ranjan Hota, the Co-founders of DrinkPrime, moved to Bengaluru they resided in an apartment where they were unsure about the quality of water. They conducted some research and realised that the majority of the people, just like them, depended on water cans. But 85% of the water in water cans is not fit for consumption. Moreover, the water purifier penetration in India is less than 5% while TV penetration is more than 70%. This astonishing discovery led them to question the rationale behind the existing water purifiers in the market. The current brands, which were a one-size-fit-all model, weren’t looking at the water that was entering the home, it only focused on the output. This also meant that the water could still be contaminated or there would be a loss of required nutrients and minerals as the input water factors were not being considered.

    DrinkPrime was conceptualised to tackle this problem, where the input water was analysed before suggesting the type of purifier that needs to be installed in homes. It was a tailored solution for each home based on the type of water.

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    DrinkPrime Logo
    DrinkPrime Logo

    DrinkPrime means exactly what the company stands for – drink the best. However, there is an interesting story behind the origin of the startup name – the interest that the co-founders had in Optimus Prime, the fictional character created by the Transformers franchise. Optimus Prime is a perfect synergy of biological evolution and technological engineering. They can easily draw a parallel between this and DrinkPrime – a perfect synergy of product evolution and technological engineering.

    DrinkPrime – Products

    DrinkPrime comprises IoT technology that assesses the input-output water supply. This is also their biggest USP as they have been able to customize each water purifier based on input water quality. When customers subscribe to DrinkPrime, they install a water purifier uniquely customised based on 3 major factors- TDS (Total Dissolved Solids), turbidity, and chloride level. Output water quality is then tested to ensure it is never over or under-purified.

    If the input water quality has a TDS of 0-300 PPM, turbidity greater than 1 NTU and chloride levels are greater than 50 PPM, the water purifier would come with Food-Grade Polypropylene Yarn Wound Sediment Filter, Coconut Shell Activated Carbon Block, Low TDS Reduction RO Membrane for Chemical & Microbial Contaminant Removal, Bacteriostatic Silver Impregnated Post Carbon Filter.

    The custom-made sediment filter is made to ensure that it removes even the smallest suspended matter so the output water is clear and pure.

    If the input water quality has a TDS between 300 and 500 PPM, turbidity and chloride greater than 1 NTU and 50 PPM respectively, the water purifier is constituted with Food-Grade Polypropylene Yarn Wound Sediment Filter, Coconut Shell Activated Carbon Block, Low TDS Reduction RO Membrane for Chemical & Microbial Contaminant Removal, Bacteriostatic Silver Impregnated Post Carbon Filter.

    If the input water has a TDS greater than 500 PM, turbidity that is more than 1 NTU and chloride levels greater than 50 PPM, the purifier would come with Food-Grade Polypropylene Yarn Wound Sediment Filter, Coconut Shell Activated Carbon Block, Low TDS Reduction RO Membrane for Chemical & Microbial Contaminant Removal and Bacteriostatic Silver Impregnated Post Carbon Filter.

    If the input water has a TDS greater than 500 PM, turbidity that is more than 1 NTU and chloride levels lesser than 50 PPM, the product would comprise of 100% Cotton Yarn Sediment Filter + Pre Carbon Block with Organic Activated Charcoal + Chemical Free RO Membrane with Germs Remover + Silver Impregnated Post Carbon Filter.

    There were 3 stages to DrinkPrime’s journey; they started with an organisation called Waterwala, which provided certified canned water to customers. DrinkPrime was able to capture 20000 customers but due to scalability issues, they evolved and came up with a customised water purifier. Post this in 2016, DrinkPrime was born with the ideology of consumers paying only for the amount of water they consume.

    DrinkPrime – Business Model and Revenue Model

    Unlike traditional water purifiers, you don’t have to make an upfront investment to get DrinkPrime. All you need to do is choose the most suitable subscription plan. DrinkPrime offers free delivery, installation, lifetime maintenance, filter changes and relocation. DrinkPrime’s subscription plans start at Rs 339/month.

    DrinkPrime – Customer Acquisition

    DrinkPrime was the first brand to provide water purifiers on subscription in India. The idea of getting anything on subscription itself was a fairly new concept. Initially, the DrinkPrime co-founders’ friends and family members subscribed to DrinkPrime. This helped them understand the impact of providing a water purifier on subscription and to analyse the working of the product on a daily basis. Here’s what happened – the users were happy with the product and the convenience it offered, leading them to refer their friends and family members to DrinkPrime. That’s how the DrinkPrime family grew in the initial days. Currently, 1 lakh+ users trust DrinkPrime to provide them with clean, safe and healthy drinking water every day.

    In an entirely service-oriented industry like DrinkPrime’s, there’s nothing or no one else who can help them grow other than their subscribers. They are proud that about 28% of their new subscribers join them via referrals from their existing subscribers who trust them with their daily drinking water. About 11% of their subscribers happily refer people they know to DrinkPrime on a monthly basis. But they don’t let their subscribers go empty-handed. They receive rewards for every successful referral and this has been helping them reach more people.

    DrinkPrime – Challenges Faced

    When COVID-19 hit India, people and several companies were worried about transitioning from working out of the offices to working from home. But DrinkPrime belongs to the essential services category; They were more concerned about ensuring safe drinking water to its subscribers during the difficult time.

    Here’s what they did – they got special permission from the government of India to ensure there was no delay in DrinkPrime delivery, installation, and service. Their delivery partners and technicians stood by them and were ready to serve their subscribers. They ensured their safety by providing them with all the necessary training in safety protocols and by giving them the required safety kits. The initial period of COVID-19 was a challenge because nobody knew what to expect the next day. DrinkPrime team took it one day at a time but decided to take the challenge head-on; they expanded to Hyderabad and Delhi NCR in 2020-2021 to provide safe drinking water access to more people.

    DrinkPrime – Marketing Strategy

    The majority of the people in India depend on 20-litre water cans for their daily drinking water. However, the hassles associated with getting water cans delivered home is unlike anything else. We’ve even had their subscribers say that they have had to carry water cans up the stairs, this was even more prevalent during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    They understood that this was a major pain point for the majority of their potential subscribers. To reach out to them, they ran ad campaigns with a creative that was extremely relatable to the target audience – A person carrying a Water CAN up the stairs in pain. The campaign worked well for them because it hit a major pain point. The campaign itself was so successful that DrinkPrime competitors have since replicated it.

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    DrinkPrime – Growth

    DrinkPrime was launched in Bengaluru in 2016. In 2020, the company expanded to Hyderabad and in 2021, they expanded to Delhi NCR (Delhi, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Noida) to provide safe drinking water access to more people. DrinkPrime currently serves 1 lakh+ users across seven cities in India and is the leading water purifier brand in Bengaluru.

    The company has been growing over the years and witnessed a 330% growth in the last six months. The number of employees working directly with the company has increased more than 30% since November 2021.

    Currently, DrinkPrime has partnered with close to 100 companies. The list includes myGate, ADDA, Bounce, COLIVE, Edelweiss, Nestaway, MTR, L&T Realty, Nexus Ventures and Partners and Target.

    In the next five years, DrinkPrime aims to provide safe drinking water access to 1 million households in India.

    DrinkPrime – Funding

    Date Stage Amount Investors
    2021 Debt Financing ₹8 crore UC Inclusive Credit and Western Capital
    2020 Venture Debt ₹6 crore Alteria Capital
    2020 Pre Series A ₹21 crore Omidyar Network India and Sequoia Surge

    DrinkPrime utilized the funds to strengthen the team across cities. The funds have also helped in getting DrinkPrime to more households in India and to keep providing a hassle-free experience for the subscribers.

    DrinkPrime – Advisors

    DrinkPrime has several mentors who’ve understood the value of the brand and service. There are several mentors who have become investors in the company.

    DrinkPrime – Competitors

    DrinkPrime offers IoT-enabled customized water purifiers on subscription. Currently, there is no other brand that offers the product/service.

    DrinkPrime – Tools Used in the Company

    The primary tool they require at DrinkPrime is DrinkPrime mobile app. Their mobile app that is in sync with the water purifier helps their subscribers have complete control over their drinking water. While the first few water purifiers were GSM-enabled, the latest version of DrinkPrime syncs with the mobile app via Bluetooth.

    Internally, they use other tools such as:

    Another important tool is the mobile app we’ve built for their delivery partners and technicians. Service is at the core of DrinkPrime and the app helps them ensure their subscribers get the required service on time.

    DrinkPrime – Recognition and Achievements

    They believe that there’s no bigger award than having 1 lakh+ trust them with their drinking water. However, they have received accolades – Forbes Asia 100 To Watch and Fast Company’s Top 10 Most Innovative Companies!

    DrinkPrime – Future Plans

    They are constantly innovating their product to ensure that they make their subscribers’ lives even easier. They are currently working on a water purifier model that will help reduce their involvement once the water purifier is installed in a subscriber’s home. This will give DrinkPrime subscribers even more control over their drinking water.

    For the next five years, their focus will be on providing safe drinking water access to a million subscribers.

    FAQs

    When was DrinkPrime founded?

    DrinkPrime was founded in 2016.

    Who is the founder of DrinkPrime?

    Manas Ranjan Hota is the founder of DrinkPrime.

    Has DrinkPrime raised Funding?

    DrinkPrime has raised funding of ₹35 Crore.

  • Why Is the Indian Edtech Market Under Heavy Loss in 2022?

    One of India’s Edtech giants BYJU’s recently laid off its 500 employees. Similarly, other well-recognized Edtech companies like Unacademy, Vedantu, Whitehat jr., etc. have also handed pink slips to hundreds of their employees in the latest Edtech crisis.

    So, is the Indian Edtech market actually coming to its end? When did it start to crash and what are the causes? Which of the brands will survive the situation?

    In this blog, we will find the answer to all these questions.

    The Inception of the Indian Edtech Market
    Growth of the Edtech Industry in India
    Effect of the Pandemic on the Edtech Market
    The Post-pandemic Struggle of Edtech Companies
    Who Will Survive the Edtech Race?

    The Inception of the Indian Edtech Market

    The coaching centers have been a part of our education system for a long time. Beginning with the small tuition classes with 5-10 students to the big coaching institutes with hundreds of students, this business has travelled a long way.

    Mostly, the inability of the school curriculum to prepare students for competitive examinations and the lack of well-trained teaching staff are considered to be the reason for the advent and proliferation of these coachings.

    Well, whatever the reason be, the truth is that today coaching centers have become an indispensable part of the Indian education system.

    These coaching centers charge high fees, sometimes even higher than the school fees for an entire year, to prepare the students for different exams. They offer classes, study material, question banks, test series, and even hostel facilities for the students.

    Several cities have emerged as coaching hubs for different examinations, such as Kota for IIT-JEE coaching, or Delhi’s Rajendra Nagar for UPSC coaching.

    In continuation of this, with the arrival of new technology, online coaching centers came into the picture. The major advantage of these Edtech companies over offline coaching centers was their cost-efficiency.

    They offered the same course to the students as the offline coaching center but at a very low price, comparatively. It was owing to the lower expenditure needed to run these businesses.

    Actually, to run an offline coaching center one has to spend a humongous amount of money on infrastructure, teaching staff, admin, support staff, housekeeping, electricity & water bill, etc.

    Other than this these coaching centers also have to take care of marketing through billboards, seminars, etc. which further escalates their running cost. In the end, students are the ones who have to pay for these expenses in terms of the high fees charged by these institutes.

    On the other hand, the online coaching centers do not have to spend money on infrastructure, extra staff, or other facilities. All they need are a few experienced teachers who would record the subject-wise lectures for them.

    So, even for the teachers instead of regular monthly payments they only had to pay them once. These companies also hire the teachers on a profit basis to organize doubt-clearing sessions for the students.

    This made their functioning expense go really low. Moreover, back when these companies actually started, the digital modes of marketing, such as YouTube or Instagram, were cheaper. Due to this, they were also saving on their advertisements and marketing costs.

    However, owing to the soaring internet costs this market did not grow much until 2017 when “Jio” entered the Indian telecommunication industry. With its extremely low-cost internet connection, Jio revolutionized the way the coaching industry of India functioned.

    Growth of the Edtech Industry in India

    Owing to the availability of cost-effective internet connections, this led to the rise of digital coaching institutes in India. The market of these institutes was not restricted to a particular city or zone. They could actually approach any student across the country.

    Moreover, with the pre-recorded lectures they could even sell customized courses or subject-specific courses to students. If a student only wanted to study Physics, he/she was not compelled to pay for other subjects as well. Therefore, initially, the Edtech market required ultra-low working capital and was a high-profit margin business with boundless potential to scale.

    Due to all these advantages, a large number of investors with billion-dollar funds approached these companies even turning many of them into unicorns.

    VC Investments in Indian Edtech Startups
    VC Investments in Indian Edtech Startups

    But, here is the twist, as the entry barrier to starting an Edtech company was quite low the competition started to increase. The cost for course making was low and the selling was easy. This invited countless individuals to enter the field.

    This sudden increase in competition led to a number of other changes in the digital market. Owing to the increased number of advertisements for similar products, the cost per conversion escalated multiple times.

    This drastically increased the cost of investment in the Edtech business as the margin between investment and profit shrank to become thinner. This led to incurring losses in most of these companies.

    Effect of the Pandemic on the Edtech Market

    Although COVID-19 brought the entire world into turmoil, bringing several challenges for the entire human community, this pandemic was bliss for the Indian Edtech companies.

    With the shutting down of schools and offline coaching centers, the Edtech industry saw its boom in 2020. The edtech companies utilized this as an opportunity to habituate customers to online learning.

    Resultantly, while they offered more discounts, more free sessions, and other free services to the customers, they also hired more staff and gathered more funding for themselves.

    This was the time these companies invested all their energy and resources to bring the Edtech market to its hype as almost all the students were using online classes.

    The Edtech companies at this point exploded like no one could have imagined inviting more players to join the field.

    The Post-pandemic Struggle of Edtech Companies

    Later in 2021 or the beginning of 2022, the pandemic started to fade away leading to the re-opening of schools, coaching centers, and other institutions. As the students rejoined their respective institutes the resources gathered by the Edtech companies were no longer required.

    The students got involved in their offline activities as earlier, preferring a physical classroom over the virtual one. This led to the major collapse of the Edtech industry in India.

    Finally, the companies began to suffer heavy losses and had to fire the surplus staff including both the teachers as well as the sales team. But, is this Edtech crash occurring for real?

    Unfortunately, the answer is yes. So, the next question appears, who will survive it? To get the answer we have to know who all are the participants in this struggle.

    Who Will Survive the Edtech Race?

    There are three types of players in the Edtech market. First are the super-brands like BYJU’s, Unacademy, etc. These companies have made a name and reputation in the market which is exceptional and considered quite reliable by the customers.

    Second, are the companies with huge funding with which they are able to promote and advertise their products much more efficiently and effectively.

    Third are the personal brands such as Study IQ, Physics Wallah, etc. These are the brands that have grown organically on the basis of their content instead of marketing. These are the most powerful and most profitable players in the field.

    Amongst the three categories, the first ones to get out of the race are the high-funding companies. Even when these companies are able to attract customers with their advertisements, the lack of content and inability to produce results causes trust issues with customers. This causes an early detachment of customers ensuing huge losses for these companies.

    The super brands have no doubt made an irreplaceable image in the market and have earned trust with their services. So, it is expected that they will remain a part of the industry maybe but will have to incur some losses. However, the top players in the game will always be the personal brands. They will always remain profitable and if they stay on the right path they could even become bigger than the super brands one day.

    The reason for this is that they have a brand value like nobody else. It separates them from the commoditized Edtech market. As they have gained this place due to their quality content and customer trust there is the least possibility of collapse.

    Moreover, they have incredible distribution channels with their customers being the source of their publicity. They are able to connect students without even running any ads so their acquisition costs are very low. Therefore, they have an edge over their competitors and run their businesses without even funding.

    Conclusion

    Presently, the Edtech market in India is under heavy loss. The industry is at its worst and facing a huge crisis. The reason for this is the re-opening of schools, universities, and offline coaching centers.

    However, like any other market, the best players in the field who have gained the trust of the customers and built a reputation for themselves will always stand strong with a profitable business, surviving the highs and lows.

    FAQs

    What is the future of EdTech in India?

    Edtech is growing rapidly in India and is estimated to reach around $30 billion in the next 10 years

    How many EdTech companies are there in India?

    There are nearly 9,043 EdTech startups in India.

    How big is the EdTech market in India?

    The market valuation of the Indian Edtech industry is $2.8 billion and is expected to reach $10.4 billion by 2025.

  • Why Google Glass Failed? | Biggest Marketing Lessons to Learn from Google Glass Failure

    Have you ever wondered about the next level of revolution in technology? Well, a world-famous company had thought this through years ago. In fact, they were very near to making this revolutionary development in wearable technology. But, they failed! Must be wondering why? That company was Google, which took the initiative of bringing the most evolved technology measure.

    Years ago, Google developed a smart wearable product named Google Glass. This was known to be Google “moonshot” technology. The image behind the invention was utterly brilliant but, the product didn’t come to stand on its expectations. The product was highly criticized around every aspect from price to safety.

    Google focused on hyping and uplifting people’s expectations for its products but didn’t bring out the harsh reality or its lacking in the market. This led to the major failure of Google Glass. The product’s marketing campaign kept on promoting the product as the future’s precursor technology.

    But with so much dedication and evolved technology, how and why did the Google Glass fail? This revolutionary high potential holder product was largely rejected by the consumers from the mass-market. Google Glass failed in many elements such as health and safety concerns, extensively high price, heat issues and many more.

    In this article, we have discussed these issues briefly and brought out a case study on how Google Glass failed!

    Reasons for Google Glass Failure

    Marketing Lessons to learn from Google Glass Failure

    Google Glass failure case study

    Reasons for Google Glass Failure

    Concerns over Health and Safety

    As soon as the announcement and description of Google Glass came out among the people, there were some major concerns regarding its safety measures and how it could adversely affect our health.

    People were concerned whether it would be safe to use Google Glass every day. Because as per the description, the product was expected to radiate carcinogenic radiation very close to our minds and eyes. However, other brand’s products also emit many harmful radiations, but they don’t make direct contact with our skin.

    Moreover, Google Glass could capture any image at any time so there were some concerns raised for the privacy and piracy of lives. It could capture anything randomly without the knowledge of other people.

    No clear Functioning

    Google Glass
    Google Glass

    When a new product is launched in the market, the first question that comes is what issues does this product resolve. The functioning of the product is set before its invention. You cannot build a product based on whether people would be interested or not. Because planning the functionality of any product establishes the ground goals you are achieving with that product. Marketing strategy, promotion, target marketing and everything should be pre-planned.

    However, Google Glass didn’t stand on any of these scenarios. It had two functions: capturing pictures very quickly and searching anything on the Internet in seconds. There wasn’t any usual or practical usage of this product. Therefore, it doesn’t bring any major benefits to the customers.

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    Battery Issues

    Poll result for Google Glass Battery Hours
    Poll result for Google Glass Battery Hours

    Google Glass had a fixed battery limit of 4 hours, which means you need to keep on charging the glass after every four hours. The product could be discharged any time without your knowledge and then, it would be just useless until you charge it completely.

    The energy consumption in this product was much more than usual. This would result in some major problems after purchasing. And, also there aren’t any standard charging specifications. No matter how many times you charge it, it will be down after a few hours.

    Overprice

    Even with these drawbacks, Google Glass cost around $1,500. Although people were highly disappointed with this product, Google didn’t minimise the pricing. It kept on with the price of $1,500.

    The concerns related to Google Glass were not just random, these issues majorly affect the usage and functioning of this product. These issues couldn’t be resolved after 2-3 sales, in fact, these required some well-researched and evolved changes.

    Language Issues

    Google Glass only worked properly with a native English speaker from the US or UK. But when it comes to sending or commanding in any other language, Google Glass wouldn’t recognise it.

    The major drawback is it cannot be corrected with the keyboard (as in smartphones) because there isn’t any. So it means you can only command in British or American English. That’s why it would become absolutely tough to handle.

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    Heating Issues

    There were some critical concerning issues regarding the heating of Google Glass. When you record a video of 10-15 minutes, it becomes excessively heated because of the intensive computation working. Then, you would need to cool it down immediately otherwise it could cause some high damage not definitively wrong for health.

    Marketing Lessons to learn from Google Glass Failure

    Before launching any revolutionary and high-tech product, you must take a look at the lessons to be learnt from the failure of Google Glass. These lessons are widely described in the following points.

    • Underline the everyday benefits of your product boldly, with the help of paid media who strengthen your product’s PR.
    • Release the product with a short and quick scheduled time to embrace the momentum of purchasing.
    • Do not repeat the mistakes done by Google in the case of Google Glass.
    • Launch your product with utter clearance on what goals you expected to achieve through your product.
    • Maintain and monitor your product advertising and marketing to get a better experience as well as the opportunity to amend the drawbacks.

    Conclusion

    Google had put a great fraction of creativity and technology with Google Glass. It did try to monetize wearable technology. But, it lacked some major elements which resulted in a complete backup for this product. Google may have some very great and interesting plans and ideas for technology but, it does lose in the basic points of checklist.

    Technology is evolving but, with this evolving technology, you must keep in mind that the requirements of consumers are fulfilled. The evolution of technology is in the hands of companies like Google but, the question is, whether the future is products like Google Glass or others?

    FAQs

    What does Google Glass do?

    Google Glass was a wearable computer that could function as a hands-free smartphone, letting users access the mobile internet browser, camera, maps, calendar, and other apps by voice commands.

    When was Google Glass launched?

    Google Glass was launched for public retail on 15 May 2014. The early prototype version “Glass Explorers” was launched in the US in 2013.

    How much money did Google Glass lose?

    Google lost around $895 million on moonshot projects – Google Glass.

    Why did Google Glass fail?

    One of the biggest reason Why Google Glass failed is because it lacked the clarity on why the product exists. The designers did not clearly define or validate, what solutions Google Glass would give for its users, or how customers would use the glasses.

    What were the main reasons for Google Glass failure?

    The main reasons for Google Glass failure were the issues in the wearable device:

    • Concerns over Health and Safety
    • No clear Functioning
    • Battery Issues
    • Overprice
    • Language Issues
    • Heating Issues

  • Ecommerce Automation – What Is It, Benefits, Tools, Case Studies and More

    Ecommerce automation is creating a lot of buzzes. But, does your company actually need it? Let’s find out.

    The main purpose of any eCommerce marketing campaign is to boost sales. This might include sending marketing emails, managing orders, dealing with customer service, and a lot more.

    These tasks may not look like a big deal when seen individually but can give you a headache when they start to pile up, wasting ample time out of your busy day. Also, apart from these, there are a lot of insignificant tasks that require your time and energy.

    As per Deloitte, such tasks are a waste of time, and shifting your attention can cause fundamental improvement in your operations. This is where automation comes into the picture.

    “The eCommerce industry is a force that no investor can afford to ignore” – Cushla Sherlock

    What Is Ecommerce Automation?
    Benefits of Ecommerce Automation
    Tasks to Automate in Your Ecommerce Business
    Top Tools to Automate Your Ecommerce Store
    Case Studies of Ecommerce Automation

    What Is Ecommerce Automation?

    As per the report published by NASA, 60% to 80% of businesses fail due to human errors. These errors can be easily avoided by using automation.

    Like the automation of any other industry, the purpose of eCommerce automation is to simplify your work and streamline the workflow. If you are running a growing company, you understand how often the work gets overwhelming when you feel like you need more workforce or more leaders or managers in your company.

    Automation can actually help you to overcome these issues by saving a lot of your time and energy. Moreover, with a machine taking care of your tasks, the chances of error are reduced to a minimum and your employees can focus on their actual work instead of worrying about something insignificant.

    Benefits of Ecommerce Automation

    As per Statista, the global retail automation market size which was around 11.3 billion U.S. dollars is expected to grow up to 33 billion dollars in 2030.

    This data clearly indicates that automation is helping businesses to grow which is why more and more businesses are relying on it.

    Let us explain in detail how eCommerce automation can actually help your growing business.

    Time Efficiency

    Getting rid of the repetitive tasks that have to be done every day can save a lot of your time. This increases the focus as well as productivity. Moreover, it gives you extra time to review your plans or start off the pending projects.

    Also, automation gives you the advantage of scheduling your tasks. For example, announcing the release of your new product, applying discounts, providing rewards, adjusting prices, etc.

    Streamlined Workflow & Increased Worker Engagement

    These trivial tasks have become a part of the routine workflow of your employees. Most employees complain that miscellaneous works disturb their actual work due to which they are unable to perform up to their potential.

    Using automation allows your employees to focus on more business-oriented work resulting in higher productivity and enhanced employee satisfaction.

    Boost Customer Satisfaction

    As a growing business, the number of your customers also keeps increasing making it difficult to keep them all satisfied. As most of the customers judge your services by the response time you can certainly improve customer satisfaction through automation.

    The eCommerce automation tools facilitate online shopping engagement giving your customers a great shopping experience. These happy customers mostly turn into repeat customers.

    Cost Reduction

    With automation, the cost of working also reduces considerably. The main reason for this is that the mundane tasks are taken care of by the tool so your employees can focus on their work without disturbance.

    This reduces the need for overtime work or increased manpower, ultimately reducing the expenditure.

    Better Communication With Suppliers

    The automation software gives before-time notification whether a product is about to go out of stock or inventory is below a certain level. These can also send triggers to the suppliers asking them to send in the required products.

    Moreover, with timely information, you also get time to look into the supplies rates or other better contracts that may be available from different suppliers. Thus, it helps you grab better deals.

    Tasks to Automate in Your Ecommerce Business

    Up till now, we have given you enough statistics and reasons to know that automating your eCommerce business is in your favor and can help you run faster towards your success.

    Now, let us take a look at the tasks that you can automate now to make your business grow faster.

    Customer Service

    Your employees may not be working after 5 but your customers might visit your website to buy a product even after the working hours are over, and they need assistance. So, how can you manage that?

    The answer is simple, automation. The ability of these tools to provide real-time feedback as well as their ability to instantly answer the queries leads to satisfied customers. Owing to the pleasant experience there is a high probability of these customers coming back to you.

    There are a lot of AI-based tools designed for this purpose. These work as chatbots or virtual assistants and respond to your customers based on the previously formulated rules and fed commands.

    Chatbot Example
    Chatbot Example

    Business Management Automation

    Whether you are about to add a new collection of products or have a weekly sale to offer, automation can help you with all your tedious jobs.

    The tool helps you to schedule your sales with regular posts on social media to attract the attention of customers or set a countdown to keep the hype alive in the customers, and much more.

    A number of heatmap tools are available that help you figure out where to post your ads while launching a new product. They also further help you identify the channels that are working well so you can pay more attention to them.

    Heatmap Example
    Heatmap Example

    Order & Inventory Management

    Managing the inventory is one of the most important yet boring tasks. You obviously need to keep track of your stock to inform the suppliers and order fresh products but doing this manually can be really tedious.

    You can use certain inventory management tools for these purposes that are easy to use and work like wonder. These tools can actually save you from losing revenue owing to poorly managed inventory.

    Automation tools are designed to prepare and send a purchase order to the relevant supplier whenever an item goes out of stock. You can also enable out-of-stock or low-stock notifications in these tools to keep you updated.

    Email Marketing

    Writing and sending emails to your customers manually can be really tedious and boring. Moreover, it is practically impossible to track the activity of each and every customer and send the emails accordingly.

    This is why automation tools are available for help. Whether you have to send the welcome emails, cart abandonment emails, order confirmation emails, or post-purchase engagement emails, these tools keep track of every customer without missing the details.

    Fraud Prevention

    As per a survey, fraudsters take away around $12 billion each year from the eCommerce industry. They use new and sophisticated techniques every time to deceive the customers and business owners.

    There are automation tools that can help you save a large amount of money going into the wrong hands. These tools help you verify each order by checking the IP address or carrying out other verification processes, thus saving you from fraud.

    Accounting

    From funds to invoices, or to keeping track of the payments made to suppliers, accounting can be difficult. Also, if you are new to the business keeping an accountant can be expensive.

    Automating your accounts can save your day. You can use tools that will help you through all your accounting needs without taking a toll on your budget.

    Website Building

    If you are just starting your website to set up your online business without a big budget, the automation tools can be a big help, especially if you are not a technical person.

    These tools can help you with most of your small problems like choosing a template for your website, changing themes, or adding pop-up banners. So you actually spend your money only when you are in real need.

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    Top Tools to Automate Your Ecommerce Store

    Choosing the best automation tool for your website can be complicated. Below, we have listed 6 top automation tools to help you with your eCommerce business. They are:

    MailChimp

    This tool is best known for creating intuitive email campaigns depending on the type of business.

    HubSpot

    This is a very popular tool that mainly focuses on inbound marketing. It pays attention to the sales marketing activities and offers services for support, sales, and marketing.

    Zendesk

    This is an application available as a cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS). It is popularly used for customer service.

    Verloop.io

    This tool is used for customer care to automate conversational support. The insightful data help you keep the customers engaged.

    Sendgrid

    This tool focuses on 1:1 email communication. Moreover, it directly sends customer-centric SMS-based notifications in real-time.

    Jumplead

    This tool helps you generate leads for your eCommerce store. You can also respond to customers, manage leads, and handle customer accounts through this.

    Case Studies of Ecommerce Automation

    For your reference, we are adding a few case studies to help you understand how eCommerce automation has helped several companies grow their online business.

    Truwood

    This Company manufactures bamboo and wood-made watches. They utilized cart abandonment emails and messages. They target the audience based on the value of the cart, giving preference to high-value carts.

    They send messages and emails to the cart owners with the picture of their selected product offering some discounts and creating a sense of urgency through a limited-time offer.

    This strategy has worked really well for the company increasing their return on investment by around 35 times.

    Draper James

    The brand organizes a weekly sale, every year, in mid-march, for celebrating the birthday of its founder, Reese Witherspoon. They utilize the science of retention for their marketing strategy.

    So, instead of the bulk emails, they only send customized emails to the users who have purchased or visited the site in the last 90 days. They nurture their leads by only sending relevant content to the target audience.

    This strategy has led to a 15.4% increase in their year-over-year revenue, even when they have been sending 48.7% lesser emails.

    Premier

    This eCommerce store sells accessories and apparel. They focused on improving the customer experience by sending them price drop emails for the product they have shown interest in their previous budget.

    The automation tools for sending customized emails have worked really well for the brand and resulted in a huge increase in open and click rates.

    Blush and Bar

    This brand sells sustainable and affordable jewellery. As they noticed that the maximum traffic for their site came through social media ads, they utilized these leads to reach their target audience.

    They generated pop-up ads for mobile devices that do not require much information to be filled in but allowed the user to subscribe in a few taps.

    This simple but effective marketing strategy has led to an increase of $39,000 in their sales within the first month of implementation.

    Embla

    This brand sells home goods online. They used a holistic SMS marketing strategy for improved customer experience and trust-building.

    Instead of asking every visitor to subscribe to their website they only triggered this to the customers who were in the final stages of buying their product. Through this, they began a friendly re-engagement campaign for their customers.

    This strategy has really helped them to win back inactive customers and resulted in a 60% increase in their conversion rates.

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    Conclusion

    Ecommerce automation in all its capacity is helping businesses to grow online. The different services are offered as per the business requirements. They help in better utilization of time, money, and resources as well as help in improving customer satisfaction.

    These tools are designed to streamline the workflow and increase work engagement. Overall, the Ecommerce automation tools are worth your money, time, and efforts.

    FAQs

    Why do companies use eCommerce automation?

    Many companies use eCommerce automation to streamline workflow, save time, boost efficiency, and also help boost customer satisfaction.

    What is workflow automation in eCommerce?

    Workflow automation is when repetitive tasks are done with the help of automation tools instead of humans.

  • Sudhir Chaudhary – The Interesting Journey of Consulting Editor of Aaj Tak

    Sudhir Chaudhary is an Indian journalist and former CEO of Zee News. He became popular after his tv show DNA (Daily News and Analysis). Sudhir Chaudary’s journey started as a journalist on Zee television. He joined Zee News in 1993 at the early stage of Zee television. He worked on other channels like live television reporting and then 24 hours news television.

    One Important aspect of Sudhir Chaudhary’s life as he was part of a crew who went on a task of coverage of the Vajpayee–Musharraf Indo-Pak meeting in Islamabad, after the Indian Parliament attack happened in 2001 and also the Kargil war too.

    Chaudhary resigned again from Zee News in July 2022. Sudhir Chaudhary conveyed to Essel Group chairman Subhash Chandra in his resignation letter saying that his decision was a “result of my internal deliberations” to “start my own enterprise”.

    There were rumours that the DNA host is going to start his own venture but Sudhir joined Aaj Tak as a consulting editor.

    Sudhir Chaudhary – Early life
    Sudhir Chaudhary – Career
    Sudhir Chaudhary – Controversies
    Sudhir Chaudhary – Awards

    Sudhir Chaudhary- Biography

    Name Sudhir Chaudhary
    Birthplace Hodal, Haryana
    Born 7 June 1974
    Nationality Indian
    Age 48 years
    Wife Niti Chaudhary
    Education Diploma in Journalism, BA
    Position Consulting Editor at Aaj Tak
    Net worth Rs.22 Crores

    Sudhir Chaudhary – Early life

    After completing his BA, Chaudhary prepared for the UPSC exam as he aimed to become a civil servant. He hadn’t gotten off the exam so went on to pursue a diploma in journalism and started his career with Zee television in 1993.

    Sudhir Chaudhary – Career

    Chaudhary has been working in the television news industry since 1993. He belongs to the first generation of television journalists. Sudhir Chaudhary when speaking at TED Talks explained the story of how news channels have evolved.

    Sudhir Chaudhary at TEDx
    Sudhir Chaudhary at TEDx

    The first television channel Doordarshan started a 5 min news bulletin and then Zee television the news channel and how hard he and his team struggled to get the news travelling to various places and putting a lot of effort into gathering the news to run the show. He was in live television reporting and also worked in India 24.

    In 2003, he left Zee news and played a key role in the launching of Sahara Samay, the Hindi-language news channel of the Sahara group. He also joined India TV for a brief time. In 2012, he rejoined Zee News, where he hosts the news show Daily News & Analysis (DNA).

    The news show Daily News & Analysis (DNA) became the highest-rated TRP show in the country in news television history. Although the show had many rumours that Sudhir Chaudhary manipulated the proof of many issues.

    Chaudhary resigned again from Zee News in July 2022 to join Aaj Tak as a consulting editor.

    Sudhir Chaudhary in Aaj Tak Office
    Sudhir Chaudhary in Aaj Tak Office

    Sudhir Chaudhary – Controversies

    One of the biggest allegations faced by Chaudhary was 100 crore money extortion from Mp Naveen Naveen Jindal. The issue follows this way, in the year 2012 Chaudhary and Zee business editor Samir Ahulwlia was alleged to extortion of ₹100 crores from his company in exchange for dropping stories that linked Naveen Jindal former Mp and Jindal Steel chairman.

    Jindal had also mentioned that he had handed over 14 min footage to the media and adding to it he stated “The government gives channels a licence to show news. They are not given a licence for extortion or blackmail.” On filing FIR by Jindal the police arrested both the head of Zee and were put in Tihar jail for 14 days and later on released on Bail.

    Dhulagarh Riots

    In the year 2016, Zee News and Sudhir Chaudhary faced another issue which was due to the Dhulagarh riots. Although the riots were happening for many days the West Bengal government did not allow any media to showcase the issue to the country and the state too. The government believed that it increases the issues even more but Zee News covered the riots and a case was filed against Sudhir Chaudhary, cameraman Tanmay Mukherjee and correspondent Pooja Mehta by the Bengal government.

    Jihad Chart Controversy

    Even in 2020, Sudhir Chaudhary went to a controversial issue telecasting a ‘jihad chart’ in his DNA episode. The issue went into a non-bailable case under section 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious belief). The issue is Chaudhary spoke about the anti-muslim conspiracy which came on Facebook against the minorities in 2014 from an unknown website.

    Adding to this Sudhir Chaudhary faced many controversies in the continuing year.

    Sudhir Chaudhary – Awards

    • In the year 2013 Sudhir Chaudhary won a Ramnath Goenka Award for Excellence in Journalism in the “Hindi broadcast” category. He won the award for interviewing the December 16 gang-rape victim.
    • In 2022 Sudhir Chaudhary was awarded the most trusted CEO award in the Idea fest 2022.

    FAQs

    Who is Sudhir Chaudhary’s wife?

    Sudhir Chaudhary is married to Niti Chaudhary.

    What is the salary and net worth of Sudhir Chaudhary?

    The salary of Sudhir Chaudhary is 25 lakh per month and his total net worth is 3 million dollars.

  • Why Was the Chairman of Spicejet Ajay Singh Arrested?

    Day by day, something or other happens in cases related to fraudster or swindling. In India, such issues go viral and are often linked to businessmen duping money and getting away easily.

    While there can be numerous reasons as to why someone can cheat or will cheat puts us to question our thoughts on the system. Things like these can be distressing to see when we don’t have the answers for ourselves.

    As we are all aware that the breaking news of Ajay Singh getting arrested by the police has left many viewers anxious. The curiosity is only rising as to why and what happened that led to his incarceration.

    Recently, Ajay Singh, an Indian entrepreneur and the Managing Director of SpiceJet airline, has been booked for defrauding a businessman of Rs 10 lakh worth of shares.

    Who is Ajay Singh?
    Career and Foundation of Spicejet
    Political Alliances of Ajay Singh
    Why Was Ajay Singh Arrested?

    Who is Ajay Singh?

    Ajay Singh, MD of SpiceJet
    Ajay Singh, MD of SpiceJet

    Born on the 29th of December 1965, Ajay Singh was brought up in Delhi’s Maharani Bagh area. His father belonged to Alwar, and his mother was from Meerut.

    He did his graduation in engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, and holds an MBA degree from Cornell University in the United States. Besides this, he is also a law student and holds a degree from the University of Delhi.

    Ajay Singh is married to Shiwani Singh. The couple has a daughter named Avani Singh, who is an alumnus of Standford University.

    Career and Foundation of Spicejet

    Ajay Singh co-founded India’s second-largest airline SpiceJet in 2005. He started the airline with the object to make airlines affordable for every Indian. After about five years since the inception of SpiceJet, Ajay Singh exited the company.

    When the company was on the brink of shutting down, Ajay Singh decided to take over SpiceJet again. Soon after his leadership, the airline started to grow making it one of the best-time performers among several other airline service providers.

    Ajay Singh is known for his all-rounder personality, such as being a businessman, sports administrator, bureaucrat, and investor. He is currently the Chairman and Managing Director of SpiceJet.

    Ajay Singh is fond of sports and games. Keeping in view his liking for sports, he is the President of the Boxing Federation of India, and Associate Vice President of the Indian Olympic Association. On 25 September 2016, Ajay was elected as the President of the British Film Institute (BFI).

    He is also the first-ever Indian to Chair the Aviation, Travel and Tourism Governor’s meeting at the World Economic Forum, Davos in 2019.

    Due to his sharp leadership skills, SpiceJet was responsible for the Boeing order of making 50 Bombardier Q400 planes. The order was approved by then US President Donald Trump.

    Political Alliances of Ajay Singh

    Many believe Ajay Singh to be the BJP’s right-hand man. He is the go-to person for every member of the party for any kind of political advertisement.

    Ajay Singh is associated with politics as he managed the campaigning for the BJP during the 2004 and 2014 general elections. He is the man behind the famous slogan, “Abki Baar Modi Sarkar”, which translates to Now is the time for Modi Government.

    Most of the opposition parties refer to him as “Chhota Ambani or Chhota Adani of Narendra Modi for being privileged under Modi’s political clout.”

    Why Was Ajay Singh Arrested?

    Amit Arora, a Gurugram businessman has filed a complaint against the Managing Director of SpiceJet, Ajay Singh for delivering a fake Depository Receipt (DIS) worth Rs 10,00,000 shares.

    In his complaint, Amit Arora revealed that Ajay Singh had promised him shares worth Rs 10 lakhs of SpiceJet for the services Amit had provided him during the time when Ajay brought over the airline from the promoters.

    He claims that when he approached Ajay, he handed him a depository slip, which was later found out to be invalid. Upon reaching him several times, Ajay Singh denied paying him the shares.

    Since there was no option of getting the shares from Ajay, he pressed the charges against him. Additionally, he has claimed that Ajay has been cheating many others in the same manner. He got to know from a source that a person named Chetan Nanda and Priti Nanda had charged a criminal complaint against Ajay Singh and that they were duped of their shares in the same manner.

    On 11 July 2022, Ajay Singh has been arrested by the Gurugram police under Sections 406 (criminal breach of trust), 409 (criminal breach of trust by a public servant or banker, or agent), 415 (deception), 417 (cheating), 420 (cheating and dishonesty) of the Indian Penal Code.

    To clarify the allegations against Ajay Singh, an official from SpiceJet has stated that these allegations are done to defame Ajay Singh and are inauthentic. The company is soon going to file a defamation suit against Amit Arora, who is the complainant.

    The administrator from SpiceJet said,

    “A frivolous, mischievous and completely bogus complaint has been filed by a liquor dealer Amit Arora with Gurugram police with an intention to hurt SpiceJet and Ajay Singh’s image.”

    Conclusion

    The case is under investigation. Some reports suggest that the high court has issued the case as a non-bailable warrant against Ajay Singh as he was unable to appear before the court due to covid isolation. Only time can tell what will happen next.

    FAQs

    Why was Ajay Singh arrested?

    Ajay Singh, the chairman of SpiceJet was arrested for defrauding a Gurugram businessman for Rs 10 lakh worth of shares.

    Who is the owner of SpiceJet?

    Ajay Singh is the owner, chairman and managing Director of SpiceJet.

  • How to Get Pre-seed Funding for your Startup in India?

    The era of startups and business has dramatically changed in the past decade and especially after the Covid-19 pandemic. Hence, it is very important for all of us to know and understand what the funding landscape looks like today and in the future. Earlier, the only goal for businesses and entrepreneurs was to get Series-A funding. If one did not have enough traction, the only way forward was bootstrapping.

    Fortunately today, startup investing has become more competitive and new level funding categories have made their way to the market. One of the increasingly popular funding ways for emerging companies and businesses is Pre-seed funding. This funding requires you specific preparation so as to set yourself and your business up for growth and success.

    The Pre-seed investors have been a boon to the startups as they allow them to raise the funds which they require and bring minimal viable products (MVPs) to life. This article is a guide for you to know what Pre-seed funding is and how to get pre-seed funding for your business or startup in India.

    What is Pre-seed funding?
    How to Get Pre-seed Funding in India?
    Where to find Pre-Seed Investors in India?

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    A step-by-step process of fundraising

    What is Pre-seed funding?

    In order to help a startup to start with its primary and base operations, an investor makes a small investment into the business. These investors or individuals invest in the business when they know the founder personally or hold strong faith in the business idea. This activity of investing is known as pre-seed funding.

    There are many platforms that provide pre-seed funding in return for a stake in the startup or the business idea. Pre-seed funding can also be obtained through crowdfunding.

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    How to Get Pre-seed Funding in India?

    It might sometimes seem nerve-racking for you to meet the pre-seed investors as in the initial stage one might not see the vision you carry. Like any other funding round, your key is to have your finances organized and have a clear business plan that will be used by you. Here are the tips through which you can acquire Pre-seed funding.

    Have Financial and Profitable Clarity

    At this stage, it is very important that you set an easy and clear outline of your business’s path to profitability. If you have a clear and thoughtful business plan that serves as a long-run road map for your startup then there are chances of you grabbing the investment.

    If you keep your financial estimates attainable and concise; put emphasis on the business strategy and transparency; prove your credibility, you can win the investor’s trust and funding.

    Keep your Business Proofs Ready

    When you pitch in front of investors, the key to winning the investment is that you show proof of success for your business idea. Test your business idea in the market, communicate your assumptions clearly, and transparently share your business plan with the investors will help you to get the pre-seed funding for your startup.

    Vouch for your Intellectual Property

    Even when you do not have any cash in hand and hard assets for your business, you can show your credibility to the investors. One of the best ways to do this is to make them believe in your intellectual property.

    If you are able to demonstrate your business idea effectively and ensure the investors that you will work towards your brand and will protect them from infringement by other business entities, you show your company’s credibility to them and make your pitch more investable.

    Show your credibility

    One of the most effective ways to show your worthiness is to be clear and confident about your past records and professional accomplishments. It is important that you present all the sources of funding that you would have acquired in the past (if any), and present all the successes that you have had in the past. Become very sure to explain to the investors how you were successful and support it with tangible and quantifiable evidence.

    Where to find Pre-Seed Investors in India?

    After you have got to know about the steps to acquire Pre-seed funding, you need to now find the investors. This is one of the most challenging parts for many entrepreneurs.

    Today’s investors do not accept unsolicited pitches and usually, they let them pitch you after an introduction from someone within their network. Here you will find a few ways to get your business to those who will invest in it and can fund it.

    Family & Friends

    Using your personal connections and network to invest in your business in the initial stage is a very flexible and safe option for pre-seed funding. People who have seen your journey, dedication, and passion will be willing to put funds into your ideas. If your friends and family see potential in you and your startup idea, then they would be definitely investing their money in your business.

    Pre-seed Funding Platforms

    Number of early-stage venture capital deals worldwide
    Number of early-stage venture capital deals worldwide

    In the industry, there are many pre-seed funding platforms that encourage businesses and startups at their base-development stage by providing them with small amounts of funds to initiate their business activities. Through Pre-seed funding platforms, your business will get an opportunity to start your operations and get access to the market.

    A few common Pre-seed funding platforms include:

    • Unitus Seed Fund
    • Infuse ventures
    • Kae Capital
    • Blume Ventures

    Crowdfunding Platforms

    Crowdfunding is an excellent way to generate pre-seed funds for your business or startup. Though equity-based crowdfunding is illegal in India, donor-based and reward-based crowdfunding options are entirely legal. Raising a small amount of money from large masses through crowdfunding platforms can be a good way of acquiring pre-seed funds for your venture.

    Business Incubators

    There are various incubators in the industry who are willing to make small-scale investments into startups and businesses in the form of pre-seed investments. Their aim and motive are to support and assist early-age entrepreneurs in pursuing substantial market opportunities. In India, a few great incubators are:

    • Advantage
    • Seedfund
    • StartupXseed
    • Incubate Fund India
    • Better Capital Labs

    Pitch Competitions

    One of the best ways to get in front of investors is to participate in pitch competitions. All you need to do is practice your pitch, mark a good impression, prove yourself and strike a pre-seed funding deal. Such startup pitch competitions have become very common today and it is a very good way of winning funds for your business idea.

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    Conclusion

    Although anyone can bootstrap, some unique and revolutionary ideas need Pre-funding to be invested in the idea. Some people give up on their dream because they think getting pre-seed funding is near impossible and in fact, magical. But not the real entrepreneurs. They hustle, plan and reach the best person who believes in their ideas and invests in them. They find such people by strategizing and expanding their network, at the same time.

    Remember, you can reach anyone. There is a difference of only 6 people between you and that person. And if you keep expanding your network, you will reach that perfect investor who actually believes in your idea and invest in it.

    FAQs

    What is Pre-seed funding?

    In simple words, Pre-seed funding is the capital needed to start any business. It is acquired by investors to develop the business in return for equity in the company.

    What is the average amount of pre-seed funding in India?

    Most startups expect $500,000 or less pre-seed funding from investors.

    How much equity is given in the seed rounds?

    Most founders usually sell 10% to 20% equity in seed rounds.

    Where can entrepreneurs find Pre-seed funding?

    Entrepreneurs can find Pre-seed funding from several sources:

    • Family & Friends
    • Pre-seed Funding Platforms
    • Crowdfunding Platforms
    • Business Incubators
    • Pitch Competitions

    How to get pre-seed funding in India?

    Some tips to get pre-seed funding in India:

    • Have Financial and Profitable Clarity
    • Keep your Business Proofs Ready
    • Vouch for your Intellectual Property
    • Show your credibility