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Imagine a store where you can just enter, get your groceries and other items, pack your stuff and walk out of the store without having to wait in a queue for payment. India’s first cashier-less store- Watasale was started up by a Kochi-based startup Nayasale Retail Pvt Ltd in Kochi, Kerala in 2018. Watasale helps you do just that. You can buy any stuff in 3 simple steps: Download Watasale app, open it and scan the unique QR code while entering the store. That’s it. You can now pick the items you need, and you can pay for it via different online payment options so you don’t need to wait in a long queue for billing.
Watasale is operating in Kochi, Kerala. The retail store is the first of its kind by Nayasale Retail Pvt. Ltd., a pet project of five friends Richu Jose, Rajesh Malamal, Subash S., Dileep Jacob and Vinci Matthews. They struggled with managing finances as the project is bootstrapped. This has been after years of deliberate planning and trial runs in a garage that they finally succeeded in launching the store.
Watasale Kochi Store- shopping
Watasale and Amazon Go
Subhash S, CEO & CTO, Watasale, revealed that they were inspired to attempt this because of the media attention received by Amazon Go. Subhash stated, “We started working on the technology in the start of 2015. It was after the announcement by Amazon that they were going to bring Amazon Go similar to our technology, we were reinstated about our correct direction.”
“We use a combination of touch sensors, AI and computer vision—pretty much the same technology as in a self-driven car,” explains Richu Jose, COO of Watasale. The payment for the items purchased will be automatically debited from their Watasale prepaid wallet or card. No cashiers, no queues, no checkouts, no scanning. “After finishing shopping customer can just walk out of the gate,” says Rajesh Malamal, chief marketing officer of Nayasale.
Watasale- App
The store attempts to offer the customers with a checkout-free experience. Customers at Watasale need to download the Watasale app and scan the QR Code generated to enter the store. They have to keep adding items into a bag and exit when they are done.
Right now, the items aren’t reflected immediately on the app and the bill is generated a few minutes after you walk out of the door, but we are working on smoothing it out,” says Rajesh Malamal.
Watasale- Kochi store
Watasale- Team StartUp
It took the team of Watasale almost 3 years of exhaustive brainstorming and countless trial sessions. Then, they got their algorithms right after which they started focusing on building up physical infrastructure and skeletal framework of the retail store. Their biggest challenge was to form the core technical team and the right manpower who have expertise on advanced stages of artificial intelligence.
They follow a similar model to Jeff Bezos’s Amazon Go, cashier-free grocery store currently operating in the US. Amazon Go is already functioning in three locations in Seattle and is expected to head to NewYork soon. Even Jack Ma’s Alibaba has showcased the Tao Cafe concept in China to be on par with Amazon.
Rajesh Malamal emphasized that while the concept is similar; Watasale uses its own technology and has created it with their proprietary software, and believe that their systems are more economical and scalable as compared to Amazon Go. Rajesh Malamal claims that they have received positive feedback from the customers which has elated the interests of investors both national and international venture capitalists.
FAQs
What is Watasale?
Watasale is India’s first cashier-less store.
Who are the founders of Watasale?
Five friends – Richu Jose, Rajesh Malamal, Subash S., Dileep Jacob and Vinci Matthews are the Watasale founders.
When was Watasale founded?
Watasale was founded in 2018.
Where is Watasale available?
Watasale is available in Kerala at the moment but they hope to expand soon.
Zerodha is India’s leading discount stock broker. The company was founded in the year 2010 and since then it has been growing consistently. The company has its headquarters located in Bangalore and has a physical presence in the major parts of India.
Zerodha provides services that include Equity and Derivatives trading, Currency and Commodity trading, Mutual Funds, Bonds and Government Bonds. The company has launched a new feature on its trading platform in order to make its services easy for the traders. Let’s look at the new feature launched by Zerodha.
Zerodha has launched a new feature on their trading platform which will help the traders to learn from their mistakes. The new feature launched by the Zerodha will help traders to maintain a journal through the platform.
The feature is known as the Nudge feature, this would help the traders to tag their trades to use it as a journal and to track their investing goals.
Announcement by Zerodha
The company conveyed in a statement saying that the company had launched Nudge as a first step and now they were excited to announce a new Nudge on their console on the portfolio and trade tagging which can be used by the traders as a trading journal and track their investing goals.
Nithin Kamath who is the CEO of Zerodha had conveyed through a tweet that the company is excited about the new feature available on the console and he added that tagging the trades and maintaining an investment journal would help you become a better trader and will also help in tracking the investment goals.
Nithin Kamath had conveyed that the new feature would help the traders to learn from their mistakes and he added that one cannot become a better trader if they don’t learn from their mistakes. An ideal way any successful trader uses to learn from his mistakes is by maintaining a journal that would have a track of all the trades taken and the reason behind taking the trades.
The journal will help the traders to look back and review the reason for the trade being taken and even reflect and analyze on the trading methods which are working and which are not working.
Uses of the new Feature – Nudge
The new feature is majorly used for creating a journal in order to make better trades and to become a successful trader. The tags can be used to track and create retirement goals or your trading goals. He added that the console will help the traders to tag the trades once they have taken, while they may postpone it.
Zerodha conveyed that, if a trader has to tag a trade or maintain a journal then they will have to do it manually for tracking a trade or to track the profitability. It is considered to be difficult and which is one of the major reasons why most of the traders don’t follow it.
In order to tag, the trader will have to go to the P&L report on their Zerodha console.
You will have to select any security that you have taken a trade and click the context menu on the P&L console, then select view breakdown/tags.
On the P&L breakdown window, you will have to click on apply or create a tag.
Now you can enter the tag’s name and enter a description of the tag which you would want to create and then save.
There is a restriction on the number of characters on the tags to 15 as this will be used to display the purposes in multiple places. The tags can be applied to all the trades taken or you can apply them separately for each breakdown.
You can use the tag manager in order to track the best and worst-performing tags and also use the filter in order to analyze the P&L to view the profitability of your tags.
In order to add goals one can, visit the holdings page on the console and click on the context menu and select view breakdown or tags. It is similar to tags in P&L, you can either apply it entirely or apply it separately according to your choice.
Conclusion
If a trader has to tag a trade or maintain a journal then they will have to do it manually for tracking a trade or to track the profitability. It is considered to be difficult and which is one of the major reasons why most of the traders don’t follow it. Zerodha’s new feature is focusing again on making the concept of trading much more easier and convenient for the traders.
FAQ
Who is the CEO of Zerodha?
Nithin Kamath is the founder and CEO of Zerodha.
When was Zerodha founded?
Zerodha was founded in 2010 by Nithin Kamath.
What is nudge in Zerodha?
The new feature added by Zerodha on Console and portfolio which can be used by traders for trade tagging and to track investing goals.
AMC Entertainment Holdings is an American-based movie theatre chain, and is the largest movie theatre chain in the world. The company was founded in the year 1920, with its headquarters located in Leawood, Kansas. It has faced a lot of financial downturns due to the recent Covid-19 crisis. Let’s look at how AMC Entertainment has seen a surge in its share price of around 2,900% in this year.
The AMC Entertainment had seen a recent surge in its share price, which touched an all-time high on 2nd June 2021. The stock is considered to be a meme stock as the increase in the stock price was driven because of the hype over the social media channels.
The hot rally on the stock price is believed to be driven by the retail investors of Reddit. However, it is considered that one of the minor reasons for the surge in the share price is because certain investors are optimistic about the theatre chain as the Covid cases have come under control and the crowd would venture back into the theatres.
Share price of AMC Entertainment
The stock had seen a surge of around 120% on 2 June 2021, which hit the all-time high of USD 70 and fell slightly. The stock provided a return of around 90% in one session. The next day the rally was interrupted due to the company itself.
On 3 June 2021, the company had sold around 11 million shares and raised more than USD 500 million, where the investors did not stay with the company’s decision. The share had seen a fall on that particular day of around 18 % and closed at USD 51.34.
The company was under a potential bankruptcy in the year 2020 and now has seen a surge in its stock price of more than 3000% for the year 2021. In this quarter alone the stock price of AMC has provided a return of 500% and 140%, as seen in the first week of June 2021. The market capitalization of the company has increased to more than USD 32 billion.
Reason for the Extreme Rise in Share price of AMC Entertainment
Most of the analysts have agreed that the stock price of AMC has seen a surge not because of the fundamentals but because of the hype created on the social media platforms. They have conveyed that the surge in the price of stocks can be seen as long as it gets attention.
It is said that the retail investors on Reddit had joined back together in order to hurt the professional short sellers that were betting against the AMC stock. At the same time, AMC had announced that they would provide free popcorns to their new investors who had backed them when they visit AMC for watching a movie.
AMC Entertainment Warning to its Investors
The company’s stock price had been trading at 20% up and saw a fall of 18% soon after they announced the sale of 11 million stocks. The sale of 11 million stocks has further helped the company in increasing its share price to USD 584 million as capital.
AMC has also recognized the strangeness of the situation which was claimed by the experts. As a result, the company had issued an unusual warning to its shareholders. The company warned its shareholders against investing in its Class A common stock. It has conveyed that if the shareholders were ready to incur the risk of losing the entire amount invested in the shares or a partial amount, they could continue to stay invested.
The share of AMC has received a lot of attention from the Indian investors as well as those from South Africa. The largest theatre chain was one of the five most traded stocks on the American stock exchange on Vested Finance and Stockal. These are two Indian focused trading platforms, and AMC was much more popular than Tesla, Facebook and Shopify.
FAQ
What is the biggest movie theater company?
AMC Entertainment is one of the biggest movie theater company with 959 around the world.
Who are AMC Theaters’ competitors?
Regal, Cinemark, and Cineplex are some of the top competitors of AMC Entertainment.
What is the Revenue of AMC Entertainment?
The Revenue of AMC theatre in 2020 was 1200 million US dollars.
A startup incubator is a collaborative program designed keeping in mind to help new startups succeed. The main goal of a startup incubator is to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses. Mostly, startup incubators are non-profit organizations that are usually run by both public and private entities.
Startup incubators play the most needed and important part of the startup ecosystem. Read the full article to know more about startup incubation centers in India.
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Startup incubators are organizations that help business people to build up their business, particularly in the underlying stages. Incubation facilities are typically provided by institutions that have experience with the business and innovation world. Startup Incubators in India support incorporates giving technical facilities and advice, initial development fund, network, and linkages, collaborating spaces, lab offices, tutoring, and advisory help Indian startup Incubators.
Here’s the list of top 10 startup incubation centers in India:
1. CIIE IIMA
Centre for Innovation Incubation And Entrepreneurship – IIMA
Startups Funded:
EzySolare
Glowship
Glass
At the heart of IIM Ahmedabad lies this center for innovation incubation & entrepreneurship which stands as a pioneer in the field of the entrepreneurial sector as an incubator which has given birth to many startups. Established in 2007, CIIE is a not for profit company governed by a board comprising government, industries, and IIMA representatives. It helps in cultivating a rare breed of entrepreneurs by incubating, accelerating, mentoring, and funding the startups. This Indian startup incubator engages with ventures across tech and impact areas like energy, environment, agriculture, healthcare, and affordable technology.
2. IAN incubator
Indian Angel Network
Startups Funded:
FarMart
NativeSpecial
Starting in April 2006, the IAN startup incubator is established by India’s angel network (IAN), India’s largest group of angel investors established with the support of DST. The members of the sector being prime leaders in the entrepreneurial sector, in addition to money, also provide high quality mentoring, vast networks, inputs on strategy as well as execution. Sectors of the investment are agriculture, e-commerce, gaming, internet, mobiles, etc.
3. Sine
Society for Innovation & Entrepreneurship
Startups Funded:
Aqua
Bhugol
ideaForge
Established in 2004, sine stands for the society for innovation & entrepreneurship. This Indian startup incubator is hosted by IITB as an umbrella for the promotion of entrepreneurship, financially assisted by DST and technology development board to provide seed support in form of grants, interest-free loans, soft loans, or equity participation over 5 years. Sine provides help to startups in the impact areas of technology-based entrepreneurship.
4. STEP
Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Park
Startups Funded:
iKure Techsoft.
Science and technology entrepreneurship park (STEP) was established as an Indian startup incubator for new startup ideas in IIT Kharagpur in the year 1986. it receives financial support from the department of science and technology (DST) and the national science and technology entrepreneurship development board (NSTEBD). Its goal is to nurture successful indigenous technologies and growth-oriented entrepreneurs/enterprises. It provides space as well as seed fund to the startups.
5. Nsrcel
Nadathur S. Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial Learning
Startups Funded:
Science Hopper
Gamatics
BubbleNut Wash
Highway Delight
The Nadathur S Raghavan center for entrepreneurial learning (NSRCEL) at IIM Bangalore hosts the biggest nonprofit startup incubator set up with the support from the Michael and Susan dell foundation for nurturing startups in their early growth state. It aims at grooming entrepreneurs to bring about innovation in public sectors of the society. It provides a few lucky startups with a robust set of wrap-around services including mentoring support, consulting services, and training programs, thus enabling them to get the most exposure. NSRCEL currently nurtures almost 18 startups probably the highest number to be taken up by an educational institution in India. Since the foundation in 2000, NSRCEL’s rapidly growing open mentoring initiatives have conservatively estimated that it may have directly impacted more than 10,000 entrepreneurs, aspiring entrepreneurs, or other participants in the ecosystem.
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Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI) is one of the centers of excellence established by the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Calcutta to accomplish a more prominent understanding of an effective mechanism for the promotion of professional management practices in Indian organizations, as well as to stimulate the development of these startups in india for societal benefit. CEI’s vision is to be recognized as a program of worldwide prestige, where students, faculty, alumni, industry, and policymakers collaborate, learn, and innovate. The team comprises faculty from different functional areas and disciplines which makes it easier to get inputs and mentoring. Some of its areas of work are entrepreneurial research and case development and venture creation.
Kerala Startup Mission ( previously Technopark TBI) came into existence as a startup incubator in 1990 at Kerala State Capital. KSM companies employ more than 50000 IT professionals. Spread across 760 acres of land with 9.33 million sq. ft built up space ( completed ) & 3.5 million sq. ft (Work in Progress) and over 350 companies operational at present. This startup incubator has successfully provided a platform to attract investors for their startups.
The brainchild of IIM Lucknow, IIML – Incubator stands as a pioneer in turning entrepreneurial ideas into viable businesses. managed by a separate council under the institute, it receives. all directions of functioning from it. IIML – Incubator ensures that the startups growing under it get all the benefits from it which include financial, mentorship, and infrastructural support throughout incubation. It also promises technical assistance from trained professionals in their areas of expertise.
9. pupilfirst
pupilfirst Incubator (previously Startup Village)
Startups Funded:
MindHelix Technologies
finahub
tagNpin
pupilfirst (previously Startup Village) is a not-for-profit startup incubator based in Kochi, India. It started in April 2012. On January 1, 2016, Kerala Startup Mission assumed control over the physical space of the famous pupilfirst at Hi-Tech Park in Kalamassery. The association meant to launch 1,000 innovative new businesses throughout the following ten years and start the quest for the following billion-dollar Indian organization. It focuses primarily on student startups and telecom innovation. It is India’s first incubator that is supported financially together by people in public and private divisions. The promoters of pupilfirst are the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, Government of Andhra Pradesh, Technopark, Trivandrum, and MobME Wireless. Since 2012, pupilfirst has helped nearly 590 physical and virtual incubates in Kochi and 200 in Vizag.
10. Villgro
Villgro
Startups Funded:
Yostra Labs
VAHAN
SkillTrain
BEMPU
Villgro, earlier known as Rural Innovations Network, is one of the top from the list of incubators in India. Villgro is India’s most established and first social venture incubator. This incubators is also one of the social entrepreneurial firms in India. Villgro funds, mentors, and incubates early-stage, innovation-based social enterprises that impact the lives of India’s poor. It was established in 2001 by Paul Basil with the mission of hatching early‐stage, imaginative organizations and has since worked in finding a huge number of advancements and pioneers, and brooded over 100 businesses.
All these startup incubation centers has given a boost to the growth of startup ecosystem in India. We have tried to discuss the startup incubation centers in India that have helped many startups from the scratch.
Feel free to reach us and share your feedback. We would love to hear from you. Do comment us in the comments section below. Happy Reading.
Startup incubators are institutions that help entrepreneurs to develop their business, especially in the initial stages. Incubation function is usually done by institutions that have experience in the business and technology world.
How do Incubators help startups get funding?
Most incubators run demo days where the entrepreneur has a chance to present his idea before investors to secure funding. Investors also like startups from incubators as they have a certain amount of faith in well-known incubators and expect the ideas and startups to be vetted to a large extent.
How many Incubators are there in India?
India has the 3rd highest number of incubators with over 250 incubators being present in India.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verifiedinformation ondifferent startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Labkafe.
Educational institutions have a crucial role to play in a country’s development and growth. Schools, colleges, universities, and educational centers are places where the future workforce of the nation is nurtured . For building strong institutions, having the right infrastructure is a prerequisite. However, the process of accumulating, organizing, and setting up the necessary infrastructure can be tiresome. This is where Labkafe takes the charge.
Labkafe is a Kolkata based startup that provides equipment and furniture for laboratories, helping build a wholesome learning zone for young minds.
Labkafe is a one stop destination for laboratory equipment and furniture. It offers numerous products comprising glassware, chemicals, labware, quality lab accessories required for labs, and much more.
Labkafe: Laboratory equipment installed at Sido Kanhu Murmu University.
The team at Lab kafe believes that quality labs and lab experts form the core for innovation and creativity. It envisions making laboratory equipment affordable and accessible, thereby rendering innovation feasible. Labkafe is the school lab equipment suppliers in Kolkata.
Labkafe – Industry Details
Lab equipment industry forms the backbone for research and innovation in diverse fields. Apart from healthcare/pharma companies, one of the major markets for lab equipment and furniture are educational institutes & research institutes. The factors contributing to high demand of lab products in education institutes are:
Government’s emphasis on strengthening educational infrastructure.
Increasing prominence of technology and experiment driven education, especially in emerging private schools/institutes.
Innovation learning through robotics, AI, language labs and other technology based environments in K-12 schools.
Labkafe – Founders And Team
Aniket Thakur and Hitesh Kumar are the founders of Labkafe. Sunil Panda and Amrit Raj later joined the duo as co-founders, giving a boost to the venture. The four worked together at Jindal Stainless Steel plant. At Labkafe, they now work in unison through shared executive responsibilities.
Lab kafe’s Founders and Team
Aniket Thakur is the Chief Executive officer (CEO) of Labkafe. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering from NIT Durgapur.
Hitesh Kumar is the Chief Operating officer (COO) and looks after operation and logistics. He is from NIT Durgapur as well.
Sunil Panda is the Chief Marketing officer (CMO) and heads the sales and Marketing department of Labkafe. Sunil is a mechanical engineer from NIT Rourkela.
Amrit Raj is the Chief Strategies Officer (CSO) and manages strategic tie-ups within Labkafe. He is a mechanical engineering graduate from NIT Jamshedpur.
Labkafe currently is a team of 22. The company generally hires through reference.
We maintain timelines for all the projects & don’t have any work hours – said Aniket, about Labkafe’s work culture
All four co-founders, given their academic and professional background, have been exposed to different laboratory equipment and materials. Their deliberation over the not so developed industry of laboratory equipment in spite of the consistent demand led them towards the ideation of Labkafe.
I was working in a steel plant quality department in Jajpur Odisha. For some basic material testing, I had to travel a lot from Bhubaneswar to Ahmedabad carrying material samples. This made me realize lack of proper laboratory infrastructure in our country. Also, while working in quality lab, we used to face lots of problems procuring exact specified lab equipment for testing. That inspired us to create a portal to address bottlenecks of procuring lab products.- Aniket Thakur
They discussed the idea with their colleagues to seek opinions and received mixed responses. Nevertheless, everybody gave an unanimous verdict with respect to the demand for laboratory equipment—it was, is, and will continue to stay.
Finally, Labkafe was realized and has created 12000+ lab equipment & 200+ lab furniture so far. Most of the products manufactured are under “Labkafe” label. Customer needs are prioritized and the design layout/material are tailored to meet user requirements.
Labkafe’s turnkey solution has eliminated middle men and multiple vendors, resulting in the reduction of procurement costs and making it affordable. Labkafe provides wide ranging services—designing, furniture and lab equipment fabrication, allied services (LPG/Pipeline connections, interior decoration etc), instruments installation, training, manpower development, annual maintenance and financial support to institutes.
Labkafe – Funding
Bootstrapped with just Rs 1 lakh, Labkafe is a profitable and successful business today, boasting stock that includes more than 12,000 lab equipment items and over 200 lab furniture designs. “Based on design layouts and subject matter, materials are supplied to customers,” explains the founder, adding, “Most products are manufactured under our brand name ‘Labkafe’.”
Labkafe – Name and Logo
Labkafe logo
The Labkafe team was searching for names related to labs. But was not getting good name with web domain. Then finally the problem got solved over a cup of coffee. The team was sipping Nescafe coffee in the canteen, and from Nescafe, the idea of the name “LabKafe” came.
The name ‘Labkafe’ was finalized as it eases the procurement work of educational institutions and lets them relax, like a cafe provides a soothing time to its customers.
Labkafe – Business Model And Revenue Model
With a technical background, the four co-founders have worked together in crafting a practical business and revenue model.
The laboratory equipment are highly specialized, needs field expertise, installation support and thorough understanding based on the customer’s requirement. The Labkafe team provides the necessary technical support to the customer. This helped Labkafe minimize competition, avail high margin, maintain high entry barrier, procure high order basket values and improve its brand value.
Labkafe’s average order basket value is around 1 lakh INR. It focuses on generating revenue by selling products directly to institutes. For the same, they have also designed specific lab packages for secondary and senior secondary schools pertaining to CBSE/ICSE/State board curriculum. This makes it convenient for schools and in turn reaps revenue for Labkafe.
Labkafe – User Acquisition
The Labkafe team acquires customers through:
Marketing channels: Email campaigns, cold calling, Facebook marketing, Google ads, and word of mouth. GeM (Government E-Marketplace) is another great platform that has boosted Labkafe’s sales.
Labkafe maintains a sales team for high value potential leads.
Labkafe’s notable clients include: DRDO, Air Force-Gwalior, State Forensic science lab, ONGC, Baidyanath Pharma, NIT Rourkela, NIT Allahabad, IBSD, St. Xavier group, GD Goenka group, and the DPS group.
Besides its on-going expansion in India, Labkafe is also exporting its catalog to three countries: Canada, Nigeria, and Bhutan.
Initially, Labkafe sold industrial products and the team was extremely confident about the startup take off right from beginning, given the team’s expertise in the domain. Gradually, it dawned upon the Labkafe team that the sector was fraught with stiff competition, low margins, and complex procurement routes of the industries. Moreover, the payment delay from clients resulted in unbalanced cashflow.
So, the team started to experiment and identify a niche for avoiding financial crunch. School labs were found to be a fit and finally in July 2016, Labkafe pivoted to selling lab equipment and furniture to schools. Since then, the margins have increased significantly and the procurement decision making process has been simplified.
Labkafe has used email campaigns and other media instruments to reach out to customers. With experience, Labkafe began to focus on big ticket orders wherein lab expertise was required. It then started to work with universities/ research institutes (from planning to execution). This includes:
Designing labs as per the directions of HODs.
Submitting DPR (Detail Project Report) for final approval.
Labkafe has gained recognition and carved a niche for itself in the lab equipment industry. It is now a government recognized startup. At present Labkafe is spread across Kolkata, Ranchi, and Ambala. Its sales team is targetting West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, and Odisha.
Labkafe’s annual turnover for FY 2018-19 stood at 8.17 Crores and is expected to reach 23.4 crores for financial year 2019-20.
It is now looking to expand services and cover the pharmaceutical industry and diversify its global reach.
FAQs
What is Labkafe?
Labkafe is one of the top startups in Kolkata that provides equipment and furniture for laboratories, helping build a wholesome learning zone for young minds.
Who is the founder of Labkafe?
Aniket Thakur, Hitesh Kumar, Sunil Panda, and Amrit Raj
What is the lab supplies market growth?
The global lab supplies market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.1% from 2020 to 2027 to reach USD 49.6 billion by 2027.
How big is the lab supplies market?
The global lab supplies market size was estimated at USD 29.1 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach USD 30.6 billion in 2020.
Which segment accounted for the largest lab supplies market share?
North America dominated the lab supplies market with a share of 37.0% in 2019. This is attributable to rising R&D investment in this region that is creating the need for laboratory products.
The Clubhouse has recently become one of the most popular social media apps in India. It has created a lot of hype amongst the Indian content creators with a lot of clubhouse rooms being formed in the month of May 2021. The app is available for both Android and iOS in India, even though the audio-chat app is already popular among the users, it has plans to reach more people around the world and expand its community. Let’s look at the future plans of the clubhouse in India.
The company has plans to remove the invite-only feature by the end of this year. There is no information regarding the exact time for removing the invite-only feature as of now. However, if you are a Clubhouse user, you would already know that you can use the app only if your invitation is accepted by your friend or an existing clubhouse user.
On 3 June 2021, the clubhouse had confirmed that it has plans to expand its user base and to remove the invite-only feature by making it open for all. This would mean that anyone would be able to download the app, join the social media application and add rooms depending on their interest.
The co-founder of Clubhouse Rohan Seth had conveyed that they were still new to the space and that they are trying their best to grow slowly. He added that the main aim of the audio-chat app is to add in more users and to remove the invite only feature.
He conveyed that the company will have to align and invest into the infrastructure before removing the invite-only feature. However, he conveyed that the goal of the company is to provide the app support to everyone. He has also mentioned that the invite only feature of the Clubhouse had helped the app to build a loyal and strong community in a short span.
Clubhouse on its Payment Service launch in India
The audio-chat platform had also conveyed that they were soon planning to release a payments service in India. As of now, the clubhouse payment service is available only in the United States. The executive of the company had conveyed that before releasing its payment service on a global level, the company wants to ensure that the experience would be smooth.
Clubhouse Payment Service
He added that the company has plans to release the payments service only to a few countries outside the United States which includes India. The main reason for it is because the app has become very popular in the country.
The introduction of the payment service into the clubhouse for India would help the content creators to monetize their content and the information.
The CEO of the company Rohan Seth had also conveyed that the app is planning to launch new features bringing in better discoveries and recommendations for the users. He said that the app is planning to work on recommending more rooms for the users and adding features that will help them connect better.
He added that the company is also working on the discovery features of the clubhouse which will offer a smooth experience for the community. The app is planning to work on localization features and to bring in more support to various languages which will help to connect with more people around the globe.
Some of the features which the company plans to bring to users include ticketing, subscriptions and tipping. These features will make it much more easier for the content creators to monetize their content on the clubhouse platform.
Conclusion
In the initial stages clubhouse was available only on the iOS platform and later on, was released for the Android users as well which created a lot of hype among the users and the company saw an overwhelming response. The app has recorded around 2 million users on Android.
FAQ
What is the valuation of Clubhouse?
Clubhouse has reached a valuation of $4 billion as of 2021.
Who is the Founder of Clubhouse?
Clubhouse was founded by Rohan Seth and Paul Davison in 2020.
Who is the CEO of Clubhouse?
Paul Davison is the CEO and Founder of popular social media platform Clubhouse.
E-commerce platforms have altered ways of doing business in a tremendous manner. They have rendered the impossible possible by making the market place accessible for all. Not just for customers but also for sellers.
This also means an increase in competition. Gone are the days where you can go on with your business without any change. Today, you have to plan and bring in innovation in every step that you take or else you see your sales plummeting down. To ensure better sales, here are a few tools that every Amazon seller must have:
This is a very basic app whose functions are way more than basic. They help you fix a retail price for your product. All you have to do is just scan and upload the picture of the product. The app suggests an apt selling price using various parameters. It is completely free and thus makes the process completely investment free. If you are planning to sell on Amazon here’s a complete guide to help you out.
AMZ Finder
Pricing – Prices vary from $49/month to $799/month Review – 4.3
AMZ Finder Tool Website
One cannot emphasise enough on the importance of reviews as far as firms like Amazon are concerned. A negative review can turn down many prospective customers apart from lowering product rank.
This tool helps you improve your customer relations and product reviews in a variety of ways. Automatic emailing, requesting positive reviews, alerting at the sight of negative reviews are a few of them. The last one mentioned is all the more important since it helps you act faster and address the issue immediately.
Facebook Advertising
Pricing – Price depends on CPC Review – 4.3
Long gone are the days when Facebook was just a social media platform. It has expanded to be a market place as well. Realising this potential, Facebook now allows sellers to advertise their products after choosing certain variables like location, target audience, budget etc.
PPC Entourage
Pricing – Price vary from $o / month per region to $200 / month per region Review – 4.3
PPC Entourage Website
PPC Entourage is yet another advertising tool for Amazon sellers. It claims to kill competition by putting your Sponsored Amazon ads on auto-pilot. They significantly help in improving profit margins. They completely take care of the advertising part while you take care of the business.
Sellics
Pricing – Prices vary from $198/month to $599/month Review – 4.4
Sellics Website
It is yet another tool that you may want to use as a seller on Amazon. This tool tailor made for Amazon monitors many key areas of business like SEO, research, reviews, Pay-per-click, competitor management etc. It is a must add on if you aim at improving your business at an exponential rate. The app is suitable, not only for pros but also for newbies.
Amazon FBA Calculator
Pricing – Free Review – 4.4
As the name suggests, this tool lets you view, calculate and realise sales and price ranks of the competitors. This is an added information which helps you assess where you stand amongst others. The different facilities available here can also be used to determine revenue, RoI, and Profit.
FBA Fox
Pricing – Prices vary from $30/month to $45/month Review – 4.5
It is an amazing destination for those Amazon sellers looking for a wholesale distribution platform. They catalogue almost 5 lakh items and extends services upto delivering your product directly to the buyer.
Kabbage
Pricing – NA Review – 4.2
Lack of operational capital is a big problem that most of the beginners face. Kabbage provides loans for such small and medium enterprises. They use data on merchant activity to understand details about business performances.
Source Mogul
Pricing – $67/month Review – 4.5
Source Mogul Website
This tool helps you to find the right product to sell. This being an important aspect of any seller it helps you in automating the process of searching. It gives you an option to customise your wholesale lists as well.
Shipworks
Pricing – Prices vary from $49/month to $799/month Review – 4.3
Shipworks website
As the names says it helps in optimising shipping of your orders. The orders will be directly downloaded from the website of the store. Apart from that, it also helps in procuring monthly reports, customer invoices etc.
Refunds Manager
Pricing – Prices vary from $690/Year to $1190/Year Review – 4.5
Refunds Manager Website
It is a tool that helps you to get your money back from Amazon. This includes the refunds for damaged products, excessive commission fees and so on. By keeping track of the refunds initiated, this tool will help you monitor the over cash flow of the business with much less friction.
Camelcamelcamel
Pricing – Free Review – 4.3
Camelcamelcamel Website
This tool is very popular among the Amazon sellers due to the service that it provides to them by monitoring the prices available on Amazon. It also sends you alerts if you feed in your requirements like a range of prices based on their availability. Camelizer is a browser add-on of the same tool which makes the job easier for the sellers. They let you see the price history with ease.
Amazon Sellers Lawyer
Pricing – You have to Contact the supplier for a quote Review – 4.4
Business is never a cake walk. And doing business through Amazon is no different. Things like suspension can happen. The tool Amazon Sellers Lawyers deals with the legal side of doing business and helps you revert back the suspension or any other kind of legal punishments imposed by the app. It also helps you to go on to the listings back. This is a go to place in case of any legal hurdles.
Currencies Direct
Pricing – NA Review – 4.5
If you are a seller who undertake transactions internationally, then this is a tool that you must use. It takes care of all money that comes through international marketplaces. And there is no need to worry about local bank accounts. Their clients can save 3% of the overall sales value when compared with other firms.
Profit Whales
Pricing – Prices vary from $69/month to $500/month (They also charge 2% to 3% monthly ad spend on some plans) Review – 5
Profit Whales Website
By using the potential of data science, Profit Whales automates pay-per-click nuances of Amazon for other brands and even third party sellers on Amazon. They do this through their completely automated custom-built algorithms. Hence it is safe to consider this tool as Amazon’s pay-per-click automation software
Helium 10
Pricing – Prices vary from $37 /month to $198/month Review – 4.5
Helium10 Website
This website is extremely beneficial for sellers who are launching a new product. SEO is an unavoidable aspect as far as online businesses are concerned. This tool aids in boosting your sales by optimising keywords. It tracks and finds out the best keywords that can be used so that your products come in all related searches the customers do. These high volume keywords will help you outrun your competitors.
Other tools that Amazon sellers can use
Salsify
Seller Repay
Codisto
Channergy
Billbee
AmazeOwl
Entriwise
SellerMobile
eComEngine
taxomate
Conclusion
There are a plethora of tools that you can use to improve your sales on Amazon. One thing that you need to keep in mind is that no tool can be used in all situations in the same manner.
You need to constantly adapt and improvise on tools. It depends on how your business fares on the platform. In a way, it is a cycle which determines each other. The right use of tools will benefit your business, and the changes in business will demand a change in the usage of tools. So watch your business very closely and use the tools in the best way possible.
FAQ
Which is the best Amazon seller tool?
Junglescout, Camelcamelcamel and AMZ finder are some of the top amazon seller tools you should consider.
Is being an Amazon seller worth it?
If you are serious about selling and growing your business on Amazon then selling on Amazon is quite profitable as it is one of the top ecommerce site.
What tools do I need for Amazon FBA?
Amazon Seller Central App, Amazon FBA calculator and Camelcamelcamel are some of the top tools you need for Amazon FBA.
SoftBank Vision Fund is a Japanese based company that had exited from its investments in Flipkart after selling them off to Walmart Inc during the year 2018. But the company has now held discussions in order to invest into the e-commerce giant, Flipkart. Let’s look at why SoftBank is trying to buy Flipkart again.
SoftBank has held discussions with the e-commerce giant, Flipkart to invest an amount of around USD 600 – USD 700 million during the funding round. Certain sources have claimed that the funding which is being raised by Flipkart is much more larger which is expected to be around USD 2 billion.
The funding rounds estimated to see the participation of a group of investors or wealth funds which include Canada’s CPPIB, Abu Dhabi’s ADQ as well as the existing investors of the company which includes GIC and Qatar Investment Authority.
The sources have conveyed that the funding rounds would value the e-commerce giant to closely around USD 25 – USD 30 billion.
Flipkart Plans for IPO in US
Flipkart had plans to go for an Initial Public Offering in the United States and the investment from Soft Bank would lead the company to push aside its plans to go public. This would mean that the e-commerce giant would stay as a private company for longer than it was intended to.
A person close to the developments has conveyed that the deal between SoftBank and Flipkart would be finalized up in the next few weeks of June 2021. As per earlier reports, the e-commerce giant had plans to go public during the year 2022.
If the deal to invest in Flipkart is finalized then it would be another big move from the Japanese based group, SoftBank in entering into the Indian e-commerce market. The company has already been part of the e-commerce market with huge cash investments.
After the exit from the e-commerce firm Flipkart during the year 2018, the re-entry into the firm is at the right time when the large Indian groups such as TATA and Reliance have been entering into the market sector and is trying to catch the market share.
Even the rival firm of Flipkart which is Amazon has increased its investment in the Indian market by more than USD 7 billion in diversified sectors which include retailing, online payments, food delivery, grocery delivery, etc.
The investment from SoftBank will help the e-commerce giant to build an ecosystem in order to compete with the rivals such as Reliance, TATA and Amazon.
Flipkart under the leadership of Kalyan Krishnamurthy has grown significantly over the years. They have increased their investments and the acquisitions in order to bulk up their logistics and supply chain in order to increase the its brand and fashion portfolio.
In the month of April 2021, the company had acquired Cleartrip in order to strengthen its presence in the hospitality sector. Flipkart had also acquired an 8% stake in the Aditya Birla Fashion and Retail Ltd and also a 27 % stake in the Arvind Fashions.
Other recent investments of the company include a logistics startup and a supply chain startup. The company is also focusing to invest heavily into the online grocery platform as it has seen an increased demand due to the pandemic and the lockdown in the major cities.
The company has announced that it has plans to build warehouses for scaling up its grocery business and hired employees for it. The Indian business of Flipkart is operated through multiple entities. The online business is run by Flipkart internet and Flipkart India.
Conclusion
The e-commerce giant has expected to raise funds from the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board and also from the existing investors. 76.9 % of the stake is owned by the Parent company Walmart INC. The other investors include UBS, GIC, Accel, Microsoft, Qatar Investment Authority, Tiger Global Management, Tencent, ESOP pool and the founder Binny Bansal.
FAQ
When did SoftBank Invest in Flipkart?
SoftBank’s Vision Fund invested $2.5 billion in Flipkart in August 2017.
When did Walmart invest in Flipkart?
In 2018 Walmart bought a roughly 77% stake in Flipkart for $16 billion.
Is Softbank investing in Flipkart again?
Yes, Softbank is in talks with Flipkart to invest approximately $700 million in it.
If you’ve ever thought about starting a business, you might have reconsidered as soon as you learned more about what a business plan entails. Thankfully, in the last twenty years there’s been a great deal of innovation around how to more efficiently and effectively summarize and visually present your idea for a new business.
Beginning with the Business Model Canvas (BMC) developed by Alex Osterwalder—a visual representation of the key aspects common to most business plans—business people and academics have developed a range of strategies for different niches. For startups, one popular option is the so-called “lean canvas model,” the structure of which keeps some of an entrepreneurs specific needs in mind.
The Lean Canvas framework can be a particularly powerful tool for startups because it helps entrepreneurs map out the risks in their business model, and helps them to adapt as they gain new information. As you read on below, you’ll learn about how the Lean Canvas framework came to be, and you can start to think about how it might work for your company.
What’s a lean startup?
Let’s start with the word “lean,” where does that come from when we’re talking about business?
The term “lean start-up” can be attributed to Eric Ries, dating back to the 2000s. Speaking with The New York Times in 2010, Eric said he was inspired by the “lean manufacturing process” made famous by Japanese factories over several decades. That process was focused on getting rid of anything—work or investment of resources—that did not add value for the customer.
The emphasis here is on a fast pace of development, work done by small teams, and a constant drive for iteration, improvement, and refinement. All of this builds off of so-called “agile” methodologies used in software development.
With a lean start-up, the focus is on the customer, not the product. If you’ve heard the words “pivot” or “minimum viable product (MVP),” you’ve already felt the influence of the concept. Rather than focus on a lot of up-front investment in a product, a lean start-up works the other way around.
The focus is on developing an MVP, in other words a product with the minimum number of features needed to please some group of consumers. With that done, the company will then continue to develop and tweak the product, checking how the market responds and making changes accordingly. There are plenty of examples of companies that developed this way, with Facebook being one of the biggest among them.
In general, a start-up is aimed at figuring out a scalable business model that makes a profit. A lean start-up is able to maintain its flexibility, and to respond quickly to any feedback it gets from the market, positive or negative.
What’s a Business Model Canvas (BMC)?
You can’t understand a Lean Canvas without first understanding a BMC, which is already an improvement on a traditional business plan.
Only the Soviets and venture capitalists expect you to have a five-year plan. That, according to Steve Blank, a professor and another evangelist of the “lean” approach to start-ups, is what makes an old-school business plan a problem for start-ups.
While a typical business plan includes a five-year forecast for the financial outlook of the business, it’s based on a lot of built-in assumptions. The point of a lean start-up is that it can adapt based on the data that comes in from the market, the information it gets directly from its customers.
Such a business needs a different kind of plan. If a business plan is a bulky, rigid document, a BMC aims at something else. It’s meant to provide all the relevant information about your business idea, seen from a high-level perspective, in a format that’s easy to understand.
At its simplest, a BMC is meant to show, in one simple diagram, how the business in question will create value for its customers and for itself. The BMC has nine blocks all neatly arranged so that you can look at the whole model on one page. They are:
Key Partners
Key Activities
Key Resources
Cost Structure
Revenue Streams
Value Propositions
Customer Relationships
Channels
Customer Segments.
So, what’s a lean canvas framework?
So, what is a Lean Canvas framework and how can you leverage it for your start-up? It’s an adaptation of the BMC focused on risk. As you read on below, think about how the elements it adds to the BMC can help you understand your business model.
First, you can take a look at a worked-out example in this video:
The Lean Canvas framework was developed by Ash Mayura as an adaptation of the BMC circa 2010. Mayura’s goal, as he puts it in a blog post describing the development of the framework, was to make something that was focused on being actionable while also being built for entrepreneurs. His aim was to create something that could serve as a “tactical plan or blueprint” that an entrepreneur could use as they navigated the difficulty of starting a business.
The trick? Focus on what’s most risky about a given business. The result, was that Mayura added four boxes:
Problem—Mayura argues that most failed startups don’t fail to build what they set out to, they just build the wrong thing. If you don’t understand the problem you’re solving, you won’t be able to succeed.
Solution—Understanding the problem means you’re likely in a good position to offer the solution. Mayura adds that he made this a small box to challenge entrepreneurs to focus on simplicity and on developing an MVP.
Key Metrics—Drowning in a sea of useless data, rather than focusing on the right key metrics, is a risk for many startups.
Unfair Advantage—another way of referring to competitive advantage or barriers to entry. Mayura points out that, for a lot of start-ups, this box might start out blank (but it shouldn’t stay that way).
To achieve his lean key focus area vision, Mayura nixed four boxes from the BMC:
Key Activities
Key Resources
Customer Relationships
Key Partners
Conclusion
With all this in mind, you’ll be well prepared to use the Lean Canvas framework to better articulate your vision for your business. Instead of just seeing nine boxes to fill in, think about how the design of the framework can help you leverage it as a tool. Done right, it should not only help you plan, but continue to improve, iterate, and adapt as your business grows.
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 Wink & Nod.
As correctly said “the richest man in the world is the man who can sleep in peace at night.” With the fast and hectic lifestyle of modern times, the importance of quality sleep has become more essential. With the same vision, Sandeep Prasad launched Wink & Nod in 2017.
Wink & Nod is an innovative sleep-focused company that is driven by a vision to create a one-stop brand that caters to the sleeping needs of the modern Indian consumer. As a company, it understands the importance of quality sleep in today’s stress heavy world, hence it wants to become a trailblazer in the sleep industry in the Indian market. Keeping in line with this, the company focuses on using the best quality and non-toxic fabrics and materials by certifications like CertiPUR-US® for foam and Oeko-Tex® Standard 100 for fabrics.
Most of Wink & Nod’s targeted consumers lie between the age of late 20s to late 40s and belong to the working class. With an increase in stress levels and long working hours, people aren’t able to find the time to focus on sleep. Wink & Nod intends to provide the same and at the same time eliminate the hassle of shopping for these products by providing online options to choose from and delivering them to the customer’s home.
Wink & Nod’s vision is to create a one-stop brand that caters to all sleep needs of a consumer, a brand that resonates with sleep and redefines the overall sleep experience of the user. Apart from mattresses, this firm also sells bed sheets, pillows, comforters, and other sleep accessories. The products are not only aesthetically pleasant by looks and amazing to feel, but also are non-toxic, affordable, and are backed by innovative technology.
The shift from traditional players to Wink & Nod will be gradual but is something that people are willing to do once they understand the products and the value it holds. A mattress has typically been a low-involvement product and has been seen as something that is placed on top of your bed. The consumer adapts to the idea when he understands that a mattress is a place where the average person spends one-third of their life and that they can actually help improve their sleep.
To get the consumers aligned to this thinking, Wink & Nod provides them a 100-day trial on the mattresses, earning the most crucial element behind a product’s success – their trust in the product. Nobody likes change, but some changes are for good, and that is what this company wishes the consumers to understand. Before starting any marketing activity, Wink & Nod dives into the customer personas, map their behavior, how they spend their day, and understand why they require a product like this.
“We try to be in these touchpoints via various modes of communications, experimenting on offline activities and focusing on customer engagement.” Said Sandeep Prasad.
Additionally, Wink & Nod has tried to shift from the conventional notion of mattress purchasing as a tedious task, and have made the process enjoyable for the consumers. For customers who are confused about buying which kind of mattress, it has dedicated sleep experts who assist them with the right mattress based on their needs. Wink & Nod, as a brand, connect with millennials. The content used for communications follows a quirky-fun tonality focusing on maximum consumer engagement. So even if they do not purchase the product, they still remember Wink & Nod.
Not to forget, Wink & Nod follows a personalized and unique packaging style with the aim of providing a delightful experience to the customers. The Wink & Nod team understood the gap in logistics in India and worked towards solving it. Hence, even something as large as a mattress gets delivered packed inside a box, and at the same time gives the customers a joy of unboxing it.
Wink & Nod – Target Market Size
The existing mattress market is pegged at a total size of around US $1.5 Billion, and growing 10% year-on-year. While most mattress buying has traditionally been from the unorganized sector, the split between the two segments is around 50-50 as of now. This is largely driven by a few offline brands driving the industry. Within the organized segment – the online space, which has become active in the last 4-5 years, occupies ~10% of the segment (i.e, 5% of the industry).
However, Wink & Nod is looking to position ourselves as a one-stop-solution for all sleep-related products. This is a much bigger market, roughly estimated at the US $5 Billion. It includes sleeping accessories like pillows, mattress protectors /toppers, etc. A significant portion is comprised of the bed and linen sector which is pegged at around the US $3 billion.
The industry is in its initial years of technology disruption and is undergoing rapid developments. The market is expected to shift from 5% eCommerce to 30-35% eCommerce in the next few years. With 4-5 new-age brands co-existing in the market, each brand can carve out its own specific niche, through their products, services or marketing. These businesses will be online-first direct to consumer brands with some offline presence in terms of experience stores
Founders of Wink & Nod and Team
Wink&Nod Founder, Sandeep Prasad
The Core Team at Wink & Nod consists of the following members:
Sandeep Prasad: Sandeep is the founder and CEO at Wink & Nod. He is a former VC investor who keeps a keen eye on operations and growth. Sandeep earlier worked as an investment banker in New York, a strategy professional in Chicago and as a consultant in Pittsburgh. These high-pressure jobs made him recognize the value of a good night’s sleep.
Vishal Mundhra: Vishal is the CTO and go-to guy for all technology-related issues of Wink & Nod. He is a business-technology entrepreneur and an advisor to global businesses. His past experiences include being a product manager and the head of the user experience group at TIBCO Software. In this role, he led large scale business transformation initiatives for Fortune 1000 companies.
Aditya Labroo: Aditya is the COO at Wink & Nod, and a former investment associate at Guild Capital, a US-based early-stage Venture Capital Firm. His experience of the startup life also comes from being a founder at FairFrog, a niche online marketplace. Aditya was also an options trader at the Dutch firm Optiver, based out of Amsterdam.
Keerthi Balakumar: Keerthi is the brilliant mind behind all products at Wink & Nod. He is a former Innovation Manager at AB InBev India who was dealing with their fine portfolio of alcoholic products often left him yearning for a comfortable place to sleep off after long days at work.
Ankit Raj: Ankit is the CMO at Wink & Nod and he is responsible for all marketing activities at Wink & Nod. Armed with deep insights into consumer’s persona and consumer behavior, he ensures that Wink & Nod is heard amongst the masses and then slept on by the masses.
How was Wink & Nod Started?
All of this began with working for a VC fund in Florida, which focused on investments in nascent-stage consumer brands. Working as the COO of a luxury eCommerce watch company as part of the VC fund, Sandeep saw a steady rise in the US and European based startups that were completely disrupting the mattress and sleep market by bringing products like mattresses and pillows from offline channels to online channels. Additionally, seeing innovation in the products spiked his interest.
The catalyst to start the business was the pursuit of his parents for a good mattress. “They spent more than three weeks in this quest and ended up buying a mattress for a hefty sum of INR 30,000. Upon asking my mother what mattress she had purchased, she was not very sure. The experience of my parents and the potential opportunities in the Indian mattress industry sparked the idea of building a startup focusing on sleep.” Said the founder Sandeep!
A rigorous analysis of the market followed by this experience of his parents made him quit his job. Sandeep raised capital from his boss and utilized it to build the platform. A college friend of his, Vishal assisted in building the website. A fellow worker from his previous company had some contacts in Hong Kong and helped him with the required sourcing partners. Furthermore, Vishal had some contacts in design and warehousing companies from Mumbai. After coming back to India, Sandeep teamed up with a few people from the eCommerce and logistics sector and went on to launch Wink & Nod.
Wink & Nod – Name, Tagline and Logo
Wink & Nod Logo
The name Wink & Nod was finalized after careful consideration and elimination process. The idea was to come up with a name in which people could relate to sleep, and at the same, had to give the name a second thought to perceive the meaning of it. This would create that extra moment of consideration in their mind, giving it just the right time to make some space and rest in mind. Additionally, it needed to speak to the Millenials in their tone. So, Wink & Nod is a subtle take on the fact that when one is feeling sleepy, the head starts nodding, the eyes start winking.
Wink & Nod – Startup Launch
Sandeep connected with his network of the ecosystem of mattress suppliers at the start of his entrepreneurial journey. Then, it was mostly about testing an MVP in the market and making quick iterations based on feedback. He reached out to his contacts, friends, and relatives and also started spending slowly on social media. The initial traction was slow but he realized that whenever he spoke to the customer, he/ she would definitely go ahead and buy. So, Sandeep set up an in-house lead generation and lead conversion process, wherein he had a couple of people who would call and convert customers along with him. This gave Wink & Nod the initial boost to reach the first 100 customers and test out the MVP.
“Speaking to the customer directly also gave me more insights into what customers wanted. This helped us nail the product-market fit in our subsequent iterations.” Says Sandeep.
Since its inception, Wink & Nod’s primary focus is to provide consumers with comfortable quality sleep at an affordable rate. And it has been successful in doing the same. With certifications like CertiPUR-US® for foam and Oeko-Tex® Standard 100 for fabrics, Wink & Nod ensures that only the best reaches the consumers. Another attraction for the company has been the wide range of product offerings, which cater to all sleep requirements in a bedroom. These products include mattresses, pillows, bedsheets, comforters, towels, sleep spray, amongst many others. With constant innovation and the addition of new products in the portfolio, this venture has had the constant attention of its customers.
“We are in a slew of launching an Ayurveda mattress with the sole intention of providing a quality sleep using all-natural materials. Lastly, as mentioned earlier, solving the logistical issues that come with purchasing a mattress by delivering the mattress in a box also attracted a large customer base for us,” added Sandeep.
Wink & Nod – Business Model and Revenue Model
The business model of Wink & Nod is that of a direct-to-customer eCommerce brand. The unit economics is a first-order profitable one, which means that it doesn’t need a high repeat rate to get profitable on a unit customer level. Additionally, it has forayed into several accessories and is witnessing a significant number of repeat purchasers. Products like pillows, comforters, bedsheets, and towels are doing extremely well. Compared to similar products in the market with the same specifications and quality, these products are priced fairly, keeping in mind the Indian consumers.
For instance, a mattress ranges between INR 4000 -INR 42000 depending on the thickness and dimensions. Since Wink & Nod sources it directly from manufacturers and sells to the customers, it can pass on the cost advantage to customers. Secondly, logistics is another high cost for traditional mattress companies, since mattresses are bulky products. Wink & Nod delivers the mattresses in compact vacuum-sealed boxes which saves costs in transportation as well as storage. Hence, further reducing the cost and passing it as a benefit directly to the customer.
Being an online consumer brand, it doesn’t have to absorb high fixed costs and overheads concerning offline stores or shell out high retailer margins. All these efficiencies in the business model of the company enable it to use the best quality raw materials and a superior quality product at an affordable price. All these factors set Wink & Nod apart from others since all the materials are internationally certified and safe to use.
The major challenge as a company for Wink & Nod was solving the fragmented and unorganized logistics in India for a product like theirs. In case a mishap occurs, the consumer always holds the company selling it accountable rather than the delivery service. Hence, the team had to solve this issue at a two-fold level. They went on to build a very strong customer support infrastructure to assist customers throughout the post-purchase process. The infrastructure includes people as well as tools to provide shipping support to customers. Additionally, they innovated the packaging of the product by providing our consumers with products as large as a mattress packed inside a box.
Wink & Nod – Competitors
Talking about the Indian market, which is where Wink & Nod’s focus is now, some of the competitors in the space are Wakefit, SleepyCat, etc. apart from the traditional incumbent ones like Sleepwell, Kurl On, etc. Each of these companies has carved out its own niche positioning in the space and hence is not directly competing for the same set of customers at the same time.
The fact that Wink & Nod’s vision is to build a sleep-focused brand rather than a mattress brand, differentiates it from several competitors in the market.
“We have launched about 15 products in a span of two years – more than any other brand in this space. Each product has its own learning curve in terms of R&D, product-market fit, supply chain complexity, etc.” Says Sandeep.
With each successful product in the portfolio, Wink & Nod’s competitiveness as a sleep brand increases exponentially and at the same time, it has a differentiated offering from the rest of the mattress players. When it comes to the products, each of Wink & Nod’s products has something unique in it – that’s the company’s core product innovation philosophy. For example, it’s Emperia mattress (the premium mattress) has a proprietary cool-touch cover which is not available anywhere else in India. Secondly, its Carbon pillow, with the charcoal-infused memory foam is another product that is being sold only by Wink & Nod. On a more generic level, it’s products really differ in terms of the materials with the highest quality, supreme safety, and internationally certified materials.
Wink & Nod – Funding and Investors
Wink & Nod has raised two rounds of seed funding from Guild Capital, a US-based VC firm. Currently, it is looking to raise a Series A round.
Wink & Nod – Growth
Growing at a monthly rate of 5-10%
Consistent monthly improvement in marketing efficiency
Reduced our overall customer acquisition cost
Launched a line of sleep based products
Team size has grown from 2 to 25 plus in 18 months
Available on major e-commerce websites like Amazon, Paytm Mall, amongst others.
Two experience stores in Pune
A new product line launching soon
Wink & Nod – Awards
One of Top 10 startups in Wharton Startup Challenge
Listed amongst the ET top 50 (or top 100) startups
Apart from this, Wink & Nod has had various feature articles in magazines and papers like TOI, Business World, among others.
Wink & Nod – FAQs
Who is the founder of Wink and Nod mattress?
Sandeep Prasad is the Founder of Wink & Nod.
What is Wink and Nod?
Wink and Nod is a startup that deals with sleep solutions that includes mattresses, bedsheets, pillows and more!
Is there a trial period with Wink and Nod?
Yes, Wink and Nod provides a 100 day trial period for their mattresses.
Yash Raj Srivastava
