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  • Pabbly Connect – Now Seamlessly Integrate Your Tools

    Businesses are always in search of easier integration and better operations. By creating a smooth workflow and setting up the automation between software such as marketing tools and payment gateways, businesses can boost productivity and focus on important tasks.

    That’s when Pabbly Connect can come in handy. Pabbly Connect is a  great time-saver tool with absolutely no coding required to set up workflows and integration between the apps.

    But how does Pabbly connect work to create workflows between different tools and platforms? In this article, we have shared the working of Pabbly Connect and the types of Pabbly integration.

    What is Pabbly Connect?
    Pabbly Connect glossaries
    How does Pabbly Connect work?
    Setting up a webhook integration in Pabbly Connect
    How to use Filter in Pabbly Connect?
    What Apps Does Pabbly Connect Integrate With?

    What is Pabbly Connect?

    Pabbly Connect is an automation tool that connects two or more apps together and helps in automating the data transfer between these apps by creating the workflows.

    Using Pabbly connect, you can seamlessly transfer the data between your favourite software, SaaS tools and services without making manual efforts. Pabbly Connect helps you connect a wide range of applications together to create streamlined workflows.

    Pabbly Connect Glossaries

    Before we explain to you the working of Pabbly Connect, there are a few terms related to it that a user needs to know.

    Trigger: Trigger is the main application through which the data transfer takes place.

    Action: An action is a step where you need to add the other apps to which you want to transfer data and perform an action from that app.

    Tasks: Any action performed inside the workflow is called a task. Note that triggers are not calculated as the task. A task is considered when an action takes place in the workflow.

    Operations: Once you have set up the automation, a new check is performed after a fixed time to see if there is any new data. If there are checks after every 5 minutes, the total operations in a day would be 288. That’s why Pabbly Connect offers unlimited operations.

    Workflow: A workflow is a combination of a trigger and action steps. It may have more than one action. There are unlimited workflows but you may be charged for the actions.

    Iterator: The iterator divides various data into different variables one by one until the last value is reached. These values are passed from one action step to another if an iterator is added.

    How Does Pabbly Connect Work?

    Pabbly Connect is a cloud-based application that does not need any downloads. You can sign up and get started with a free version. The free version of Pabbly Connect offers unlimited workflows and unlimited operations so that you can create the internal workflows instantly.

    Pabbly Connect workflow is usually a 2 or 3-step process.

    The two steps are namely:

    • Trigger (If something happens)
    • Action (Do this when…)

    You can add as many action steps below depending on which apps you want to transfer the data. Besides this, you can also add filters, iterators and routers in the action step.

    Pabbly Connect gives two integration opinions; webhook and API module integration.

    With the webhook, you can connect to over 800+ third-party apps. These are the apps with which Pabbly provides direct integration. However, you will need to follow some steps to connect the trigger app to perform an action. Different trigger apps require different steps to capture webhook responses and create a workflow.

    Setting up a Webhook Integration in Pabbly Connect

    Trigger

    This is the first step to creating workflows in Pabbly. The trigger will send the data to the action step when an event occurs in the triggering app.

    Choose the app that you want to set up as a triggering app. Add the filter ‘Triggering event’ when you want Pabbly to perform the action.

    For example, if you wish to perform the action only when a new Facebook lead is generated, you can choose the trigger app as ‘Facebook’ and the Trigger event as ‘new lead’.

    Adding Facebook Lead
    Adding Facebook Lead

    While some apps may require you to perform a few steps through the external apps to capture the webhook response, some triggering conditions or apps do not require any steps to capture the response.

    Here are some examples of Triggers:

    • When a customer purchases something from PayPal.
    • When someone submits a form on Pabbly form builder of another form builder that you chose.
    • When a new user books an appointment.

    Actions

    An action is performed when the required event occurs inside the trigger app. By choosing the application and what action you want this app to perform, you can integrate these two apps together.

    Adding a subscriber using Discord
    Adding a subscriber using Discord

    A filter tells the data that type of data you wish to send.

    Here are a few examples of actions inside the Pabbly Connect workflow:

    • Add the new lead to the email list inside MailChimp
    • Share files through Dropbox
    • Set up welcome SMS through Twilio

    You can also set the conditional filters to perform the task only when a specific action occurs.

    Let’s consider an example where a user wants to add a new contact to the email list when a new charge occurs through Stripe.

    Step 1: Choose the trigger app ‘Stripe’ and select the trigger event as ‘New Charge.

    Creating trigger event using Stripe
    Creating trigger event using Stripe

    Step 2: Go to Stripe’s webhook settings section and add the new endpoint by clicking on ‘Add endpoints’.

    Step 3: Copy the webhook URL and paste it into the endpoint box. Also, choose the ‘charge. succeeded’ as the events to send responses.

    Adding Webhook
    Adding Webhook

    Step 4: After adding the endpoint, click on the ‘Capture Webhook Response’ button to connect Stripe with Pabbly Connect.

    For this, you need to make a test payment.

    Step 5: Make a test payment through Stripe by selecting the email, name, currency and adding a new customer.

    Adding a new payment and customer
    Adding a new payment and customer

    Step 6: After adding all the required information, click on Submit payment to perform a test payment.

    Submitting Payment
    Submitting Payment

    Step 7: Once you have made the payment, your trigger app will be connected to Pabbly Connect.

    Step 8: Next, connect the action app with your Pabbly Connect account by choosing the app that you wish to integrate.

    For instance, select MailChimp as the action app and choose the action to perform.

    Selecting the action app - MailChimp
    Selecting the action app – MailChimp

    Step 9: Once you click on Connect, you will be asked to integrate the API keys from the action apps to Pabbly Connect. Follow the steps as mentioned.

    Adding a new connection in MailChimp
    Adding a new connection in MailChimp

    On clicking ‘Save’, your action app will be integrated with the trigger app. Thus, a new workflow will be created between these two apps.

    You can further add more action steps if you wish to transfer data from this second platform to the third one.

    You can add as many action steps by clicking the ‘+’ button. Choose the application to connect and the event for which you want to perform the action.  

    Selecting the action app - Agile CRM
    Selecting the action app – Agile CRM

    What makes Pabbly Connect easy to use is that it gives a step by step guide on how to connect the specific apps to the workflow.

    Different actions and events may require different steps to perform and connect these apps. But, the basic idea behind the workflow creation is to smoothly transfer the data between these apps and reduce the time and effort.

    Another method of integrating these apps is via the API module.


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    How to Use Filter In Pabbly Connect?

    Filters can be used in the action step to perform an action only if a specific field in the platform is selected.

    Let’s say, you wish to gather data from a specific gender using your form. Once you’ve selected the trigger app as any form builder, connect it to the Pabbly Connect and then add action as ‘Filter’.

    Select the Filter field as ‘Gender’ and choose ‘equal to’ from the drop-down. Enter the value as ‘female’ or ‘male’ whichever you want to capture.

    You can connect the trigger app like form builder with an action app such as Google sheet to collect only the responses from a specified gender. Thus, Pabbly Connect can also streamline your task of filtering the conditions.

    What Apps Does Pabbly Connect Integrate With?

    Pabbly Connect offers integrations with over 800 different apps. Pabbly Connect seamlessly integrates with apps including:

    • Marketing
    • CRM
    • E-Commerce
    • Helpdesk
    • Payments
    • Web forms
    • Collaboration

    These include apps such as 123 form builder, Agile CRM, HubSpot, Zendesk, Stripe, PayPal, Slack, Ninja Forms and many others. Check out the full list of integrations here.

    Conclusion

    Pabbly Connect is an amazing workflow creation software that helps you integrate various apps together and enable you to perform actions. In fact, it is one of the best Zapier alternatives at present.

    What makes it better than Zapier is that it allows unlimited operations and allows actions as a task. This makes it more affordable than Zapier. Plus, setting up the trigger and action is fairly easy since you get the step by step guidance on how to set up the action.

    Above all, Pabbly Connect offers 100s of helpful guides and video tutorials to help you understand how the integration works. You can sign up and start with Pabbly for free and perform 3x workflows as compared to other similar apps!

    FAQs

    What does Pabbly Connect do?

    Pbbly connect lets you integrate 800 plus tools and helps you streamline your workflow.

    How much does Pabbly cost?

    The basic plan of Pabbly Connect starts at $10/month and goes upto $40/month

    Is Pabbly Connect Free?

    No, but Pabbly Connect provides unlimited workflows, operations and 100 tasks per month for free.

  • How Does Category Design Help in the Success of Your Business?

    Surviving and thriving in the business world requires forward-thinking and innovation. Category design is a strategic approach that uses points of view to win customers and increase brand awareness. The traditional method of creating products followed by rigorous marketing doesn’t always guarantee results.

    If you’re looking to establish yourself in a certain niche, the category design principle is the way to go. Even in specialized niches, there’s a possibility of crowding. Category design helps create a unique company powered by unique processes and a great brand—ultimately achieving the ‘Category King’ title.

    The concept is premised on owning the market and tilting the thought process of your target clients in your favour. The mental shift in the appreciation of your brand is the end goal. In this article, we will talk about how category design helps businesses to achieve success.

    Harmonized and Laser Focus of Marketing Campaigns
    Discovering and Dominating New Category of Business
    Creating Dominant Products
    Tapping Into Existing and Working Systems
    Create Loyal and New Customers
    Impacting the Society Positively

    Harmonized and Laser Focus of Marketing Campaigns

    Marketing efforts and campaigns may contain different messages making it a trial and error method. The effectiveness of marketing efforts is a big success factor in a business. To dominate markets, a harmonized marketing campaign backed by a solid product can lead to ultimate success.

    One of the key marketing originators is your staff. A clear understanding of the Point of View (POV) can be beneficial in a variety of ways. This includes: –

    • Campaigns in Media– This will create an overall standard angle of blogs, messages in the radio and TV ads, and other assets such as influencer marketers.
    • Employee Marketing– They’ll have a harmonized way of tackling issues like customer service leading to brand authority.

    Brands that command markets use a standard way of doing things. Harmonized marketing messages can help a lot in achieving this.

    Discovering and Dominating New Category of Business

    Popular brands like Twitter, Coca-Cola, Airbnb, Uber, and Apple have one thing in common. They take time to study the market, develop a product that answers the needs and create a winning and unique marketing campaign.

    These companies don’t necessarily create new inventions. For instance, taxi services existed before, but Uber’s business model was created to meet a certain market need. This propelled them to become a global household brand.

    Creating a mind shift and new demand is what revolutionizes markets. Airbnb for instance is a unique service that offers cheaper alternative accommodation for guests around the world. Since it was launched in 2008, it has hosted 400 million guests and is present in 191 countries.

    The huge success of these unique companies is inspired by daily problems. These companies leverage existing technology, existing industries, and marketing platforms to monopolize these categories.

    Creating Dominant Products

    In a bid to make money in business, people tend to go with the flow. This leads to continued production of mediocre products, shrinking value to the customers, and, ultimately, poor response from the market.

    Listed below are ways in which great and legendary products are created and established: –

    • Study Competitors– This is an old principle but it’s very important in any business for success. Look at the model of operation to spot areas of improvement. Sealing loopholes in a competitor’s product can be a springboard to a great product.
    • Customer Pain Points– Words on the street, online reviews, and professional reviewers can help discover product ideas. Category design aims at creating products that offer genuine and niche solutions.
    • Product Presentation– Packaging products to dominate markets involves branding messages and an overall presentation that seals the existing loopholes.

    Using category design, your product can achieve the dominant player status. This is achieved through a thorough product development cycle.

    Tapping Into Existing and Working Systems

    One of the biggest reasons for creating businesses is making revenues, profits, and generating wealth. To shorten the journey to success, re-inventing an old principle doesn’t always translate into revenue. If a business can use the already existing models and systems, it’s much better.

    Let’s look at two businesses that utilized this model to succeed.

    • Netflix– Netflix and other similar programs made watching movies and other TV programs very affordable. Instead of paying a huge cinema entry fee, Netflix offers a revolutionary service where a nominal monthly subscription can provide access to unlimited movies and programs. The model of business is an agency that sign-ups movie productions and brings them to the masses.
    • Amazon– This e-commerce company made a $3.3b net income in 2019. Amazon doesn’t manufacture any of the products it sells and doesn’t own the internet or the delivery channels. This is an example of a successful company that brings ideas into an existing ecosystem.

    Leveraging existing business models helps eliminate huge capital expenditure. This lets you focus on solving customer pain points and popularizing your unique viewpoints.

    Create Loyal and New Customers

    Category design doesn’t bring big business to you, but loyal and new audiences do. People and the market get excited by new products, unique innovations, and ground-breaking ideas. This makes them reward you with continuous business and social applause.

    Loyal customers give you positive reviews and recommend you to other clients. This, in turn, creates a spiral effect that brings new customers to you. Ultimately, you can use customer support and free endorsement from them to create new and better products.

    Impacting the Society Positively

    Apart from profits, social impact at the community and the global level is one of the major objectives of a business. Category design can help create products coupled with marketing messages that can drift people’s mindsets.

    Apple, for instance, uses the tagline ‘Think differently’. Its products and brands reinforce the message. This makes such a brand have a positive impact on future business leaders and innovators. This has propelled the success of multiple brands such as iPod, iPhone, Apple Store, and iTunes.

    Conclusion

    Category design is a unique way of improving your business and putting it on the path to success. The idea is founded on creating a highly specialized niche that can help you dominate markets. Forward and revolutionary thinking are the secrets of the success of big and wealthy brands. To fully tap into this strategy in business, investing in your innovation hub should be a top priority. This will help you research, develop, and tilt viewpoints so that your company can thrive.

    FAQs

    What is Category Design?

    Category design is a strategy that helps a business develop its own classification of products and services.

    When was Category Design proposed?

    Category design was first proposed in a book called Play Bigger.

    Who was the writer of Play Bigger?

    Play bigger is written by Al Ramadan, Dave Peterson, Kevin Maney and Christopher Lochhead.

    What is a Category blueprint?

    A category Blueprint is a design of how a product or service will work in the future.

  • How BNPL Companies Make Money? | Scope of Buy Now Pay Later in India

    Customers tend to purchase their products with various options when they buy through an e-commerce website. This could be through the various debit cards the customer has in their possession, through net-banking accounts, or through cash-on-delivery where they would pay for their products in form of cash once they receive the product you can pay for it next month when you have the money to do so.

    There is a new trend that is emerging by the name of Buy Now Pay Later(BNPL). Say you find a good mobile phone worth say 10,000 rupees, but you don’t want to pay for it as it goes out of your budget for the time being (due to a cash crunch or whatever reasons it may exist). But say by opting for the BNPL alternative, the third-party BNPL company would pay the e-commerce site the 10,000 rupees and then you can pay the BNPL company the same 10,000 later.

    There are various BNPL companies in India like Lazypay, ZestMoney, Simpl, MobiKwik, etc. Some companies, like Amazon in Amazon Pay Later and Ola in Ola Money Postpaid, have an intrinsic BNPL system built within them.

    But then doesn’t it make you think, how do these BNPL companies make money in the first place, given the various instabilities associated with it potentially? How is it different from the conventional credit card? What is the market scenario of companies which offer the BNPL service in India? We will discuss all of these in this article.

    How do BNPL Companies earn revenue?
    Difference Between Credit Cards and BNPL
    Scope of BNPL in India

    About Buy Now Pay Later payment options

    How do BNPL Companies earn revenue?

    BNPL companies make money mainly from two avenues:

    Revenue from Sellers

    For vendors, BNPL is an alternative payment method (others including credit & debit cards/wallets/Cash-On-Delivery) and thus, they have to incur a transaction fee like any other medium at a particular rate. However, a rate of 2-8% is higher than a normal credit-card discount rate, which is usually around 2.9% for e-commerce transactions and about 1 percent less for transactions made by credit cards in-store.

    Thus, BNPL companies have to position their service offering in such a way that it convinces future customers of how enticing their service is, and this would further convince more vendors to buy into the BNPL service they are offering thus increasing the customer traffic.

    Revenue from Customers

    Most third-party BNPL providers do have their soft-credit checks to avoid giving money to people who have a poor record for repaying obligations, but this is not universal. Here is how BNPL provides monetizing from consumers:

    1)Interest- This varies depending on the company. Some providers like Lazypay charge an interest of 10-30% on the “loan” amount, depending on the customer’s credit and duration of repayment. There are other organizations like Split in America which do not charge any interest rate as long as the installments are paid in due time.

    2) Late fees- This forms a major chunk of the revenues of the BNPL organization (as high as 30%). Late fees occur when a charge is imposed on a customer for not paying the due amount on time and he thus has to pay later. Think of it like borrowing a book from a library, and then the various fines accumulated for not returning the book.


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    Difference Between Credit Cards and BNPL

    Difference between BNPL companies and Banks offering Credit cards

    In India, there are mainly three differences between BNPL companies and banks that offer credit cards.

    1)Eligibility Criterion- Banks have more stringent criteria to give out credit cards (such as their CIBIL credit score, whether they are earning above a certain criterion or not). BNPL companies are relatively less stringent in their criteria. This helps many consumer segments, such as self-employed people and lower-income category sections.

    2) Accessibility- Unlike credit cards, where you have to fill various online forms going through multiple levels of authentication, we can get access to the BNPL option through a one-stop authentication using our UPI ID. Another fact to be noticed is there is no waiting time to avail of the BNPL option unlike say credit cards, where we have to wait 2-3 weeks after applying for one.

    3)Interest Rates- BNPL companies tend to offer an interest rate of around 28-30% and as mentioned earlier, interest rates are only applied when the customer opts for a longer duration of repayment. Whereas for credit cards, this tends to be way higher than 36-42% annually. Cases of high-risk borrowers do exist in which BNPL companies offer their services at interest rates similar to credit cards.


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    Scope of BNPL in India

    Currently, as it stands, unlike other developed nations, BNPL in India is still in its infancy. But it has been widely speculated that it could take off in the future.

    A market research firm by the name of Redseer estimates that India’s BNPL market will stand at 45-50 billion dollars by 2026 from the measly 3-3.5 billion dollars as it stands right now. The research firm also predicts that the number of BNPL users in the country could rise to 80-100 million customers by that time, from the 10-15 million users it currently has.

    As per Upasana Taku, co-founder of MobiKwik, “Only 60-70 million Indians have access to credit today, which means 93% of India has no access to credit”. Thus, there are a lot of opportunities to be exploited by BNPL companies in the Indian market, where millions of people have little access to formal credit. The poor access to formal credit has further been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

    These things can be noticed in the fact that about one-fifth of the revenue of MobiKwik is due to the BNPL transactions and there has been a 45x growth in BNPL transactions for MobiKwik. Similar trends can also be noticed in other BNPL companies.

    Currently, the major obstacle is, unlike those behemoth banks that offer credit cards, BNPL companies can only offer a maximum credit of 100,000 rupees (which roughly equates to 1310.17 dollars). But this can be overcome as long as the reach of BNPL companies spreads all-over India, especially in the tier-2 cities and villages of India.

    Conclusion

    Thus, this article documents how BNPL companies get to make their revenue in India, how they are different from banks that offer credit cards, and what is their scope in our country. In a country where a lot of people are transitioning from the lower-income group to the middle-class group, this appeals a lot to the Gen-Z and millennials of our country. The more people get access to credit, the more they spend on various goods which leads to the growth of the economy.

    FAQs

    Which are the BNPL apps in India?

    Some of the best BNPL companies in India are:

    • Lazypay
    • ZestMoney
    • Simpl
    • MobiKwik
    • ePayLater
    • Flexmoney
    • Paytm Postpaid
    • Sezzle

    What is the BNPL market in India?

    According to the Q4 2021 BNPL Survey, BNPL payment in India is expected to grow by 89.5% on annually. It will reach US$ 6927 million in 2022.

    Which are the E-Commerce website that allows Buy Now Pay Later option?

    Top e-commerce websites that provide the payment option of Buy Now Pay Later for complete range of products are:

    • Amazon
    • Flipkart
    • Myntra
    • MakeMyTrip
    • Yatra
  • Which Are the Biggest Fast-Food Restaurants Chains in the World Today?

    There are two kinds of people when it comes to food choices. The first are the ones who like to try new things every time they go out. The others are the ones who like to stick to their routine of comfort food.

    The young people of today are keener to try out new foodstuff in new restaurants. They like to explore new places not only for the food but also for the aesthetics of the ambiance.

    But no matter how much one tries out new eating places there are certain names that do not go out of style and choice. These are the famous restaurant chains that are present all around the world.

    Restaurant Chains are collection or group of restaurants. These restaurants have the same name, image, and food and beverages offered. The company opens many outlets in different locations all around the world. These outlets can be owned by the company itself or it can allow others to open them by making them buy the franchise.

    These chains are huge brands now. Their quality, menu, and environment are something that will always attract consumers themselves.

    There are many restaurant chains that are super popular in the world. For Example- Starbucks, McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and many more.

    How the Pandemic Treated Restaurant Chains?
    Biggest Restaurant Chains in The World

    1. McDonald’s
    2. Subway
    3. Starbucks
    4. Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)
    5. Domino’s
    6. Burger King
    7. Pizza Hut
    8. Dunkin’
    9. Taco Bell
    10. Wendy’s

    Biggest fast food chain in world

    How the Pandemic Treated Restaurant Chains?

    There was no sector in the market that did not get affected by the pandemic. Like every other area, even the restaurant chains were deeply impacted by it. In the beginning, almost every chain had to struggle due to the sudden closure of their activities.

    But it was not for long. Soon, the eating places were allowed to continue their operations. There were certain restrictions like the food was not allowed to be served within the restaurants. Takeaways and home delivery were the only sources for them.

    Many chains like Pizza Hut faced losses due to this and as a result, they had to shut down their various physical outlets. Others, however, like McDonald’s became popular choices for people because of their drive-thru facility.

    So, the impact of the pandemic was quite mixed for the restaurant chains. They faced losses, and had to shut down certain outlets, but were also able to gain their customers back in no time.

    Biggest Restaurant Chains in The World

    There is a specialty about restaurant chains, they have the loyalty of their customers. This loyalty is what makes them strong and able to expand further.

    The following are the biggest chains of the restaurant in the world:

    McDonald’s

    Founded: 1940
    Founder: Richard McDonald and Maurice McDonald
    Heaadquarters: Chicago, USA

    When it comes to fast food, a brand name that instantly pops up in our heads is McDonald’s. McDonald’s was founded in the year 1940. The founders are Richard McDonald and Maurice McDonald. Its primary office is in Chicago, USA.

    The chain is famous for its delectable burgers, fries, meals, and more. It has more than 40,000 outlets in different locations in one hundred nineteen countries. It is the largest chain of fast-food restaurants in the world.

    Subway

    Founded: 1965
    Founder: Peter Buck and Fred DeLuca
    Heaadquarters: Milford Connecticut, USA

    Another super important name on the list is Subway. It was founded in the year 1965. The founders are Peter Buck and Fred DeLuca. Its main headquarters is in Milford Connecticut, USA.

    Subway is most famous for its submarine sandwiches and wraps. Also, it offers other foodstuffs like salads, donuts, beverages, and more. It has more than 37,540 outlets in around a hundred countries. Out of these around half of its number are in the USA.

    Starbucks

    Founded: 1971
    Founder: Zev Siegl, Jerry Baldwin, and Gordon Bowker
    Heaadquarters: Seattle, USA

    So many people around the world are almost addicted to the coffee of this chain. It was founded in the year 1971. The founders are Zev Siegl, Jerry Baldwin, and Gordon Bowker. Its primary office is in Seattle, USA.

    Starbucks is famous for its varied variety of coffees, elegant décor, and luxurious experience. It has nearly 34,300 outlets present in more than eighty countries. This is the biggest coffeehouse restaurant chain in the world.


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    Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)

    Founded: 1952
    Founder: Pete Harman and Colonel Sanders
    Heaadquarters: Louisville, Kentucky

    Whenever we think of eating crispy and delicious fried chicken, KFC is the first name to come to our heads. This restaurant chain founded in the year 1952 is the favorite of many. Pete Harman and Colonel Sanders started the chain of these fast-food restaurants. Its primary office is in Louisville, Kentucky.

    It is notable for its amazing chicken burgers, chicken popcorns, hot wings, and many more. It has more than 25,000 stores in around one hundred forty-five countries.

    Domino’s

    Founded: 1960
    Founder: James Monaghan and Tom Monaghan
    Heaadquarters: Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

    It is a restaurant chain known for pizzas founded in the year 1960. James Monaghan and Tom Monaghan are the founders. The headquarters is in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. Domino’s is the biggest player when it comes to the pizza market in the world.

    This is super popular for its range of delicious pizzas. It is a popular and favorite of many because of its great delivery service and various offers. It has around 18,850 outlets in more than ninety countries.

    Burger King

    Founded: 1954
    Founder: David Edgerton and James McLamore
    Heaadquarters: Miami, Florida, USA

    In terms of burgers, McDonald’s is not the only player in the market. There is another popular restaurant chain in the market is Burger King. It was founded in the year 1954. David Edgerton and James McLamore are the founders of this chain. The primary office is in Miami, Florida, USA.

    This is the most popular for its signature Whopper (its signature hamburger). It also provides special meals, beverages, and certain desserts. It has around 18,650 outlets in a hundred countries.

    Pizza Hut

    Founded: 1958
    Founder: Dan Carney and Frank Carney
    Heaadquarters: Plano, USA

    It is the most popular brand when it comes to a variety of pizzas. It was founded in the year 1958. Dan Carney and Frank Carney are the founders of this famous chain of restaurants. The headquarters is in Plano, USA. Be it in India, the USA, or others, this is surely one of the favorite restaurants for many.

    It is renowned for its amazing pan pizzas, garlic bread, pasta, and more. The restaurant chain has more than 18,000 restaurants in the world. These are present in above a hundred countries.


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    Dunkin’

    Founded: 1950
    Founder: Bill Rosenberg
    Heaadquarters: Canton, Massachusetts, USA

    It is the biggest restaurant chain for donuts and coffee in the world. It was founded in the year 1950. Bill Rosenberg is the founder of this popular chain of quick-service restaurants. The primary office is in Canton, Massachusetts, USA.

    It is the most favored for its wide variety of savory donuts. It is also renowned for its coffee, bagels, beverages, and more. Dunkin Donuts is not so successful in India, yet there are almost 12,900 outlets of Dunkin in forty-two countries in the world.

    Taco Bell

    Founded: 1962
    Founder: Glen Bell
    Heaadquarters: Irvine, California, USA

    It is a quick-service restaurant chain founded in the year 1962. Glen Bell is the founder of this chain. The headquarters is in Irvine, California, USA. It offers in-house services, takeaways, delivery services, and drive-thru in certain locations.

    Some of its most prominent items include nacho fries, chicken power bowls, crunchy tacos, and more. It has around 7,791 outlets in thirty-one countries.

    Wendy’s

    Founded: 1969
    Founder: Dave Thomas
    Heaadquarters: Dublin, USA

    It is another popular name on the list, established in the year 1969. Dave Thomas is the founder of this chain of quick-service restaurants. Its headquarters are in Dublin, USA.

    It is renowned for its delectable hamburgers, fries, sandwiches, and more. Another super popular item offered by it is Frosty (a beverage) which is the favorite of many people. It has around 7,000 restaurants in thirty countries around the world.

    Conclusion

    There is no doubt in the fact that the restaurant industry is touching new heights every day. This is because food is something that is never going to be out of interest. Nowadays, the concept of restaurants has been expanded to a great extent. There are fine dining restaurants, food trucks, cafes, and more.

    People not only focus on the quality of foodstuff but also the environment of a restaurant. So, the places that provide a perfect combination of both are the famous restaurant chains that are present around the world. The above-mentioned are the names that make for the largest chains in the world. These are the ones that have their own shares of ups and downs. But with their customers’ loyalty, they know for sure how to always bounce back and continue to progress further.

    FAQs

    Which are the biggest restaurant chains in the world?

    Biggest restaurant chains in the world are:

    • McDonald’s
    • Subway
    • Starbucks
    • Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC)
    • Domino’s
    • Burger King
    • Pizza Hut
    • Dunkin’
    • Taco Bell
    • Wendy’s

    What is the largest Fast Food Chains chain?

    Top 3 Largest Fast Food Chains in the World by Revenue are:

    • Starbucks
    • McDonald’s
    • Subway

    What chain restaurant has the most stores?

    Subway has 44,758 stores around the world.

    How many McDonald’s restaurants are in the world?

    There are 38,695 McDonald’s restaurants in the world.

    Which restaurant chain has highest revenue?

    Starbucks has annual revenue of $26.5bn.

  • PickYourTrail – A Success Story of How It is Making Vacation Planning a Breeze!

    Till now what most of the travelers have been doing while booking international trips is to either book a pre-made package where one gets to see what the travel agents want to show, or go unplanned and explore things locally. However, there are drawbacks in both these ways. In pre-made packages, one has to rush through all or selected important tourist spots irrespective of one’s interest and do not get much time to experience and feel the destination. Again, going without a plan to a new destination can turn out to be a perfect disaster without proper knowledge and guidance. But thankfully now, there is a third way too, to plan your international trip. Pickyourtrail, a Chennai based travel startup is here to plan trips which are specially customized as per your interest, travel duration, etc. With these customized trips, one can explore a place at his own pace, while Pickyourtrail takes care of all the nuisances like hotel booking, activity booking and more.

    Pickyourtrail Highlights

    Startup Name Pickyourtrail
    Headquarter Chennai
    Founders Hari Ganapathy & Srinath Shankarnarayanan
    Sector Travel and Tourism
    Founded 2014
    Website PickYourTrail.com
    Parent Organization Travel Troops Global Pvt Ltd

    About Pickyourtrail
    Pickyourtrail – Industry
    Pickyourtrail – Founders and Team
    Pickyourtrail – Startup Story | How was Pickyourtrail Started?
    Pickyourtrail – Name, Tagline and Logo
    Pickyourtrail – Launching Startup
    Pickyourtrail – Revenue Model
    Pickyourtrail – Funding and Investors
    Pickyourtrail – User Acquisition
    Pickyourtrail – Startup Challenges
    Pickyourtrail – Competitors
    Pickyourtrail – Growth
    Pickyourtrail – Awards
    Pickyourtrail – Future Plans

    About Pickyourtrail

    Pickyourtrail helps travelers plan for their vacations without the pain involved in the planning. The platform uses deep-tech to let travelers create, customize and book international vacations in a jiffy. Pickyourtrail’s proprietary comfort score considers more than 40 factors like duration, travel time, ratings, etc to build personalized itineraries that travelers can further customize  & book. After the trip is booked, travelers can use Pickyourtrail’s app to keep track of bookings and get real-time information on flight and weather updates, restaurant recommendations and on-trip chat support.

    In February 2020, Pickyourtrail announced partnership with fintech company ZestMoney to provide consumers with flexible payment options for booking itineraries.  Pickyourtrail customers will now be able to book travel packages at No Cost EMIs, along with options to ‘Travel now, pay later in 3 easy installments. Through this partnership, Pickyourtrail aims to build a wider customer base.

    Some USPs of Pickyourtrail are

    •    Trips are 100% customizable
    •    All-round support is provided to the traveler during the trip
    •    The travelers get to choose from unlimited traveling options based on one’s own  requirements
    •    Trips are tailored in a pocket-friendly manner.

    Our goal is to become one of the top travel brands globally when it comes to vacations. Given that we have the piping/infrastructure in place in terms of automated bookings, independent modules there are a lot of opportunities for us to tap into newer businesses – Hari Ganapathy

    Pickyourtrail – Industry

    As per various reports, the total outbound travel market will be valued at about $40Bn by 2020. As per a recent WTO Report, India will account for 50 million outbound tourists by 2020. Again, as per a report by a leading OTA in India, the total outbound “online” market is $3.3B.  If you take in the global vacation market, that is a much larger number.

    “We strongly believe that this is neither a winner takes it all market nor a shrinking pie; there is a large headroom for growth for us,” Hari says explaining the outbound travel market.


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    Pickyourtrail – Founders and Team

    Hari Ganapathy and Srinath Shankarnarayanan are the founders of Pickyourtrail. Hari and Shankar are friends since college days. Both the founders are passionate travelers and it is their love for travel that motivated them to start Pickyourtrail.

    Hari Ganapathy

    Hari Ganapathy is an alumnus of IIM Bangalore. Prior to founding Pickyourtrail, Hari worked with prestigious companies like  Cognizant  Technology Solution, Macquarie Bank, Britannia Industries Limited, Reckitt Benckiser and InMobi.

    Srinath Shankarnarayanan

    Srinath Shankarnarayanan is the calm that every organisation needs. His ability to break down the everyday chaos into digestible smaller units is priceless. Srinath enjoys both math and aeroplane modeling! He is the brain behind the routing, pricing and personalization algorithm at Pickyourtrail. He holds a Bachelors in Mathematics and an MBA from NMIMS Bombay. His ability to talk across subjects right from Sitcoms, bikes, wartime books, plane building to complex algorithms make him a great person to hang out with!

    Team PickyourTrail

    Pickyourtrail – Startup Story | How was Pickyourtrail Started?

    Pickyourtrail began as an attempt to break how vacations are currently been planned and booked by travelers. The seed to all this began in August 2012 when co-founders – Hari & Srinath went on a Europe trip.

    Ardent travelers themselves, the duo had put in more than 2 months to fully craft their vacation. This included planning end-end, bookings, and visa processing. It was during their trip they stumbled upon fellow travelers who were all on packaged tours. Interacting with them, Hari & Srinath understood they were literally rushed between destinations and their urge to discover new experiences wasn’t fulfilled. The travelers, on the other hand, were amazed to see the flexibility Hari and Srinath had in their itinerary and that piqued their interest.

    Once back home, the duo was bombarded with pings asking for details on how they went about planning the entire trip. These interactions slowly multiplied and this lead to an idea that changed their career roadmaps forever!

    Pickyourtrail was a name that embodied choice and travel.

    “In fact we got early customers calling it Pickmytrail and luckily we got that domain as well :)” Hari says.

    Initially, Pickyourtrail’s tagline was, Stop Touring, Start Travelling, this was easily relatable to the new age travelers who didn’t want to be tourists. That was also in sync with the company’s early goals of getting more folks to travel at their own pace and style. The company’s current tagline is ‘Unwrap the World’.

    “As we matured and built a brand, we now have moved to Unwrap the World. We believe this helps us position the brand globally and has a lot more emotional layers than the earlier one” – Hari says explaining the thought behind the tagline

    Pickyourtrail’s first logo was aimed around a play on infinite options that were possible if we traveled.

    Pickyourtrail’s first logo

    The current logo was re-built with the need that the old logo could not easily fit into various shapes and color backgrounds. Pickyourtrail wanted to move to a logo which could scale across collaterals and use cases. The new logo symbolizes a flag and P and a baggage tag as well. The ideation behind this was – a flag is generally used to symbolize a group of people united by a cause or value system.

    Pickyourtrail’s current logo

    Pickyourtrail – Launching Startup

    Pickyourtrail was  launched initially as an activity market place – the positioning was – “when was the last time you did something for the first time?” While there was a lot of traffic on the product, the traffic to conversion was quite low. Interacting with the customers, the team realized the biggest problem was no hook to book. With hotels and flights, pricing and availability were strong hooks. With an activity, there was no real hook. In this process, they realized that planning an end to end vacation was a huge hassle.
    This time around the team decided to just build a minimum viable product for end-to-end travel planning, and had a simple landing page. This got Pickyourtrail almost 10000 sign-ups in the first few weeks and there was no looking back!

    Pickyourtrail’s initial landing page which attracted 10000+ signups within a few weeks

    Looking at the great interest that people showed towards end to end travel planning, Pickyourtrail launched VEHO in 2016 –this was its first attempt at building a product where travelers can create, customize, and book vacations online.

    “We were quite skeptical about market response and hence launched it under a new name VEHO. We scaled Bali on the back of VEHO and then brought it back under the mother brand in 2017” – said the Pickyourtrail founders.

    Pickyourtrail – Revenue Model

    Pickyourtrail earns revenue from affiliate commissions or partner commissions that come in from the partners with whom the bookings are done.

    Pickyourtrail – Funding and Investors

    Pickyourtrail raised series A funding worth $3 Million in February 2019. The company further raised an undisclosed sum on March 22, 2022, from a clutch of investors including CRED founder and CEO Kunal Shah, Adit Parekh, Vina Ahuja and other existing investors. The total amount raised by Pickyourtral is more than $3 mn.

    Funding Date Funding Stage Funding Amount Investors
    March 22, 2022 Venture Round Kunal Shah, Adit Parekh, Vina Ahuja and other existing investors
    February 18, 2019 Series A $3 Million Kumar Vembu and Shyam Sekhar and j joined by Rajagopal Subramanian and Girish Mathrubootham

    Pickyourtrail – User Acquisition

    Pickyourtrail acquired its first set of customers from referrals and word of mouth.
    “When a product or service solves long-standing pain points of customers, it accrues good karma. I still remember how our first landing page (personalized vacations, crafted by travelers) was a huge hit! We got 1000 sign-ups within a week. Our emails kept buzzing. And we actually had to start charging folks to start sending itineraries cos there was so much demand”Hari recalls

    Speaking about Pickyourtail’s approach to customers Hari says,“I think like most good products or services, there is always a latent demand and we seem to have hit that wall with our clear positioning. The challenge has been to continue the same amount of quality even as we scale. Every customer whom we brought on board was not a transaction but a longer LTV(Lifetime Value) view. That view has helped us build trust and build the ever-increasing repeat and referral cohort!”

    Pickyourtrail also used social media extensively to reach out to customers

    The first step was to ensure that we had enough followers on the Facebook page. This was around 2013 and Facebook still let you bulk invite friends to like pages. We ensured that every single friend of ours helped us gain more followers by inviting folks”.Pickyourtrail  concentrated on posting original travel content that was inspirational. This helped the company gain a lot of engagement on the page without having to actually spend.

    In between, Pickyourtrail also dabbled some ideas in Twitter where it would automatically be alerted for any tweet with vacation/itinerary. The team would jump in and answer those questions and plug Pickyourtrail.

    The next hack that worked for Pickyourtrail was sending interesting offers to its subscriber base. Over the first 6 months, the company managed to get up to 5000 email user base and that short tactical campaign helped them garner more monies.

    Hari shared another interesting technique that the Pickyourtrail team employed to get customers on board “At one point we went into competitor Facebook pages and pulled out numbers of folks who were requesting for an itinerary and called them. You would be surprised that almost 8/10 folks were unhappy with the competitor cos nobody would have responded. So we tweaked our strategy a bit and started calling folks only after a couple of days :)”

    The Pickyourtrail team also used groups in FB wisely.

    Rather than  promoting itself, the Pickyourtrail team used its travel knowledge to answer questions in those groups and at the same time spoke about Pickyourtrail.

    Besides, answering on Quora also worked for the company. Pickyourtrail answered about everything under the sun with respect to outbound vacations which helped it attract more customers.

    Currently, Pickyourtrail is actively running campaigns (paid/organic) to grow its customer base and deliver happiness.

    If we had to reflect on the initial strategy – it was around building good content and distributing it. Be it FB, Twitter, Quora. And this when combined with some tactical strategies like Twitter lead alerts, or FB groups it worked quite well. Once we had a flow of customers our execution capabilities ensured that the cycle of repeat and referral kicked in as well.


    MakeMyTrip Success Story – Founder | Business Model | Revenue
    More Indians are now booking tickets and hotels online than ever before. Nothingcan beat the comfort of being able to plan a trip from the comfort of your home.You can check out the prices and compare them to get the best out of the deal. A company that holds a major share in the Indian online …


    Pickyourtrail – Startup Challenges

    Hiring and scaling the tech team was one of the main challenges Pickyourtrail faced early on. Another issue that existed was that many supply partners did not have an online presence, making things tough for the Pickyourtrail team.

    As Hari explains, “Once the tech hiring happened, we realized that a lot of supply partnerships was still offline. This meant that customers still had to wait to get their customized quotes. We weren’t happy that the CX was poor because of industry constraints.  For a large part of our supply, we took huge risks and had static pricing. While there could have been potential losses, thanks to our learning algorithms we could revisit these static prices periodically to ensure we minimize exposure. Our focus on “speed as a habit” has helped us come up with quite a few of these hacks and put customer experience at the forefront of all our efforts”

    Pickyourtrail – Competitors

    While Pickyourtrail claims that it has no competition in terms of tech or business model, from a customer’s point of view, competition comes right from Thomas Cook, Cox and Kings, MakeMyTrip to even self-bookers.

    What differentiates the Pickyourtrail from its competitors is broadly two things:
    a) Itineraries that are executable – There are the host of tech companies trying to solve the trip planning problem. Given they don’t take responsibility for the end experience, the itinerary is not necessarily well thought out. At Pickyourtrail, thanks to the combination of routing, personalization and pricing algorithms – the company is able to own the entire end to end consumer experience and ensure that each and every itinerary is bookable!

    b) Touch + Tech Model – A vacation is an emotional purchase and needs consultative selling given that the average ticket size is around 2.5lakhs. Pickyourtrail uses tech to manage critical components like routing, pricing, etc. Parts of the vacation that need high emotional quotient like choosing cities or visa, we bring in a human touch to ensure the overall experience is seamless. This unique approach has also helped Pickyourtrail win recognition from Google and BCG.

    We are extremely cautious as we try and balance the scale and standardization game. We cannot ever put our customer happiness on the back burner. In fact, one of the key levers for our growth is unprecedented leaps in customer delight.

    Pickyourtrail – Growth

    ●    In 2018, Pickyourtrail’s revenue run rate stood at around $9.5 Million
    ●    Number of travelers who picked their trail has grown by ~115% ( 2018-2019 data)
    ●    Peak concurrent traveler stood at 100 people in a day
    ●    Over 300,000 personalized itineraries was created in the first half of 2019
    ●    NPS score of 72 is a testimony of the unrelenting focus on customer happiness.


    ScoutMyTrip – Top Road Trip Planner | Founder | Business Model | Funding
    Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified informationon different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by the organization it is based on. Road trips have a different charm altogether. Stopping by to click photos,trying local food on t…


    Pickyourtrail – Awards

    Pickyourtrail has been recognized for its efforts and services. Some rewards and recognition, that the startup has in its kitty are-

    • Awarded the ‘Startup of the Year’ at the Tiecon Awards in October 2018.
    • Won the ‘Most Innovative Travel Startup’ award at the Travel Tech Launchpad Summit organized by FICCI in March 2018.
    • The Google-BCG Travel Trends Report June 2017, called Pickyourtrail the benchmark in the industry for its comprehensive customer experience.
    • In October 2016, Pickyourtrail was recognized as the Aussie Specialist, mate!
    • In May 2016, Pickyourtrail got into the Top 10 travel innovators at the Phocuswright Asia-Pacific Travel Innovation Summit.

    Pickyourtrail – Future Plans

    For the next 2-3 years, the Pickyourtrail team will be broadly concentrating on

    • Acquiring more customers on the digital medium, and try and build its own digital acquisition channel.
    • Capturing the digital-first audience of tier 2 and tier 3 towns and become their first choice.
    • Beefing up the tech team and overall tech capabilities, to ensure that its product innovation efforts continue to be one of the best in the industry.
    • There is also a larger focus on taking the product global. End of the day there is a European going to the US or an Australian going to Bali and the product is suitable even for them, and the Pickyourtrail team wants to tap this huge global customer base.

    “At our very heart, we want to create happiness and not sell packages. We aspire Pickyourtrail to be the go to platform for do it yourself vacations and unite like minded travelers” – Hari Ganapathy.

    FAQs

    What is the Pickyourtrail company?

    Pickyourtrail is a platform founded in 2014, which enables the users to create, customise and book their vacations. The startup aims to remove all the pains associated with the planning of vacations for travelling enthusiasts and other individuals.  

    Who is the Pickyourtrail founder?

    Hari Ganapathy, and Srinath Shankarnarayanan are the founders of Pickyourtrail.

    What is the name of the Pickyourtrail CEO?

    The Pickyourtrail CEO is not yet confirmed by the company but Pickyourtrail has many CEOs among its investors, including Girish Matrubootham, Kumar Vembu, Kunal Shah, Shyam Sekhar and others.

    Where is the Pickyourtrail headquarters?

    The Pickyourtrail headquarters are located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

  • Near.Store: How it is Connecting Customers to Nearby Stores?

    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 Near.Store.

    The e-commerce sphere is widely changing these days. With Kirana stores entering the online space, the hyperlocal e-commerce sector is getting more dynamic than ever. In the same sector, Ashish Kumar, Ramakrishnan A, and Diwakar Mitr founded Near.Store in 2018.

    Let’s walk through the Journey of Near.Store along with getting a glance of the Near.Store founders, Business model, Funding, Revenue model, how it started & more.

    Near.Store – Company Highlights

    Startup Name Near.Store
    Headquarters Mumbai, India
    Industry E-commerce
    Founders Ashish Kumar, Ramakrishnan A, Diwakar Mitr
    Founded 2018
    Total funding $300,000 (Seed Round)
    Parent Organization Ekasta Tech Private Limited
    Website near.store
    Contact Email hello@ekasta.com

    Near.Store – About and How it Works
    Near.Store – Founders and Team
    Near.Store – Startup Story
    Near.Store – Name, Tagline and Logo
    Near.Store – Startup Launch
    Near.Store – Business Model and Revenue Model
    Near.Store – Target Market Size
    Near.Store – Startup Challenges
    Near.Store – Funding and Investors
    Near.Store – Advisors and Mentors
    Near.Store – Growth
    Near.Store – Future Plans


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    Near.Store – About and How it Works

    Near.Store is an instant plug and play solution to create a digital presence for any shop. Near.Store devices need to be plugged into an existing billing system of any establishment. Once active, it creates a unique online presence on the Near.Store platform for the shop. This enables a mom-n-pop shop to be discovered online, generate online sales, attract new customers and build loyalty with the existing consumer base.

    Near.store plug and play device
    Near.store plug and play device

    Near.Store aims to provide a plug and play e-commerce platform format for all offline retailers by making the products visible on any local search results. For example, if a person living proximity of any Near.Store enabled shop, is looking for a specific brand of shampoo, the search results will show the local shop as an option to purchase. Till now, any such result would take a customer only to eCommerce sites such as Amazon or BigBasket.  

    To be a part of the Near.Store platform, a shop owner simply needs to plug in the Near.Store devices to their billing system. The device does not require any additional internet connection or a lengthy implementation process.

    Once connected, the device then automatically uploads a shop’s products to create a web storefront. Now, every time a shop owner scans a product and generates a bill, each SKU scanned becomes a part of the backend database for each store.

    Near.store – Nearby Store

    Near.Store – Founders and Team

    Ashish Kumar, Ramakrishnan A, and Diwakar Mitr are the founders of Near.Store in 2018. They have worked together on another startup before Near.Store and hence this venture was an extension of their existing partnership.

    The founders have known each other since 2005. Ramakrishnan and Ashish went to business school together (ISB, Class of 2006) while Diwakar and Ashish were colleges at BDA Partners – a leading boutique M&A Advisory. The founders have an average of 15 years of work experience across various sectors.

    Ashish Kumar

    Co-Founder Near.Store
    Ashish Kumar, Co-founder and CEO of Near.Store

    Ashish Kumar is known as the Co-founder and CEO of Near.Store. Kumar is an MBA degree holder from the Indian School of Business in Finance/Marketing. Before founding Near.Store, Ashish served in more than one companies as Associate and Manager. The list includes Deloitte, DTZ, Jones Lang LaSalle, Shapoorji Pallonji, and has finally served IndiaBulls as the VP of Fund Management. Kumar has also been a Co-foudner of another firm earlier named Spiral9 Interactive, in which he also served as a Partner.

    Ramakrishnan A

    Ramakrishnan A, Co-founder and CTO of Near.Store

    Ramakrishnan A is another Co-founder of Real.Store, who is also the CTO of the company. Before founding Real.Store, Ramakrishnan has also founded BeaconsTalk Technologies and Pinprox Technologies. He also served many other companies in crucial positions, which includes the role of Associate Director at Mindtree. Infosys, iRunway, Ikanos Communications, and Sasken, are some other companies where he worked as the Senior Software Engineer and as a Consultant. The CTO of Real-Store holds a BE degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering along with a PG program in Operations and IT Management and Strategic Marketing.  

    Diwakar Mitr

    Diwakar Mitr, Co-founder at Near.Store

    Diwakar Mitr is a alumnus of Dartmouth College, where he studied AB, Economics, Computer Science. Before founding Near.Store, Mitr was associated with BDA Partners and later founded BeaconsTalk Technologies with one of the founders of the company.

    Ramki is the CTO and has over 16 years of hardware and software development experience. Ashish looks after business development and fundraising, Diwakar handles the overseas operations and finance while Ramakrishnan heads technology and engineering at Near.Store.

    Shripad Nadkarni, a former marketing head of Coca Cola India has also joined the company as a senior advisor.

    Near.Store – Startup Story

    Before starting Near.Store, Ashish Kumar, Ramakrishnan A, and Diwakar Mitr were working together on another tech-led startup that helped shop owners make real-time coupon offers to its customers in a hyper-local presence. This gave them a detailed understanding of how a shop interacted with its customers. They also realized that while most shop-owners wanted to counter the competition from the online stores like BigBasket and Amazon, they lacked the technical know-how.

    Most of them found the process of creating an online catalog and linking to online payment mechanisms difficult to manage. Hence this trio started to pilot with some of the shop owners that they already had established a relationship with. Based on the positive response and feedback, this trio team slowly developed a product and offerings and did a pilot launch in January 2020.

    The co-founders wanted the name to be simple to use and easy to understand.

    “It signifies the fact that we are bringing the store closer to the customer. However, from a shop owner’s perspective, since it is about being discovered by local area customers, it represents a shop which is Near and reachable.” said Ashish Kumar, Cofounder of Near.Store.

    Hence they finalized on “Near.Store”.


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    Near.Store – Business Model and Revenue Model

    Near.Store charges a flat fee to the customers when they order through the platform. As the venture grows in volume, it hopes to generate business through advertising and promotional banners on its online platform.

    Near.Store – Target Market Size

    According to industry reports, there are 17 million offline shops in India. There has been a latent desire amongst the shop owners to go online and counter the increasing competition from online stores like BigBasket. However, most shop owners, who are not yet comfortable with technology, find it difficult to create a website and the shop catalog and dealing with online payment systems.

    E-commerce and online purchases are slowly becoming more common and frequent. To maintain customer loyalty and expand their existing businesses, the offline shops will need to create an online presence and hence the market for services like Near.Store is likely to expand.

    Near.Store – Startup Challenges

    Major milestones that this Offline to Online or O2O portal had to face were:

    • Developing a product that makes it simple and robotic for a shop to go online. This company wanted the process to be equivalent to a self-driving car. Experimenting with lots of hardware/software and cloud-based options before arriving at the perfect combination of the product posed the challenge of optimum utilization of resources.
    • The biggest challenge for Near.Store was to create a comprehensive database of products available in the Indian market with standard bar codes. The team had to source the data from over 100+ different sources and then create a high-quality image bank of all the products.

    Near.Store – Funding and Investors

    In February 2020, Near.Store raised its seed capital round for $300,000 from Sauce Venture Capital.

    Date Stage Amount Lead Investors
    February 2020 Seed Round $300K Sauce.vc


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    Near.Store – Advisors and Mentors

    Sripad Nadkarni is the mentor and advisor for this firm. He is the ex-marketing head of Coca Cola and Johnson & Johnson and the founder of Maverix Food Platforms and co-creator of the Paperboat and Epigamia Brands.

    Near.Store – Growth

    After launching the product, the founders started approaching the shop owners that they already had a relationship with. In January 2020, they hired a few marketing professionals and have been thrilled with the positive response so far.

    After the lockdown due to Covid-19, they had to pause onboarding stores. They tied up with Brands and offer aggregated delivery to large housing societies. Large brands such as Cadbury, Oreos, Epigamia, P&G, Organic India and The Bakers Dozen are available on Near.store within a month of commercial launch. They are currently delivering to 55 housing societies in Mumbai, giving them access to more than 22,000 people across Mumbai.

    “We have over 126 customers and we have added reputed brands to our store .We are helping the kiranas by ensuring supplies reach them even during the lockdown.” Added Ashish Kumar, founder of Near.Store.

    • Operating Locations – Mumbai, Bangalore, NCR (phase 2)
    • To date, Near.Store has 126+ shops as partners.

    Near.Store – Future Plans

    Going forward, they intend to take a channel sales approach to scale rapidly, given the simplicity of the products for both understanding and installation. Therefore, it is easy for any distribution company to quickly sell the product using their existing networks and resources. Near.Store is in the process of tying up with organizations such as

    • Trade Associations and Retailers Associations such as CAIT
    • FMCG Distributors
    • FMCG Brands
    • Distributors and Manufacturers of POS machines and Barcode Scanners

    The future Scale-Up Plan for Near.Store is to reach 25,000 stores by 2021.

    FAQs

    What is Near.Store?

    Near.Store is an instant plug and plays solution to create a digital presence for any shop. Near.Store devices need to be plugged into an existing billing system of any establishment. Once active, it creates a unique online presence on the Near.Store platform for the shop.

    Who is Near.Store founder?

    Ashish Kumar, Ramakrishnan A, and Diwakar Mitr are the founders of Near.Store.

    How much is Near.Store funding?

    In February 2020, Near.Store raised its seed capital round for $300,000 from Sauce Venture Capital.

    How does Near.Store make money?

    Near.Store charges a flat fee to the customers when they order through the platform

    What is Near.Store tagline?

    ‘Nearest, Fastest’ is the tagline of Near.Store

  • Top 10 Highest paid Celebrity Endorsements Deals

    Brand endorsements have always made celebrities wealthier than any of their movies, shows, or concerts. And celebrities are paid insanely by the most prominent brands. The bigger the star, the more it earns through brands. These brand endorsements are a fancy source of income for celebrities, especially in times of pandemics.

    There are tons of brands that pay huge amounts to their brand ambassadors. From sneakers like Nike and Adidas to soft drinks like 7up and Coke, these celebrities are everywhere. And through these celebrities and their enormous fan followings, brands get plenty of benefits and brilliant promotion tactics. In this article, we have discussed the highest-paid celebrity endorsement deals. Let’s get started!

    Top Highest-Paid Celebrity Endorsement Deals
    Top Highest-Paid Celebrity Endorsement Deals

    Highest-paid Celebrity Endorsers

    1. George Foreman
    2. David Beckham
    3. Sofia Vergara
    4. 50 Cents
    5. Charlie Theron
    6. Beyoncé
    7. DJ Tiesto
    8. Taylor Swift
    9. Jennifer Aniston
    10. Michelle Wie

    Biggest Endorsement Deals

    George Foreman

    Brand: Foreman Grills
    Endorsement Deal: $137.5 Million

    George Foreman - highest paid brand ambassador
    George Foreman | Celebrity Endorsements

    After the contract of Michael Jordan with Nike, George Foreman’s contract with the Foreman Grills is considered the best of all time, reported by CNBC. George Foreman is a former boxer and now he is widely known as the Boxing-legend-turned-grilling-guru.

    Foreman Grills was formerly known as Salton Electric Grills, but not very famous. As the boxing legend George Foreman’s name got connected with the company, the brand experienced massive growth.

    David Beckham

    Brand: Adidas
    Endorsement Deal: $160 million

    David Beckham - highest paid brand ambassador
    David Beckham | Celebrity Endorsement

    David Beckham is a well-known soccer legend, married to Posh Spice. David Beckham signed a lifetime endorsement contract with Adidas worth $160 million in 2003. Although he is retired, his brand is enough for him to earn a wealthy sum.

    Other than Adidas, David Beckham has endorsed several significant brands such as Burger King, Sainsbury’s, and Samsung.

    Sofia Vergara

    Brand: Assorted Brands
    Endorsement Deal: $ 94.5 million

    Sofia Vergara - highest paid brand ambassador
    Sofia Vergara | Celebrity Endorsement

    Sofia Vergara is counted among the highest-paid television actresses who starred in the “Modern Family” show. Sofia has a vibrant style of endorsing brands which makes her a top pick for many prominent brands. As per 2011, her estimated earnings were around $157.5 million and around 60% of that comes from some very prominent brands such as Pepsi, CoverGirl, Head & Shoulders, and Quaker Oats. This was around $94.5 million.

    50 Cents

    Brand: Vitaminwater
    Endorsement Deal: $100 million

    50 Cents - highest paid brand ambassador
    50 Cents | Celebrity endorsement

    50 Cents is the remarkable rapper who initially started as an investor and co-owner of the Glaceau- the company that founded Vitamin Water. At first, 50 Cents was to promote and endorse the brand with its enormous popularity. And when Coca-Cola bought this company in 2007, 50 Cents income was around nine figures.


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    Charlize Theron

    Brand: Dior
    Endorsement Deal: $55 million

    Charlize Theron - celebrity endorsements
    Charlize Theron | Celebrity endorsement

    Charlize Theron is unprecedented when it comes to her getting a huge sum through brand endorsements, according to Playboy magazine. She is known for signing an 11-year contract worth $55 million with Dior for its signature fragrance- J’adore perfume.

    Beyoncé

    Brand: Pepsi
    Endorsement Deal: $50 million

    Beyonce - highest paid brand ambassador
    Beyoncé | Celebrity endorsement

    The fame of Beyoncé, not just in Hollywood but across the globe makes her one of the highest-paid brand ambassadors. Beyonce signed a multi-year contract with Pepsi worth $50 million. Pepsi was aiming for more remarkable heights and was ready to take the brand to the next level of Popularity far more than Television or prints. And the compassion towards Beyoncé by her fans made her the best suitor by Pepsi.

    DJ Tiesto

    Brand: 7UP
    Endorsement Deal: $30 million

    DJ Tiesto - highest paid brand ambassador
    DJ Tiesto | Celebrity endorsement

    In 2014, the company soda giant 7UP made a contract worth $30 million with DJ Tiesto for the company’s signature drink, reported by Billboard.

    7UP not only signed a deal with DJ Tiesto but also sponsored the release party with a stage at a huge Las Vegas music festival.


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    Taylor Swift

    Brand: Coca-Cola
    Endorsement Deal: $26 million

    Taylor Swift - highest paid brand ambassador
    Taylor Swift | Celebrity endorsement

    Taylor Swift is the brand ambassador of some of the biggest brands in America which listed her with the A-listed endorsement deals. She has signed deals with CoverGirl, Apple, Keds and the most extraordinary one is with Coca-Cola.

    In 2013, she signed a deal worth $26 million with Coca-Cola for its Diet Coke. With the popularity of Taylor Swift, she acts as the best ambassador for several brands.


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    Jennifer Aniston

    Brand: Emirates Airlines
    Endorsement Deal: $5 million

    Jennifer Aniston - highest paid brand ambassador
    Jennifer Aniston | Celebrity endorsement

    Jennifer Aniston is counted among the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood after her enormous success in the final season of FRIENDS, where she made $1 million for each episode. Besides her huge success in Hollywood, Jennifer Aniston works with several brands like Smart Water, Hair product Living Proof and Aveeno. Her most remarkable endorsement is with Emirates Airlines which is a Dubai-based Airline company. Jennifer Aniston signed a deal worth $5 million for this endorsement.

    Michelle Wie

    Brand: Nike
    Endorsement Deal: $4-5 million

    Michelle Wie - highest paid brand ambassador
    Michelle Wie | Celebrity endorsement

    Michelle Wie is widely famous for her several endorsements worth millions of US Dollars. Michelle Wie is the youngest player ever, who at the age of 10 qualified for the USGA Amateur Championship. Later at age 13, she became the youngest player ever to cut for the LPGA Tour.

    With her brilliant performance and huge fan following, Michelle Wie signed a contract worth $4-5 million dollars per year with Nike.


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    Conclusion

    The most fascinating lives are of Celebrities whether it’s acting, music, or sports. And when they are on the top, there’s no limit of millions in their bank account. But the most intriguing thing is, a large fraction of their income comes from the brands they endorse.

    The highest-paid celebrities make millions just through brand endorsements. And the celebrities listed above are few among the dozens who earn the most through their brand endorsements. Some of these do not make any from the movies or shows but only through brand endorsements. And social media has boosted this to the next level of fame.

    Fans often tend to follow their favorite celebrity and when these celebrities promote a certain brand, its engagement with the customer increases. And that’s what keeps these celebrities in millions.

    FAQs

    Who is the Highest-Paid celebrity?

    Kylie Jenner is the highest-paid celebrity who earned around $590 million.

    Who was the highest-paid celebrity on Instagram?

    Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson was the highest-paid celebrity on Instagram earning around $1,015,000 per post.

    Who has most brand endorsement deals in India?

    Shah Rukh Khan has the maximum number of endorsements with endorsement deals with 39 brands.

    Who are the most famous brand ambassadors?

    Most famous brand ambassadors highly paid for endorsement deals are:

    • George Foreman
    • David Beckham
    • Sofia Vergara
    • 50 Cents
    • Charlie Theron
    • Beyoncé
    • DJ Tiesto
    • Taylor Swift
    • Jennifer Aniston
    • Michelle Wie
  • List of US Agritech Startups Transforming Farming

    Farm Bot made a splash in the news, but it’s far from the only farming startup working directly with farmers to improve farming practices. Robots are taking over farms – US tech startups want to bring automation to farms. Robots are the latest farmhands in a resurgence of interest and investment in agricultural tech. Farms are getting into computers and IT once again, with innovations made possible by improvements in sensors and semiconductor technology. Recently, a new wave of tech startups is working hard to automate agriculture with robots and AI. For example, a technology that hoes fields using computer vision autonomously identifies weeds and destroys them with targeted amounts of herbicides or pesticides. It can do this much more cost-effectively than humans can.

    How are robots transforming work on farms?
    What are the advantages of robots on farms?
    Top Technologies Ruling Agriculture

    1. FarmBot – The First Open-source CNC Farming Machine
    2. Abundant Robotics – Apple Harvesting Robot
    3. Augean Robotics – Earth-friendly Weed-killing Robots
    4. Boston Dynamics – Atlas Robot
    5. Iron Ox – Autonomous Growing Facility
    6. Blue River Technology – A Technology That Hoes Fields Using Computer Vision

    Future of Robots on Farms

    Top Agritech Startups 2022

    How are robots transforming work on farms?

    Farming is a highly competitive industry. Farmers are under constant pressure to grow more crops and livestock while keeping production costs low. As the world’s population increases, farms will need new ways to boost productivity and efficiency. This may include adopting technologies once thought of as science fiction, such as self-driving tractors and robotic milking machines.

    The machinery and technology that farmers use are constantly evolving to make them more efficient. This can positively impact the environment, but it’s also led to some negative consequences, such as the loss of many jobs in farming.

    Farmers have invested in drones for aerial imaging, GPS-guided tractors, and other technologies to boost efficiency and reduce labour costs in recent years. In the next decade, robots may be able to help with more complex tasks such as weeding, harvesting and pruning.

    The seed-planting machines can operate at night and in the rain, so they don’t have to wait for ideal weather conditions. It’s all part of the farm’s efforts to remove humans from the equation and use technology to boost productivity.

    The advances in agriculture have been nothing short of spectacular. Farm equipment gets more powerful, precise and efficient every year. Farms are becoming more automated in almost every way imaginable. Barns have become more comfortable and efficient for animals. Crops are being grown in vertical greenhouses and hydroponically — without soil. There are even robots that milk cows now.

    What are the advantages of robots on farms?

    Robots can do the farm work without getting tired. Even if they get damaged, you can easily repair them. Robots are more accurate than humans, and they can do a lot of work in a short period. Unlike humans, robots don’t need water or food to survive. Machines don’t have to rest day or night. They can work 24/7. Here are a few of the top advantages of having robots on the farm.

    More efficient work

    Robots can be programmed to pick the fruits and vegetables in a certain way so that only the best produce is selected and sent to market. This means that farms will waste less food. After all, it will no longer need to be picked by hand, which requires more employees and results in wasted produce because it was picked incorrectly or bruised during transport.

    Reduced labor costs

    Robots are becoming more common in factories because they can perform more efficiently than human workers. The same is true on farms. Robotic equipment can be programmed to handle tasks requiring precision and speed while also performing repetitive tasks without getting tired or injured. This reduces labour costs for farmers with robotic equipment deployed on their farms.

    Reduced risk of injury

    Farms pose many potential hazards for humans – from sharp machinery and heavy equipment to dangerous chemicals and inclement weather conditions. By automating certain tasks that require human interaction with these dangers, you can reduce the risk posed to your employees – keeping them safe from harm.

    Increased productivity

    As well as working longer hours than humans for minimal cost, robots can also increase productivity levels by performing tasks faster and more accurately than their human counterparts.

    They’re cheap

    Robots can be programmed to do a certain job, and once they’ve been programmed, they won’t need any more training; they’ll just do the job repeatedly without getting tired or bored.

    They’re fast

    Robots can work 24 hours a day, seven days a week, without any breaks. This means that a farmer can get more work done in less time. In addition, the faster you complete your work, the less money it will cost you in labour costs and equipment wear and tear.


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    Top Technologies Ruling Agriculture

    Big data and machine learning algorithms can help farmers increase harvests while reducing their environmental footprint. The conventional farming techniques and methods that we’ve used for decades are becoming obsolete — machines and computers are taking over farms. So what is happening with farm bots? Let’s look at these companies and their technologies.

    FarmBot – The First Open-source CNC Farming Machine

    FarmBot - Agritech Startups in the US
    FarmBot – Agritech Startups in the US

    FarmBot is an open-source CNC farming machine and software package designed for small-scale personal farming. It uses a web application and Arduino-powered firmware to control a set of stepper motors that move a tool head around a patch of soil, performing the various tasks required for farming. The goal is to empower people to grow food with confidence in their backyard or community garden by offering you an easily deployable, scalable, and customizable robotic gardening system.

    The Farmbot team’s vision is that one day farmers and every person will have access to healthy food grown with love at home, in their community gardens, and on local farms — regardless of their background or income.

    Abundant Robotics – Apple Harvesting Robot

    Abundant Robotics - Agritech Startups in The US
    Abundant Robotics – Agritech Startups in The US

    Abundant Robotics is working on a harvesting robot for apples. The company’s prototype can identify and pick apples with more precision than a human.

    The robot uses a vacuum system to pick the fruit from the tree. Technology does not appear to damage the apple or the tree. However, the company says that it needs further testing before making this technology commercially available.

    The robot uses a combination of cameras and computer vision software to find good apples on trees and suction cups to grab them without damaging them gently. It can pick an apple every 12 seconds and works day and night.

    The technology is limited to apple growers in Washington state but hopes to develop robots that can harvest various soft fruits and vegetables.

    Augean Robotics – Earth-friendly Weed-killing Robots

    Burro formerly (Augean Robotics) - Agritech Startups in The US
    Burro formerly (Augean Robotics) – Agritech Startups in The US

    Burro, formerly known as Augean Robotics wants to replace herbicides and manual labour with fleets of robots that patrol vineyards, orchards, and farms.

    The Augean robot looks like a mini tank on treads. It has two wheels, each with vertical blades that cut down weeds as it moves along the rows. It also sprays vinegar to keep weeds from growing back.

    The idea is that farmers would use a fleet of wheeled drones that would be able to successfully detect weeds and kill them, allowing farmers to increase their crop yields and earn big.

    Boston Dynamics – Atlas Robot

    Boston Dynamics - Agritech Startups in The US
    Boston Dynamics – Agritech Startups in The US

    Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robot can do an impressive range of activities, from tai chi to parkour. And now, it can help out around the farm.

    Boston Dynamics has released a video showing Atlas carrying a crate of lettuce heads across an obstacle course and then placing them in a box.

    Atlas is a bipedal robot that stands 5-foot-9 and weighs 180 pounds. It’s designed to tackle human-like tasks, including lifting heavy objects, opening doors, and walking in rough terrain.

    In the latest video, Atlas steps over hurdles positioned in its path. They then balanced on one foot while picking up the crate using the other foot. It then bends over to place the container into a box.

    Iron Ox – Autonomous Growing Facility

    Boston Dynamics - Agritech Startups in The US
    Boston Dynamics – Agritech Startups in The US

    Iron Ox, a California startup, deploys autonomous growing, harvesting, and delivery for local farms.

    The Iron Ox approach has some similarities to the indoor farms you’ve probably heard about: The produce is grown in a warehouse-like building that allows for year-round cultivation.

    But there are several significant differences. First of all, Iron Ox’s facility isn’t stacked with trays of plants under grow lights. Instead, it uses hydroponics, which involves directly exposing the plants’ roots to nutrient-rich water rather than soil. The company says this approach allows its system to cultivate plants with the same taste and nutritional qualities as those grown in open fields or greenhouses but use 90% less water and 99% less land.

    The company grows greens in climate-controlled shipping containers (they are, after all, based in Silicon Valley) using an AI system called Angus. Then, according to each plant’s specific requirements, Angus monitors the plants’ needs and sends them what they need — water and nutrients.

    Blue River Technology – A Technology That Hoes Fields Using Computer Vision

    Blue River Technology - Agritech Startups in The US
    Blue River Technology – Agritech Startups in The US

    In the 1950s, when a man named John Deere invented the first tractor, he probably did not think that a self-driving tractor would be hoeing fields one day.

    Blue River Technology is a tech company that uses computer vision to help farmers make faster and better decisions. As a result, farm management should be more economical and less environmentally harmful. Still, many require regular manual inspection of crops—a time-intensive process with a high margin of error. Blue River Technology has created see-and-spray technology that allows its machines to distinguish between crops and weeds. Once they know what’s what, they can spray herbicide at just the right moment through real-time analytics software.

    The idea is cashier-less stores by Amazon. The company has created see-and-spray technology that allows its machines to distinguish between crops and weeds. Once they know what’s what, they can spray herbicide at just the right moment. This will enable farmers to save money by only spraying the plants that need it.

    The promise of Blue River’s tech is huge: less waste, more productivity, and lower costs for farmers.


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    Future of Robots on Farms

    The future of farming looks like a science fiction movie, with robots planting crops, drones monitoring fields and satellites providing information from space. But are robots taking over farms?

    Not quite yet. Despite the many advancements in technology, there is still a significant need for people on farms. Many tasks still require a human touch, like planting delicate crops and harvesting them.

    The world of farming is changing. Advances in technology, including robots that can be programmed to work together, have allowed those working in the fields to get more done with less labour. These innovations are making farming more efficient and, at the same time, cheaper for farmers.

    Farm automation is already revolutionizing the way farming is done. For example, robots are now being used to help farmers plant and harvest crops more efficiently. The future of agriculture is even more exciting, as modern technology will soon allow farmers to do things they couldn’t even dream possible with no human intervention at all.

    Conclusion

    US Tech Startups making Farming Robots will change the world with technologies of the future.

    Innovation can make businesses more efficient, with substantial cost savings. Farms could benefit immensely from automation. Their use has already helped farmers, and their numbers are snowballing. Automating farming will lead to immense cost savings, which will allow businesses to focus more resources on the more pressing issues they face. Agricultural robots are already here, and there’s no sign that they’ll stop making life farmer’s life easier any time soon. We should pay attention now because agricultural automation is on the horizon. Robots will revolutionize farming, and they will do it faster than you’d think. Fields that formerly needed thousands of workers to plough will soon be mechanized. Instead of being job killers, AI farms could provide work for thousands of people in the future, managing the robots and maintaining them, among other things. Automating farming will lead to immense cost savings, which will allow businesses to focus more resources on the more pressing issues they face. Humanity will be better off with robotics in the future, and the world is excited to witness this.

    FAQs

    Are robots used for agriculture?

    Robots are used for many purposes in agriculture. Some examples are:

    • Harvest Automation
    • Autonomous Growing
    • Orange Harvester
    • Apple Harvester
    • Autonomous mowing
    • Lettuce bot
    • Weed-killing

    Which are the companies working for robotics farming?

    Some of the best Robotics Companies working for robotics farming are:

    • Blue River Technology
    • Harvest CROO Robotics
    • Iron Ox
    • Boston Dynamics
    • Trace Genomics
    • Burro Robotics
    • FarmShots
    • Abundant Robotics

    What are the top technologies ruling Agriculture?

    Top Technologies ruling agriculture are:

    • FarmBot – The First Open-source CNC Farming Machine
    • Abundant Robotics – Apple Harvesting Robot
    • Augean Robotics – Earth-friendly Weed-killing Robots
    • Boston Dynamics – Atlas Robot
    • Iron Ox – Autonomous Growing Facility
    • Blue River Technology – A Technology That Hoes Fields Using Computer Vision
  • Meet 10 Young Digital American Entrepreneurs In Their 20s Creating Buzz Across Industries

    In only a few years, these 20 something digital entrepreneurs have created some of the fastest-growing and most interesting companies in the United States, ranging from social media to moving boxes. Even more impressive is how the big tech boys turned some down before they found success elsewhere. These top Top Young Digital Entrepreneurs are the names you need to know – because, in the next 10 years, they will dominate. Here are 10 young digital entrepreneurs who have made a name for themselves in different industries, from tech to fashion to entertainment.

    1. Justin Bieber
    2. Kylie Jenner
    3. Evan Spiegel
    4. Natalie Franke
    5. Josh Buckley
    6. Joey Graceffa
    7. Connor Blakley
    8. Logan Paul
    9. Juliet Brindak
    10. Marques Brownlee

    Justin Bieber

    Age: 28
    Profession: Singer-songwriter and Entrepreneur

    Bieber dropped out of high school to pursue music. Instead, he had a meteoric rise — in less than a dozen years, he has sold over 150 million records, won multiple Grammy awards, and achieved platinum status for seven of his albums.

    Canadian Singer has created an online empire with a social media following of nearly 250 million fans across his channels. He has also been a regular on celebrity lists of the world’s highest-paid celebrities.

    In 2015, Biebs teamed up with venture capitalist Scooter Braun to launch the entertainment company Shots Studios, which houses digital brands like Shots and Wild’ N Out. The company has raised over $80 million in funding from investors like Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Fidelity.

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    Kylie Jenner

    Age: 24
    Profession: Founder of Kylie Cosmetics

    Who doesn’t know Kylie Jenner? The super famous and most followed celebrity on Instagram after Cristiano Ronaldo. Kylie Cosmetics was launched in 2015 and was one of the first digital-only brands to make a splash. Jenner began by live-streaming herself applying makeup and sharing the process with her fans on social media. Since then, the brand has gone from strength to strength, selling almost $200 million worth of products in its first year.

    Even though Jenner is now among the world’s richest people, she still works closely with her team to develop new products and create an immersive brand experience for consumers. In addition, she regularly shares videos on YouTube showing fans how to use her products and posts content featuring her favourite shades.


    List of Brands Endorsed By Kylie Jenner
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    Evan Spiegel

    Age: 29
    Profession: Co-founder and CEO of Snap Inc.

    Evan Spiegel is the CEO of Snap Inc., which he co-founded in 2011 with Bobby Murphy and Reggie Brown. The 29-year-old is one of the only a few self-made billionaire in the world.

    Before he was 20, Spiegel had already dropped out of a prestigious Stanford design program to co-found Snapchat. He reportedly turned down a buyout offer from Facebook in 2013 for $3 billion, which has helped him earn an estimated net worth of $4 billion. In 2017, Snap went public with an initial public offering (IPO) that valued the company at more than $30 billion.

    Snapchat has been credited with making many popular features that other social media apps have since copied — like Stories, filters, and face-swapping. However, it’s also known for its controversial content policies — its NSFW search function allows users to find photos posted by adult entertainers who use the platform to share their work.

    Natalie Franke

    Age: 29
    Profession: Founder of Rising Tide Society

    Natalie Franke is the co-founder of Rising Tide Society, a global community of creative entrepreneurs. With over 200 chapters and 35,000 members in 22 countries, Rising Tide Society is one of the fastest-growing entrepreneurial communities globally.

    Rising Tide Society hosts monthly meet-ups called Tuesdays Together worldwide to help creatives grow their businesses. The Rising Tide Society is a startup incubator that organizes meet-ups to educate startups on business strategy, in addition to producing content on its blog, podcast, and weekly newsletter.

    Additionally, Natalie is the How I Built It Podcast host who shares stories from entrepreneurs who have built successful businesses.

    Josh Buckley

    Age: 30
    Profession: Founder of MinoMonsters

    After a stint heading up business development for Myspace Games and an MBA from Stanford University, Josh Buckley was ready to take on his venture. The result: MinoMonsters, a wildly popular app that allows users to collect monsters and play with other users worldwide. The company is now valued at $50 million.

    MinoMonsters is a mobile gaming company that creates and publishes original games for the iPhone and iPad.

    Buckley founded the company in 2007 and launched its first game, “MinoMonsters,” in January 2012. Its second game, “MinoQuest,” was released in April 2013. The game is a mobile app that features cartoon monster characters that players can catch, train, and battle. Buckley has since sold the company to SingTel Innov8 — one of Asia’s largest venture capital firms — for an undisclosed amount of funding which he will use towards creating more games.

    Joey Graceffa

    Age: 30
    Profession: Content Creator

    When you look up the word “entrepreneur” in the dictionary, it usually contains a photo of Joey Graceffa. The 30-year-old has been building businesses since he was 9 years old and selling lemonade on the sidewalk. Graceffa moved to Los Angeles and started a YouTube channel after graduating from high school.

    Fast-forward ten years, and he has more than 9 million subscribers on his Youtube channel, 2 million followers on Instagram, 1 million Twitter followers and more than 1.3 million Facebook fans — all of which he used to build an empire as a content creator.

    Named one of Variety magazine’s “Top 10 Digital Stars” of 2017, Graceffa’s list of accolades is impressive. He starred in the YouTube Red original movie “Escape the Night,” which won a 2017 Streamy Award for Best Ensemble Cast. Also, he won a Teen Choice Award for his role in “The Storyteller”; authored two New York Times bestselling books (“In Real Life” and “Children of Eden”); competed on CBS’ primetime reality show “The Amazing Race.” In addition, he launched a lifestyle app called Crystal Wolf and launched an accessories line with Hot Topic.

    Connor Blakley

    Age: 26
    Profession: Founder and CEO of Blakely creative

    Connor Blakley is a serial entrepreneur from Detroit. Connor Blakley is a young entrepreneur and founder of Blakely and Creators. With over 18,000 followers on Instagram and thousands of visitors to blakelycreative.com, Connor has quickly become a popular name in the influencer marketing space. He’s currently in the process of building his 3rd business. His 1st business was a digital marketing agency, and his 2nd was a clothing brand for entrepreneurs.

    Connor is committed to helping the next generation of entrepreneurs reach their full potential by consulting and mentoring them as a part of his goals for the years to come. He’s created an app called “wildcard” that allows other entrepreneurs to get advice from him for free. He’s also creating an accelerator program for young entrepreneurs who are looking to start a business but can’t afford to do it alone.

    Blakely Creative has been recognized for its work by Forbes, Inc. Magazine and Entrepreneur Magazine.

    Logan Paul

    Age: 27
    Profession: Youtuber and Entrepreneur

    Logan Paul is a 27-year-old YouTube celebrity with more than 23 million subscribers who recently launched Maverick Apparel, an online clothing store featuring hoodies, T-shirts and accessories that he designs himself.

    Paul’s popularity is largely due to his posts on Vine. On this social media platform, he has more than 5 million followers on his account and nearly 4 million on the account he runs with his brother Jake Paul (who has nearly 3 million followers of his own). He owns a net worth of $35 Million. Logan has also appeared on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit and Weird Loners and as a contestant on Dancing With The Stars.

    Juliet Brindak

    Age: 32
    Profession: Social Digital Entrepreneur

    Juliet Brindak is a 32-year-old social entrepreneur and the founder of Miss O & Friends LLC, who has been on the young digital entrepreneur’s list for years. As an 11-year-old girl, Juliet had the vision to create a website that would empower girls to pursue their passions and inspire each other. Today she is championing the same idea with an innovative platform called MOF (Miss O & Friends), a social networking site created by young girls for young girls.

    Currently, there are more than 3 million registered users, ages 6-12, including fun interactive games, quizzes, polls, and blogs. It also offers a content-rich site with original articles on etiquette, manners, anti-bullying strategies, friendship advice, and more. The site also has a network of over 3000 girl bloggers who share their insights on everything from fashion tips to life advice.

    Juliet’s platform has been featured in top publications like the New York Times. In December 2011, she was named one of Forbes magazine’s “30 Under 30” movers and shakers in media for 2012.

    Marques Brownlee

    Age: 28
    Profession: Youtuber and Tech Guru

    When he uploaded his first YouTube video, Marques Brownlee was a 14-year-old high school freshman. A review of the BlackBerry Bold was a simple clip that showcased his love for gadgets and electronics and his knack for explaining them in a way that anyone could understand.

    With more than 15.5 million YouTube subscribers, Brownlee is now one of the world’s most popular technology reviewers. But that’s not all he does. His company MKBHD is a full-blown media outfit focused on creating content about the latest tech news and gadgets and how to make the most of them — from mobile devices to smart home products to gaming gear and beyond.

    Brownlee has also used his YouTube channel to feature some of the biggest names in tech, including Apple CEO Tim Cook and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.

    In addition to reviewing products and interviewing tech leaders, Brownlee has also interviewed some of music’s biggest stars, including Travis Scott and Post Malone.

    The list is long, and it has many names on it. Joseph Quan, Twine Tiana Tenet, The Culinistas; Zachariah Reitano, Ro; Brandon Bryant, Harlem Capital Partners; Ahmed Beshry, Caper, Halie Chavez, other young entrepreneurs from different industries are paving the way for people like us who dare to dream and work for it.

    Conclusion

    Business is changing, and the way we do business is also changing. You’ve probably heard of some of the names on our list of young entrepreneurs in the US. Hopefully, you also got surprised by some of the others. Today, entrepreneurs have never had a better chance to succeed. To do so, though, they’ll have to be creative, hard-working, and above all else-daring. These young digital entrepreneurs in their 20s are leading the way into uncharted territory and, in doing so, creating an entirely new world where there has only been one way to do things. It’s amazing how much impact these young digital entrepreneurs have had on the industry, and it’s also inspiring to see what they accomplished so early in their careers. We fully expect that many will continue to make waves for years.

    FAQs

    Who are the successful Young Digital Entrepreneurs in the US?

    Young Digital entrepreneurs in the US are:

    • Justin Bieber
    • Kylie Jenner
    • Evan Spiegel
    • Natalie Franke
    • Josh Buckley
    • Joey Graceffa
    • Connor Blakley
    • Logan Paul
    • Juliet Brindak
    • Marques Brownlee

    Who is youngest digital entrepreneur in India?

    Jeevan Tiwari is India’s youngest digital entrepreneur and the youngest millionaire in India.

    Is Kylie Jenner an entrepreneur?

    Kylie Jenner is a young entrepreneur, model, and the founder and CEO of an American Cosmetic company, Kylie Cosmetics.

  • 10 Steps To Organize Your Personal Finance In New Financial Year

    31st March has just passed. Was the last month of the gone financial year full of a hassle for you? Do your last-minute tax-saving plans always lead you to invest in the wrong instruments? Well, if your answer is yes, you are at the right place. In this blog, we have brought you tips on how to organize your personal finance in the new financial year.

    A book named “Personal Finance” written by E. Thomas Garman and Raymond Forgue defines Personal Finance as the study of resources, both personal and family, that can be considered important from a financial perspective. It involves spending, saving, protection, and investment of these financial resources.

    Financial freedom is available for those who learn about it and work for it. – Robert Kiyosaki

    Key Aspects of Personal Finance

    The reason most people fail in making a successful financial plan is a lack of awareness. Although people make a lot of effort while managing their finances, they often overlook important areas. In this section, we will discuss the 5 key aspects of Personal Finance.

    Saving

    Warren Buffet has said “Do not save what is left after spending, but spend what is left after saving. This is indeed a great piece of advice. You cannot predict when the financial crisis will hit you. Therefore, it is better to remain prepared.

    Savings help you to keep calm in such situations and look for a solution. As per experts, your optimum savings should be equal to your six months expenses.

    Earlier, the most preferred option for savings was a “Saving account”. However, recently a lot of people are moving towards debt instruments such as liquid funds for saving.

    There are a number of reasons for this shift. Foremost, Liquid funds have minimal credit and interest risks attached. Further, you can easily withdraw money in small time. Also, though there is no guarantee, these funds provide you with better returns than your savings account.

    Investing

    Investing
    Investing

    As Benjamin Graham said, “Successful investing is about managing risk, not avoiding it”. Many people confuse saving and investing to be the same. Well, they are not.

    While investing, you are actually using your money to make more money. There are plenty of investment options available in the market such as mutual funds, real estate, stock market, etc.

    To choose the correct investment options organize them into short, long, and mid-term goals. The option best suited for your requirement, horizon, and time frame should be chosen.

    Financial Protection

    As per WHO, financial protection is the heart of Universal Health Coverage (UHC). If chosen well, it gives a safety net to you and your loved ones. The key is to ascertain prepayment and pooling of resources to save you from financial hardship.

    Financial protection ensures that these impromptu situations do not hamper your savings and investment plans. Insurance is classic financial protection. Basically, four types of insurance plans are considered mandatory for an individual. They are Term insurance, Health insurance, Mortgage Protection, and Personal accident insurance.

    Tax Plan

    Tax Planning
    Tax Planning

    You can save your tax by identifying the right kinds of investments and purchases. In India, there are almost 70 exemptions and deductions that can be used to lower your taxable income.

    Section 80C and 80D of the Income Tax act may help you save a lot on your income. Under Section 80C, you can reduce your taxable income by investing in certain tax-saving instruments such as EPF, PPF, NPS, NSC, etc.

    On the other hand, Section 80D allows you to save tax on the money you pay as a premium for the health insurance of you and your family.

    Retirement Plan

    “Planning for retirement is not something we can put off until a later date. The time to plan is now.” Here Bob Reid has correctly described the need for a retirement plan.

    Unless you are planning to become a liability to your kids, you should start planning for your retirement now. This is actually because you never know when you will stop working.

    The greater life expectancy and frequent inflations have further enhanced the need for a retirement plan. Investing in sources of steady income can be the best option. Life insurance annuity, rental income, and mutual funds are good options to consider for your retirement plan.

    How to Organize Your Personal Finance in the New Financial Year?

    Now that we know the key aspects, we are ready to organize our personal finance. We have listed tips to help you organize your personal finance in the new financial year.

    1. Start Early

    “Haste makes Waste”. If you have tried to plan your finances and investment in the last month of the financial year, you can certainly relate to this statement. During the last-minute rush, not just you but investors are also impatient. Thus, there are maximum chances of making a wrong decision. Therefore, it is better not to wait for March to plan your finances. Starting early helps you to make calculated decisions. Put your financial plan in place in the month of April itself.

    If you wish to invest in PPF or SIPs in your equity-linked saving schemes (ELSS funds), better start at the beginning of the new financial year.

    2. Plan your Budget

    Living within your means is important. Plan your expenditure and savings for the next year in the beginning. Go through your previous year’s income and expenses to make the right decision.

    Set your financial goals and decide your cash flow accordingly. If you have received a good bonus, try to prepay your loans, at least partially. Our income and aspirations play a major role in deciding our financial plan.

    This would help you to identify your spending. So, you can strike the right balance between spending and savings. If cutting down your expenditure is not an option, try using smart spending means such as loyalty programs, credit cards, or some apps.

    Try competing with your previous month’s budget. It would help you grow as a smart spender. Try setting goals and make efforts to reach them.

    3. Create an Emergency fund

    This is the fund that will help you take care of the unexpected expenses in “just-in-case” situations. Usually, financial experts advise keeping 20% of your every paycheck in this fund.

    As per Forbes, you can create an emergency fund by simply following a few steps. They are:

    • Setting up a target date to start your fund.
    • Reallocating some amount from existing assets.
    • Drawing a monthly commitment.
    • Creating a separate account for gathering.
    • Channelize extra income towards this fund.

    4. Determine your insurance needs

    Determine Your Insurance Needs
    Determine Your Insurance Needs

    Insurance is not only meant to save tax, rather it is a means to serve critical needs. The beginning of the new financial year is a good time to determine if you have adequate insurance coverage.

    The finance experts believe that your insurance cover must be 10 times your annual income. Also, reviewing your insurance needs as per your changing life goals is important for example, if you are planning to get married, have a child, or buy a house.

    As per a Swiss report, people in India are awfully uninsured. The protection gap is almost 83% wide. This means that if the Rs 100 insurance cover is needed only Rs 17 are spent by the policyholders.

    To evaluate the adequacy of your insurance cover you can also use Human Life Value (HLV) tools. These tools are available online and help you assess your financial requirements based on your liabilities, increments, earning capabilities, and your age.

    5. Review your investment portfolio

    It is always a great idea to review your investment portfolio at the beginning of the new financial year. Track the market performance of your existing assets to understand how it has changed since last year.

    Readjusting your investment strategy is especially important if you have experienced any major life changes in the last year. For example, if you are nearing retirement, you may want to invest in a good retirement plan. Evaluate your needs and invest accordingly.

    6. Plan to spend your annual bonus

    If you have received an annual bonus do not let the money get fritter away. Plan your spending well. For example, if you have a loan you can partially or completely prepay it. Or if you have a child try spending the bonus on good Children’s plan.

    Even if you have no such liability, this does not mean you can just cross your budget and waste that money. Try channelizing it towards your savings or emergency fund. This will help you meet your financial goals.

    7. Plan your taxes

    Planning your taxes at the beginning is a great way to start your new financial year. It is actually a part of the financial discipline. To initiate tax planning, you first need to identify your tax slab. The tax rates are different for different levels of income. If you know your tax slab, you can easily calculate your tax outgo. This will help you to figure out your tax-saving requirement.

    To analyze the scope for reduction, first, evaluate your existing tax-saving investments. This is crucial as there is a maximum limit for reducing the tax outflow.

    A number of tax-saving instruments are available to choose from such as PPF, NPS, tax-saving mutual funds, etc. It is also important to distribute your tax investment across the year instead of doing it in the last month. However, it is equally important to understand that investment goals must be derived from your financial goals and not for the purpose of tax savings.

    8. Limit your debts

    It sounds easier said than done. Anyways who wants to remain in debt? It just happens. However, as per Central Bank, there are certain strategies to keep your debts in check. They are:

    • Do not buy anything which you cannot afford without a credit card.
    • Completely pay off your credit card balance, every month.
    • Focus on your needs not wants.
    • Plan your budget as per your financial goals and requirements.
    • Limit the number of cards you own.
    • Maintain a master sheet to track your expenses.

    9. Monitor your credit score

    It is almost impossible to not own a credit card in today’s world. However, it is crucial to managing your credits correctly. A solid credit report is required if you are planning to obtain a loan or mortgage a property. For this, you better pay off your balance every month or at least try to keep a minimal credit utilization ratio.

    The most popular credit score these days is FICO (Fair Isaac Corporation) score. The factors that determine your FICO score include payment history (35%), length of credit history (15%), amounts owed (30%), credit mix (10%), and new credit (10%).

    It is also a good idea to subscribe to credit agencies that provide you with regular updates on your credit score. This would not just help you in identifying mistakes but, also to detect any fraudulent activity.

    10. Maintain financial records

    It is always important to keep your financial records organized. This will help you track any discrepancies at later stages. Traditionally, a folder or drawer is used to keep all your bill and payment receipts. However, this increases the risk of missing or forgetting one or more of them.

    Currently, a number of apps are available to keep track of your finances. These online services help you separate the old bills and receipts from the new ones. Also, you can set reminders for upcoming payments. This saves you from the hassle of looking through every document in your folder while trying to find one.

    Conclusion

    Therefore, it is important to understand the five key aspects of personal finance i.e. savings, investment, financial protection, tax plan, and retirement plan before you start to plan. Moreover, organizing your personal finance in the new financial year using the tips mentioned above would certainly help you get more out of your available assets.

    Hope you enjoyed reading this article and learned something. Keep visiting for more fun and knowledge.

    FAQs

    How do I write a financial plan for the new year?

    Start early, create an emergency fund, plan your taxes, and monitor your credit score.

    Which financial plan should be set first?

    Creating an emergency fund should be your priority because you never know when a crisis will hit you and you’ll be buried under debts.

    What is the 50 30 20 budget rule?

    According to the 50 30 20 budget rule, you should allocate 50% of your income to needs, 30% to spending, and 20% to savings.