Byju’s, an online learning application was originally started by Byju Raveendran. Byju’s app gained extreme popularity and was evolved into a massive organization through Think and Learn Pvt Ltd in 2011. It is a platform where the lecturers educate students to learn and develop exceptional academic ideas via the app and apprehend them much better when compared to traditional school learning.
The app specializes in mathematics and science thus helping kids all over the country to fall in love with learning and master all the subjects and topics it has to offer. Byju’s Business and Revenue model runs on a subscription based method and helps students at large in acomplishing their academic goals.
The organization is a hit as it has precisely catered to the appropriate audience and has done an amazing job at helping students prepare for their entrance or school-college level examinations. The app provides graphically enriched lectures making the topics quite easy for students of all ages to comprehend thus having a better grip on their academic topics. Due to Byju’s recorded lecture features students can enjoy learning at their own convenience.
Byju Raveendran is an Indian and belongs from Azhikode, a small coastal village in Kerala. Before Byju’s he initially worked as an engineer in a UK-based shipping company. Raveendran was respected among his pals as he helped them crack their entrance exams though his simple and easy to understand tricks, though he accomplished 100 percentile in his own entrance examinations, he rejected the IIM. Challenging the traditional educational system Byju’s is evolving into an educational giant helping students at large to enjoy learning.
Byju’s is a premium educational model wherein a number of the primary academic content is made available to students for free. However, to gain access to much more easy and amazing content the users have to opt for a paid subscription. According to a Dec 2019 report published by Economic Times, Byju’s had accumulated more than 40 million registered customers and 2.8 million paid subscribers.
In the monetary year of 2019, Byju’s Business multiplied to Rs. 1341 crore from Rs. 490 crore in the preceding monetary year, and stated a net profit of Rs. 20 crores. Furthermore, the credit for Byju’s success goes to a deeper understanding of the Indian academic industry and providing its users with the best- satisfactory content possible.
By March 31, 2020, Byju’s planned to multiply its revenue to Rs. 3000 Crores considering the profitable fiscal year of 2019. Byju’s planned to launch new products like Byju’s Online Tutoring in order to attain this mark. Millions have been raised by Byju’s and it has been successful in acquiring companies like Math Adventures, TutorVista, Edurite, Vidyartha, and U.S.-based Osmo. Byju’s did not fail to grab Facebook-Whatsapp owner Mark Zukerberg’s attention and his own Chan Zuckerberg Initiative landed up investing $50 million in the company.
In 2019, Byju’s valuation crossed the $5 billion mark with an investment of $25 million from General Atlantic. Before that, Byju’s had raised budget from Naspers Ventures and the Canadian pension fund CPPIB, which had raised its valuation to $3.6 billion from the $1 billion valuation withinside the early economic year of 2018.
Impact of Covid19 on Byju’s Application
Personalized training online was conducted by Byju’s during the lockdown. These online classes are intended for students to continue their academics even during the pandemic and get personalized guidance for the same. History, civics, and geography are a few subjects that Byju’s began teaching and now is planning to record lessons in vernacular languages. Learning material in Hindi and English is already available in the app.
Divya Gokulnath, the Co-founder of Byju’s believes that White Hat Jr, an app that claims to teach kids online coding for $300 million is perfect for the plan. She believes that coding is a necessary future skill which will help our kids accelerate with international expansion. India having the largest school-going population can benefit a lot from this merger wherein a team of experts makes high quality, learning made easy educational content and it reaches every nook and corner of the country benefitting whoever it comes across.
She also believes that technology is a cost-efficient way to solve many of our inefficiencies. It will surely democratize education, and bring high-quality learning to all.School education cannot be replaced simply by online education however, it can help students to learn hard skills and core subjects in a nation that lacks quality school infrastructure and content. There is a chance that a student’s educational perspective might completely change due to the big changes such as online learning which will in turn inculcate the habit of self-learning in students.
Byju’s Expenses For The Fiscal Year 18-19
Byju’s Revenue Model
Learning modules for school and college-going students as well as students preparing for their entrance and competitive exams is a facility that Byju’s app offers. The videos are created by featuring an instructor who makes tough concepts easier using audiovisual tools. To access the desired course students have to pay the necessary course subscription fees which vary from course to course.The lectures are usually pre-recorded thus enabling the students to download and access them offline at their own convenience.
Sometimes, Byju’s offers its course content online through live sessions. Byju operates on a subscription-based revenue model. Byju earns its revenue by charging students the subscription fees for the courses that the company offers. Byju’s employs teachers, coaches, and trainers to develop such quality content and create an Intellectual Property (IPR) base that it owns. Since Byju’s functions online, it allows its content to reach many students in need thus adding to its popularity and revenue.
By making more sales, Byju’s earns tremendous profit. It is one of the largest Indian web organizations that has a capital productive action plan. The organization secured $540 million in grants powered by South Africa’s Naspers in December 2018 with a giant valuation of $3.6 billion. Byju’s disclosed that it had made a considerable profit in the last quarter of 2017.
Recently in march 2021, BYJU’s has raised $1.5 billion in series F funding round. The capital raised will be used for inorganic growth through acquisitions.
The latest fundraising values the company at $15 billion.
Byju’s plans to keep moving forward with its disconnected mentoring and wishes to grow in the US, Australia, the UK, and a few other countries.
BYJU’S has purchased Aakash Educational Services Ltd (AESL) for about $1 billion. It is considered to be one of the most expensive acquisition in the Indian edtech space.
FAQs
What is the revenue of BYJU’s?
BYJU’s revenue is US$460 million in the year 2021.
What is the business model of BYJU’s?
Byju’s follows a Freemium Business Model. It earns through the subscription amount paid by students. BYJU’s also earns by selling products. BYJU’s also provide a number of premium academic content for free.
A business incubator is a company that helps new and startup companies to develop by providing services such as management, training or office space. Startup incubators support the well-interested startup companies both financially and mentally.
They offer a variety of resources and services which act as means to accelerate the company’s development. This makes them reach great heights in business fields and do an effective service to people.
So, an entrepreneur must choose right startup incubator for him carefully. Here are some points which can help you to choose right startup incubator.
Incubators look for companies that will ultimately succeed not just because of the equity stake, but also for investing more capital in future. While scrutinizing the applicants, they look for those who are promising and exhibit the ability to execute. The first impression is always the best impression. So prepare a unique pitch that will distinguish you from other applicants and rehearse it well so that you deliver the best on stage.
How much you can pay
You need to pay fees for being admitted into an incubator is typically an exchange of equity in your company. Determine how much you are ready to spend for being in an incubator and you also have to see if it is worth. Consult a legal expert who can help you with the final agreement.
Decide what you expect from incubators
Most of the incubators provide you physical spaces, shared services, infrastructure assistance, security and regulatory compliance, helping with borrowing loans, networking with mentors, advisors and investors, attaining strategic partnerships and more for you to grow. So, you have to decide what you can do or manage on your own and what do you expect from incubator.
How to Choose Right Startup Incubator for your Business
Examine the talents
There are two important facts that should be kept in mind while choosing the right incubator.
The first fact is what type of resources and services they offer for the development of the startup.
The second fact is how much they will be able to sponsor for the development of the startup.
Other than these facts, there are other things that must be specifically looked at.
The first thing is Mentors. Mentors mean a person who is experienced in the incubator. The entrepreneur must find out that the incubator has experience in the required field and their experience would be helpful to the development of their startup company or not.
The second thing is Location. Some of the incubators suggest relocating the program to the appropriate location. So, the entrepreneur must be aware if their business will succeed in that location or not.
The third thing is the curriculum. That curriculum includes the difficult training and educational seminars. So, the entrepreneur must know their capability of handling them and managing the regular activities.
Experience is the best teacher
The entrepreneurs should choose incubators who have the list of companies that are undergoing the same process. They will be able to suggest the best incubator who has many experiences in their career. The entrepreneurs must have incubators who share their experiences and knowledge to help them in developing their company’s success. One company’s bad experience may be another company’s ideal challenge. So, an entrepreneur must prepare their questions in advance and be thorough.
Capable of choosing strong team members
Entrepreneurs must choose incubators who are capable of selecting the effective and strongest team members and founders. They give fingertip business ideas to them. That team will make the changes in the development of the startup company.
A startup that goes through an incubator will more than likely exit as a completely different and certainly more refined business. They make the business more feasible and compatible with the users.
The entrepreneurs have the big duty to place the right developers and workers at the right place. This will reduce the confusion in the business process and lead the startup to shine among other companies.
Self-preparation
The entrepreneur must prepare their duty because it will make them clear in their ideas and make the company run without any obstacles. They must prepare well and be well practiced for their income.
They should choose incubators who want companies that can succeed, not only because they have shared and invest in the future planning. The incubator must also watch how that company would succeed and find the accurate path for success.
They must manage the founders and lead them to demonstrate the program execution. They must focus on all the activities done by the doors and founders and suggest them to work as early as possible because submission of the project on time is important. The entrepreneur should select an incubator that acts like a caring mother for the company.
The incubator should take care of budget
The entrepreneur must determine the person who spends the limited cost according to their project needs. The entrepreneur should ask themselves how much they are willing to give to be in the incubator and make certain it matches the needs and goals of the incubator.
The incubator uses the cost in a beneficial manner and decides the final term sheets. It decides the accurate budget of the project without any extra expenses.
So, these are 5 things that you need to take care when you want to choose right startup incubator.
The incubator is an incredible opportunity for a startup company, which they should grab at the earliest if they are aiming towards success.
FAQ
How do incubators help startups?
Incubators are an organization, platform or team of experienced professionals that helps startups bootstrap during its early stages and often provides mentoring, guidance, co-working space and also at times some funding.
Is Y Combinator an incubator or accelerator?
Y Combinator (YC) is an American seed money startup accelerator launched in March 2005. It has been used to launch over 2,000 companies.
How many types of Business Incubators are there?
There are 4 types of Business Incubators, Corporate Incubators, Local Economic Development Incubators, Private Investors’ Incubators and Academic Incubators.
Conclusion
So, the entrepreneur should choose an experienced incubator for making a perfect budget for their project. The incubator is an incredible opportunity for a startup company, which they should grab at the earliest if they are aiming towards success.
Manisha Raisinghani is an Indian Entrepreneur who co-founded one of the leading SaaS companies committed to logistics and workforce optimization. She serves as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and Co-founder at LogiNext Solutions. Under her technical guidance, the company won different global awards and is acknowledged as the most well-organised logistics firm. She manages the technical and product lump of the company. In 2018, she was listed in the W-power Trailblazers for Forbes. She has conducted various panel discussions and been a guest lecturer at prestigious B-schools. She was recognized asa Distinguished Alumni of Carnegie Mellon University.
Manisha came from a middle-class family and she asserted in many interviews that it was not at all easy for her to build a logistics-based empire in India. Since her parents had huge expectations and she tried her 110% to stand up to them.
She believes if a woman sets her goal, no one can stop her from achieving it. She draws inspiration from Sheryl Sandberg (COO at Facebook), Ginny Rometty (Chairman of IBM) and Shekhar Sharma (Founder of Paytm).
Manisha Raisinghani – Education
Manisha graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics & Telecommunications from University of Mumbai (2003- 2007). She completed her Masters in Management Information Systems and Services from Carnegie Mellon University (2011-2012).
She has received the Outstanding Alumni Award from Carnegie Mellon University. She has certifications from ITIL Foundation and Sun Microsystems.
Manisha Raisinghani – Professional Life
Before starting her venture, she worked at five jobs in the past. After graduating in 2007, she worked at Mastek as a Software Engineer for six months. She then joined C2L Biz Solutions Private Limited as a Solution Architect for almost two years.
While pursuing her post graduation, she joined the prestigious Warner Bros. Entertainment as Big Data Consultant. Along with that, she was also a Research Assistant at Carnegie Mellon University.
After completing her post graduation, she started working as a Senior Consultant at IBM (2012 to 2014). She founded her logistics company LogiNext in 2015 and serves as its CTO and Co-founder.
Manisha co-founded LogiNext with Dhruvil Singhal in 2014 and is headquartered in California, US. The company was launched in 2015, since then she is serving as its CTO and Co-founder. The specific features of the company lies in data virtualization, enterprise software, logistics, and SaaS. Moreover, the company is backed by Paytm.
LogiNext designs logistics management software that trails the workforce in real-time on a single map dealings. The firm offers logistics data analytics, warehouse management, and asset tracking services, sanctioning companies to plan and manage their dispatch schedule, delivery routes, and capacity in a cost-optimized way.
The company offers a leaner, faster and self-organized solution. Its proprietary algorithm uses the information of the enormous amount of orders with one-fourth delivery personnel to throw up a solution within seconds. It also saves 7-15 % of the logistics costs for its clients such as D-Mart, Decathlon, and Maruti Suzuki.
Manisha Raisinghani – Business Idea
Manisha co-founded LogiNext Solutions with Dhruvil Sanghvi whom she met in 2010 while pursuing her masters at Carnegie Mellon University. However, after 3 years, they met over a cup of coffee and weighed up on the idea of launching a technology that will improve the B2B logistics sector in India.
They both worked for their project in the US. In 2014, Manisha returned to India to set up LogiNext firm. She used her experience in companies like IBM to raise her company to elevated heights. At age 28, as the CTO, she affirmed that LogiNext is one of the fastest-growing tech firms in the world.
There were challenges that she faced because of the hypocrite thinking of the society, especially when her gender was compared with her genuine intelligible work. She was called bossy and a show-off. However, it was her straight forward manner that promoted mentorship for more women entrepreneurs and pushed her team to reach out of their limits to inculcate exceptional results.
She also faces a big challenge in maintaining a equanimity between male and female team members working in her venture. She believed in being bold and hardworking that not only changed mindsets but several lives as well. As a leader, she surprises many stakeholders who do not believe or accept the fact that this can be done by a woman.
When she left her job in the US to start her own company in India. Society raised a reasonable amount of questions by claiming it was a harsh decision. She believed not to change oneself with an eye to fit into the requirements of society. In India, there was a sloppy logistics industry, and she diligently changed it in a well-organised manner.
Manisha Raisinghani – FAQs
What is LogiNext?
LogiNext designs logistics management software that trails the workforce in real-time on single map dealing. The firm offers logistics data analytics, warehouse management, and asset tracking services, sanctioning companies to plan and manage their dispatch schedule, delivery routes, and capacity in a cost-optimized way.
Who is the Founder of LogiNext?
Manisha Raisinghani and Dhruvil Sanghvi are the LogiNext Founders.
Vivek Tiwari is an Indian Entrepreneur, who is serving as the Founder & Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Medikabazaar, a platform for medical and healthcare needs. He has been conferred with BW Young Entrepreneur award in 2017. He has 14+ years of experience in managing all India operations, driving sales, revenue and growth of healthcare firms. He has worked in Zonal, Regional, and National roles. He has worked in different industries like, telecom, healthcare, DTH & FMCG with a major exposure in consumer services.
Vivek currently lives in Mumbai, India. He believes that a healthy lifestyle can be obtained by maintaining a proper balance between mind, body and soul. He thus starts his day with yoga and meditation and approaches each and everyone to follow this for a healthy lifestyle.
Vivek Tiwari – Education
Vivek completed his Bachelors Degree from the University of Calcutta, where he was a rank holder with 1st division. In 2018, he received the CPD Certification Service (Information Lifesciences) for his efforts in Connected care, HEALTH IT.
He further learnt Strategic Project leadership and Project management from Technological Leadership Institute, University of Minnesota. He completed his Master of Business Administration, Marketing (MBA) from Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta.
Vivek Tiwari – Professional Life
Vivek started his career as an executive at Nestlefrom July 2000-2004. Post that, he became the Zonal Manager at Tata Tele Business Services and worked there until May 2006.
In May 2008, he started serving as the Zonal Business Manager at Aircel Limited and worked there until November 2009. He further worked as a Business Manager at Telenor from November 2009 to April 2011. At Tata Sky Limited, he served as the Head of National Sales Development & Automation from April 2011 to June 2012.
Vivek joined DB Lifesciences & DB Healthcares as a Board Observer & Adviser for M&A & International Market Strategy, in January 2014. He led International strategic tie ups with Chinese medical companies for All India product roll-out.
He managed to create successful tie ups with Lepu Medical Technology (Beijing) Corporation Limited for national distribution of CVC and HD catheter. He further brought the idea of acquiring the company.
Created successful tie-ups with the following companies
Zhejiang Runqiang Medical Technology Corporation Limited
Target Medical Corporation
Nanning Passion Medical Equipments Corporation
Shenzhen Hawkmed medical company
Bioteq Corporation, Taiwan
Giant Medical, Guangzhou
He left the firm in August 2015 and joined AMRA Renal Care Limited in September 2015 and the clinics was acquired by Nipro India. He was the Chief Operating Officer at AMRA and managed to set a network of renal care centers, which is regarded as the best-in-quality yet affordable dialysis clinics.
Vivek Tiwari – Startup
After serving five years in the health sector, he became quite acquainted with the services required for a healthcare startup. In April 2015, he founded his healthcare startup, Medikabazaar, a platform that supplies for hospital and medical institution.
Vivek Tiwari – Challenges
Initially, there were no established B2B medical supplies in India. This is why, Vivek struggled to organize a massive campaign in medical institutions through direct contacts and digital platforms. It was basically a digital appropriation platform meant for medical supplies with the elimination of geographical restrictions that was non-existent then.
It was a considerable task to engross multiple vendors, and asking them for price quotes, parleying for purchases, etc. However, they faced a bigger challenge in getting the right price from a reliable vendor and there were hardly such vendors who was owning an array of medical supplies.
Vivek is the Founder & CEO at Medikabazaar and he leads the B2B platform for all healthcare needs. The company is based in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It is India’s pioneering and largest online B2B marketplace for the medical supplies and equipments.
Medikabazaar counsels for a healthy life and comes under the category of hospital & health care sector. Under the leadership of Vivek, the company has successfully established more than 50,000 medical establishments, and 1,50,000 independent practitioners.
Vivek made sure that Medikabazaar reaches out to remoter locations, having partnered with 13,000+ suppliers all over India to establish a strong base and respect from their clients in India. The company has a haywire market, which makes it the largest and most complex geographical structure in the world.
Vivek Tiwari – Honors & Awards
His company, Medikabazaar received the Best Last Mile Delivery at the Global Logistics Excellence Awards in 2019.
He received the National Icon Award in 2018.
Medikabazaar was regarded as Healthcare IT company of the year in 2017.
Vivek received the BW Young Entrepreneur in 2017.
His company received the Best Med-Tech E-Tailing Solutions by ASSOCHAM Medtech in 2018.
He was one of the BW techtors in 2020.
He received the IBM Smartcamp in 2016.
Vivek Tiwari – FAQs
What is Medikabazaar?
Medikabazaar is a healthcare platform that supplies machines and other equipment to hospitals and medical institutions.
Degrees in hand, but are India’s graduates job-ready? Not really, a huge percentage of students who pass out from higher educational institutions every year are “not employable”. In a quick overview, Foxmula is an EdTech company, with headquarters in Bangalore, providing Training, Certifications & Internships for the most in-demand domains like Data Science, Machine Learning, Asset Management, etc. Both Online & Offline. All the programs are industry-oriented, keeping beginners and intermediates in mind. Everything starts from scratch.
Read this article to know more about Foxmula, how it works, products, founders, tagline, business model, revenue model, future plans, wiki, and achievements.
Foxmula offers industry-oriented skills, global certifications, job placement courses, and exposure via industrial internships through its self-paced e-learning programs. The company aims to address the skill gap existing among undergraduate students that often leads to decreasing their employment chances once they hit the competitive world.
In the short term, the startup wants to create an ecosystem of job-ready students by promoting practical exposure and curriculum based on international standards of professionalism. Its short term goal is to refine services so that students can understand if they are willing to pursue a certain subject and make it their top career choice.
“Although we offer the most in-demand and growing domains of the industry, we do not want our students to commit a long time and effort without realizing whether they are strongly inclined to pursue a career option in that domain. Hence, our interesting mix of certifications and internships over 2-3 months is ideal to get the optimal window to make a career decision”, says Ayush Bansal, CEO of Foxmula.
You can use discount coupon code “FOX15” and get 15% discount for Foxmula’s essential program.
Foxmula – Target Market Size
Though the Indian EdTech landscape is still at a nascent stage as compared to its global counterparts, yet most students and their parents have come of age to realize that one size does not fit all. Even EdTech companies have transitioned from being a collator of study materials to an interactive platform providing students with career-shaping tools.
Foxmula targets students in the higher education segment who are interested in choosing a career in ever-expanding technology space. Its curriculum is built in a way that students can use the platform to not just hone their skills but also take a litmus test to find their own calling. Even the recent public health scare has given a positive thrust to the EdTech companies as most learning schools are opting for digital platforms to continue imparting education.
The inspiration came from the founders’ lived experience. Before founding Foxmula, Ayush and Shubham operated another start-up called Inversion Consultancy that worked as a service provider to help micro, small, and medium enterprises with their IT, PR, and HR needs. It was here that they noticed the skill-gap between the theoretical education that was imparted at college and the practical knowledge needed to survive in a work environment.
Even during their formative years, Ayush and Shubham, co-founders of Foxmula, got heavily influenced by mentors who attended to special learning needs and addressed their curiosity. Their love for certain subjects was more than others solely because of the teacher and his unique teaching methods. That made all the difference.
“The inspiration for Foxmula came from our understanding of the need to create measurable differences in students’ engagement and performance. Our intention is not just to reduce gaps in the delivery of education but also to give a new dimension to the education space”, recalls Ayush Bansal and Shubham Sharda.
Hence, this unique learning platform brings top-notch subject matter experts who impart their knowledge on complex fundamentals of machine learning, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, data science while clearing learners’ queries.
Foxmula – Products/Services
At present, Foxmula’s offerings are divided into two programs – Foxmula X and Foxmula Y.
Foxmula X
Under Foxmula X, it offers an intensive Bootcamp focused to solve the issue of underemployment. The program comprises online technology courses that are structured to train students and make them ready to hit the job market armed with advanced skills and confidence. The program involves industry-standard tests and exams, expert coaching from industry leaders and domain experts, resume building and mock interview preparations, accent neutralization, and personality development modules, and guaranteed job placement of 4 LPA at no upfront fee.
Foxmula X
Foxmula Y
Foxmula Y equips students to learn and earn global certifications from eminent tech giants such as Microsoft, SAP, AWS, IBM, and MSMEs to name a few, that are recognized by multiple MNCs. Learners then get further opportunities to apply their knowledge on industry-led offline or online tech internships. This program is targeted at those who want to be proficient at cutting edge tech domains and have a fulfilling career in emerging technologies.
Shubham Sharda and Ayush Bansal are batch mates from the Ramaiah Institute of Technology (MSRIT). They both completed their engineering in information technology and came up with the idea of Foxmula when they were in the third year of college. They came up with the idea together and looked after every small factor to build the right platform.
The current company size is ~45 people. The company has department leads to handle all operational challenges, manage respective teams, and implement key business processes for the smooth functioning of the organization.
Foxmula – Name, Tagline and Logo
Shubham spent sleepless nights coming up with a unique yet catchy name for the product so that it resonates well with young graduate learners, the company’s key target group, and brings to life the brand voice as well.
Foxmula Logo
Those who take up science courses for higher education revolve their lives around formulas since it is the fundamental element to solve most questions. Foxmula too is striving to solve a persistent pain point in the existing education system by incorporating smart and clever techniques to impart education. Hence, the name Foxmula.
Foxmula works on a commission-based business model. It charges 17% of a student’s salary on or above 4 LPA after they get placed post-completion Foxmula X program. For Foxmula Y, the program is priced in a very affordable bracket of INR 20,000 to INR 35,000 depending on the course material covered. Foxmula, bootstrapped with an initial investment of INR 50,000, has clocked more than INR 1 crore in revenue, in less than one year.
The startup’s revenue model is structured on the two programs that it is currently offering on the digital platform. Since it offers guaranteed placement under the Foxmula X program, it charges 17% of a student’s salary for two years once he receives a job offer of 4 LPA or above.
Now, for Foxmula Y that involves 80-90 hours of intensive live sessions and training from expert industry mentors, the startup charges a fee in the bracket of INR 20,000 to INR 35, 000. This program also comprises internships from global firms. They have also tied-up with five international universities to impart subject knowledge to students opting for the Foxmula Y program.
Foxmula is also expanding this program to train resources from the B2B segment since reskilling them has become imperative for resource optimization of B2B companies. The revenue is divided into two segments. 60% of the profit is spent on trainer and employee salaries while the remaining 40% is saved for research and development and business development initiatives.
Foxmula – Funding
It is currently Bootstrapped, with an initial investment of INR 50,000.
Foxmula – Startup Launch
The founders were lucky to be supported by well-wishers and friends who helped them build the products from the development stage, followed by editing learning videos, acquiring leads through word of mouth publicity. These set of friends acted as the core brand ambassadors and helped the company sail through during the days of inception.
“I remember we were eight of us including Shubham and me. We didn’t follow any specific strategy to ‘crack’ the first 100 users who saw value in our learning platform. It was an uphill task no doubt, but a very rewarding one”, recalls Ayush about the startup launch.
Foxmula’s primary focus was on enhancing the quality of its programs in terms of user experience, content, and support system. Then it expanded its ambassador network to almost every premium college in the country and sourced leads from there.
They did not resort to traditional online and offline marketing as they needed to reduce customer acquisition costs (CAC). The startup partnered with AWS, Certiport, SAP, and became a Microsoft Authorized Education Partner. It spent less on marketing efforts and relied on organic growth for sales conversions.
Foxmula – Startup Challenges
One of the key hurdles that the founding team faced was to earn the trust of target customers, that is, graduate students in the tech space. Since there is a recent boom in the EdTech landscape, students too are often confused to put their money as they are unsure of the return on their investments. What worked best for Ayush and Shubham was that they, as founders, belonged to the same demography as that of the target customers.
“We knew the challenges of these graduates better than anybody else and could address them first hand. Of course, we undertook in-depth research to develop the quality of our products and with persistence could deliver a superlative experience to our enthusiastic career-focused learners. All this cumulatively played its own significant role in overcoming the initial hurdles and developing a differentiated product”, says Ayush and Shubham.
The startup will soon launch Foxmula Z where it will onboard product-based companies and upskill their employee base and recalibrate their roles. Its objective is to teach and develop existing employee strength so that they are prepared for progressive job roles and are equipped with new-age skills to address the needs of such technological evolution.
In the near future, it also has plans to launch a unique teaching technique that will reduce the need for rote learning that is present in India’s education system. This will be an exclusive, one-of-a-kind product and once it is developed, Foxmula will soon apply for a patent grant as well.
Foxmula – Recognition and Achievements
The startup is recognized as one of the top 100 startups by Startup Turkey and one of the top 9 EdTech startups by TecLabs organized by Tecnologico de Monterrey, Mexico.
Foxmula – FAQs
What is Foxmula?
Foxmula offers industry-oriented skills, global certifications, job placement courses, and exposure via industrial internships through its self-paced e-learning programs.
How does Foxmula make money?
The startup’s revenue model is structured on the two programs. Since it offers guaranteed placement under the Foxmula X program, it charges 17% of a student’s salary for two years once he receives a job offer of 4 LPA or above. For Foxmula Y that involves 80-90 hours of intensive live sessions and training from expert industry mentors, the startup charges a fee in the bracket of INR 20,000 to INR 35, 000.
Who are the Founders of Foxmula?
Ayush Bansal (CEO) and Shubham Sharda (COO) are founders of Foxmula.
What internships are offered by Foxmula?
The internship is under Foxmula and it’s network/sister-concern companies like Inversion Consultancy (under the partner network of Microsoft, SAP, AWS, IBM, and more). The internship is Industrial. You’re given with options of industrial projects, to choose one from, all requiring your freshly earned skills. You’re supposed to work on it and submit when done on our Laboratory (instructions for which will be provided). Doing that industrial project is the Internship for which you receive an Internship Completion letter with details and recommendations.
Foxmula – Conclusion
Foxmula aims to emerge as the topmost learning platform for students who desire to make a mark in the domain of technology. They want the student fraternity to choose them over other tech platforms as the most credible name to upskill themselves in cutting-edge technology and implement those skills in the professional world. The company has plans to expand its processes and services in Dubai that also faces a similar demand-supply gap in the job market.
A business plan is a written description of your business’s future, a document that tells what you plan to do and how you plan to do it. The importance of a business plan needs no explanation. Just like textbooks for the basis for education, a business plan forms the crux of a company or organization. Good business plans should include an executive summary, products and services, financial planning, marketing strategy and analysis, financial planning, and a budget. There are varying kinds of business plans.
“All you need is the plan, the road map, and the courage to press on to your destination” – Earl Nightingale, American Author
This one really follows the textbook approach, starting with a summary and comprising of sections covering topics such as implementation details, mission and vision, financial stats and target audience. This kind of document is usually comprehensible to all kinds of parties—explaining your business to product vendors, VCs and investors, finance firms or even the fellow team members. The plus point of the standard format is that it describes expenditure in detail, along with information about the profit and loss, cash flow and the projected balance sheet.
Business Plan
Growth Business Plan
A plan that is growth oriented generally has for essential parts: The proposed strategy, execution mechanism, parameters and metrics to aid in assessment, and the necessary statistics and numbers. When it comes to strategy, a good one can exemplify the entire journey and a flawed one can make simple tasks difficult. A well-crafted strategy takes into consideration the proposed solution to the identified problem, the target audience and how to approach them.
The execution plan outlines the methodology to implement the strategy, elaborating on each step of the process by covering the what, why and how of that step. The third component i.e. metrics, are imperative to measure the current performance against the ideal benchmarks. Finally, presenting a business plan void of statistics and charts/tables doesn’t do much. Convincing investors of the projected growth requires compelling numbers!
Lean Business Plan
A streamlined plan that doesn’t delve into in-depth descriptions, the lean business plan is an optimized version of a standard business plan. Sharing a few similarities with growth oriented plan, this kind of setup has the following components
Strategy: What the venture wants to accomplish and how it shall do the same comes under ‘strategy’ phase. Working on the lines of a sound strategy saves the management from unnecessary waste of efforts and time.
Tactics: Synonymous with strategies, tactics allow the creation of measures that allow the desired strategy to result in maximum efficiency.
Assumptions, metrics and schedule: Assumptions without backing are meaningless. And backing comes through the use of established milestones and metrics. Furthermore, to ensure that things go as planned, it’s imperative to follow the right schedule.
Forecast: Financial forecast that is of sales, revenue and expenditures, need not be 100% accurate. But making basic predictions plays a pivotal role in bringing credibility to the business plan.
Run, review and revise: In case a pitch deck event is coming up, add a few details like marketing tactics, publicity measures, and summary to the plan formulated and you are good to go. Otherwise, spend time in reviewing the draft, undertaking mock presentations, and eliminating the identified defects. This should be carried out as a cycle, being repeated periodically.
These are similar to a lean plan, taking cues from it. But these are meant for dispatching within the organization itself. Such business plans aren’t prepared for presenting to investors or any other external entity. It’s specific to the employees of the organization.
Operations Business Plan
Meant for elaborating on the annual operations of a company, this plan mentions the deadlines and requirements that need to be achieved for the financial year. It also highlights KPIs and KPAs for employee evaluation, along with milestones that need to be hit.
Feasibility Business Plan
As the name suggests, the feasibility plan determines whether the proposed product or service would fly high or tank before launching. This plan also determines the potential investors, intended demographics, and recommendations to actually get the business going.
One Page Business Plan
A pitch deck is supposed to be short and concise. And that’s what one page business plan seek to achieve. It delineates the milestones, objectives and important numerical data such that the entire summarized information fits within a page. These can be highly effective, just like pamphlets.
Based on an internal plan, the strategic plan overlooks financial description and focuses more on the strategy and tactics that’re going to be employed in order to realize the objectives. Hence, it is elaborate and contains extensive details, something not delved in much depth in case of one page plans or internal plans.
Contingency Business Plan
Taking care of what-if situations is essential when dealing with a business setup. The probability of bailing out is high, just like the chance of succeeding with the idea. Contingency plan details the alternate course of action if the primary strategy fails.
Startup Business Plan
Often seen as a version of lean plan, the startup plan is designed while keeping emerging companies in mind. These are intended to entice VCs and investors, and are the building blocks for the business to flourish.
A business plan is a written document that describes in detail how a business usually a startup defines its objectives and how it is to go about achieving its goals. A business plan lays out a written roadmap for the firm from marketing, financial, and operational standpoints.
How to write a business plan?
Steps to write a business plan:-
Begin the Plan with a Summary
Describe Your Company — Its Business, Goals and Objectives
Gone the days of photo shopping where fake images only remained as a joke. The advancement in this technology with empowering tools such as AI has everyone worried. Recently, a lot of pornographic images and videos of Hollywood actresses and famous celebrities which are highly convincing, have been circling over the internet and millions of people have been sharing the same. These obnoxious images and videos were later found to be forged and were declared fake by forensic experts.
Social media, the bearer and broadcaster of fake news too is posing a threat since the news it upholds spreads like wildfire and leaves little to do when the news is a hoax or a rumor. Remember what happened during #pizzagate? Day by day its what we see vs what we believe.
The video where Barrack Obama was seen talking rather unusually and calling Donald Trump a “Dipshit” also went viral, only to learn that it was American actor Jordan Peele just playing around with Artificial Intelligence technology. What is this technology that is so make-believe that we often forget to comprehend if it’s actually authentic? Today we’re going to explore the AI that has taken the internet by the storm and is seen as a potential threat to the near future. Deepfakes.
Deepfakes are images or videos created using artificial intelligence where you can create real-looking forged images such as morphing popular faces onto pornographic sites. Some amateurish hobbyists started this on Reddit and this gave birth to the pioneering of so-called deepfake learning.
Deepfakes aren’t just fake images or videos. Some are made with so much precision that it is really daunting to distinguish between a real and a fake. Deepfakes can be created using voice modulations too. So if you have seen a video of Nick Cage appearing in ten different movies he wasn’t a part of, or a politician saying rather unruly things, you have come across a deepfake.
Origin of Deepfakes- GAN
A general adversarial network-GAN is a deep learning technique in AI. Usually, machine learning is a hand-down job where you instruct the computer with commands to complete certain tasks. GAN gives machine learning a new power where it can skip human intervention and self-learn, maybe even imagine and create images that never existed.
In a general adversarial network, two neural networks are pitted against each other. These networks are provided with several images and the two networks, using data from the images creates new plausible images which are so real-looking, you could hardly tell in the first go. They learn from the data provided from several images such as facial expressions, complexions, bone structure, etc.
The neural networks require high end systems with huge data space to create the anticipated outcomes.
These networks trace the movements of pedestrians walking around which has helped develop driver-less cars. They have also studied voice modulations which make Alexa and Siri more conversational.
Deepfakes are using these deep learning techniques and hence the name.
Synthesia is a London-based AI video generating platform where you can create corporate training videos for businesses around the world. The platform let’s you choose an avatar for the video and can be created in over 40 plus languages.
Synthesia Website
In grave times of the pandemic, it has made shoots riskier and Synthesia is slamming the corporate training costs by using deepfake technologies to create these videos.
Recently, it helped David Beckham appear in a public service announcement on malaria where he “spoke” in nine different languages.
Rosebud AI
Rosebud, founded by a team of AI experts, is aiming to disrupting media by creating glossy images used by e-commerce platforms or marketing. It has released around 25000 modelling images of people that don’t exist. It has also launched a service where you can put on clothes photographed on mannequins onto virtual real looking models.
Rosebud ai Website
This could be used by several cosmetic and apparel businesses who are constantly in requirement of models and who spend a fortune going through sets and shoots.
Modulate.ai
Modulate is using the deepfake technology in the gaming industry to analyze speech software that learns how to create Voice skins or filters of famous celebrities or characters. Old school method relies on text-to-speech tech whereas Modulate uses real time audio to synthesize the voice skins.
The voice skins have a real life effect which is radical for the gaming industry. Modulate.ai has raised $2 million through investors like Hyper plane venture Capital and 2Enable Partners.
Like Modulate, Respeecher demonstrates emotional nuance and prides itself in creating a technology of voice cloning. Respeecher aims at revolutionizing the film and animation industry. Since animation and film studios are prone to human error, Respeecher’s voice clones come in handy when actors who are dubbing, quit. Only a good sample of their voice and the technology does its wonders.
Respeecher Website
D-ID
In the wake of privacy concerns with facial recognition synched with sensitive information, D-ID de-identifies and removes identifiable features without losing a grip on important attributes such as age, gender or emotion. Its smart anonymity feature provides top notch security for biometrics databases.
Deepfake technology refers to audiovisual content generated by deep learning AI systems.
How do Deepfakes work?
Deepfakes rely on artificial neural networks, which are computer systems that recognize patterns in data.
What was the first Deepfake?
The first deepfake was coined on 2017 by a Reddit user of the same name. This user created a space on the online news and aggregation site, where they shared pornographic videos that used open source face-swapping technology.
Conclusion
The companies mentioned above are using deepfake tech to do more than just creating videos and images. They’re developing services around the most controversial phenomena and are being applauded for the same.
Lately, Deepfakes have become a common tool for harassment, revenge porn, busting political propagandas and are seldom used as a tool for harmless humor. There are several agencies relentlessly working on confirming deepfakes. But it has worried the entire AI tech industry since the technology is improving at lightning speed and are afraid that it might outrun the ones trying to find a difference or call out a fake.
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 the organization it is based on.
Software as a service (SaaS) is a software distribution model in which a third-party provider hosts applications and makes them available to customers over the Internet. SaaS is one of three main categories of cloud computing, alongside infrastructure as a service and platform as a service (IaaS and PaaS).
Zapier is a software development company. Zapier is an online automation tool that connects your favorite apps, such as Gmail, Slack, Mailchimp, and more. It offers a SaaS-tool that connects applications and automates workflows. Zapier’s product allows users to move data and automate tasks. Know more about Zapier’s company profile here in this article.
Zapier is a developer of an online platform designed to link web-based applications. The company’s online platform connects and automates the applications used by the people and helps them to synchronize data between web applications, enabling users to make the work easier and integrate web applications at a single click of the mouse.
Zapier is a web application that allows the user to move data and automate the tasks. Its a team of 250+ people living and working remotely in 24+ countries.
We’re working hard to build a diverse and collaborative team that can empathize with each other to solve hard problems and build a product we can be proud of.
Zapier – Recent News
As of October 2020, Zapier announced its availability in Microsoft Teams.
We’re excited to announce that we’ve launched an app for Microsoft Teams. You can now view, create, and edit Zaps right within Teams.
Zapier – Logo and its Meaning
Company Logo of Zapier
The Zapier logo is made of two parts: the logo (Zapier and the asterisk) and the logomark (just the asterisk). But the Zapier brand is more than just these two visual elements. It is a symbol for making automation easy for busy people.
Zapier – Founder and History
Zapier was started in Columbia, Missouri by co-founders Wade Foster, Bryan Helmig, and Mike Knoop as part of the first Startup Weekend Columbia in 2011.
Wade Foster, Bryan Helmig & Mike Knoop | Co-Founders, Zapier
After initially submitting an application for the Winter 2012 funding cycle and being rejected, they then built their initial prototype with 25 apps, and were accepted to Y Combinator startup seed accelerator in the Summer 2012 funding cycle. As a result of the acceptance, the company was relocated to Mountain View, California in Spring 2012. In October of the same year, Zapier received a $1.3 million seed funding round led by global venture investment firm Bessemer Venture Partners. Zapier reached profitability in 2014.
In March 2017, the company offered a “de-location package”, consisting of $10,000 in moving reimbursement to employees who desired to move away from the San Francisco Bay Area. After the announcement, job applications increased by 50%.
“We’re just some humans who think computers should do more work.”
The spirit of this mission is whimsical and humble, but there’s a bold message behind it. We’re given only one life to live, and it would be a cruel fate to spend much of it doing menial tasks — paper work, importing and exporting information between apps, copying and pasting text. Computers are better at these tasks, and Zapier believes removing them from your workflow empowers you to focus on the work that really matters and that only you can do.
Zapier – Business Model
Zapier’s unorthodox approach to finding users wasn’t the only thing unorthodox about their beta. They didn’t just get people to give their unfinished product a try. They got people to pay for the privilege. For a tech beta, most companies just say “sign up, it’s free, all you have to do is give us advice… we’ll take anyone’s advice.” They just beg for customers.
We made people pay a one-time fee to get into our beta. For the first few people, we charged $100 for access to the beta for as long as the beta lasts. And that number moved around; we charged as little as $1, and eventually it settled in around $5 or $10 to get into the beta towards the end.
It’s not that we wanted to make money off of the beta, it’s that we wanted people who really thought this was important enough to pay for and spend some time with us for. The last thing we wanted was a bunch of tire kickers who are just trying it out for fun but had no plans to use it on an ongoing basis.
So that little hurdle of just paying a little bit of money got them some really high quality early users who went above and beyond in terms of providing feedback to us on the things that mattered.
Zapier’s automation service is growing faster than ever with 3 million registered users, up from 2 million in January and one million in May 2016. Annual recurring revenue has also grown by nearly 50% since January 2020, from $35 million to $50 million. Zapier’s estimated annual revenue is currently $54.4M per year. Zapier’s total funding is $2.6M. Zapier’s pricing is $239 per year.
Zapier – Funding and Investors
Zapier has raised a total of $1.4M in funding over 2 rounds. Their latest funding was raised on Jan 14, 2021 from a Secondary Market round. Zapier is funded by 6 investors. Sequoia Capital and Bessemer Venture Partners are the most recent investors.
Year
Round
Amount
Lead Investors
Jan 14, 2021
Secondary Market
–
Sequoia Capital
Oct 31, 2012
Seed Round
Oct 31, 2012
–
Zapier – Competitors
Top competitors of Zapier are Integromat, Automate, Microsoft Flow, Workato and IFTTT.
Zapier – which, rhymes with “happier,” in case you were wondering – wasn’t an overnight success. First, Wade Foster and Bryan had to recruit Bryan’s friend Mike Knoop to the team, who would go on to become Zapier’s third co-founder and CPO. Together, they built a “demo-able” version of their app in a few weeks and presented it at Columbia, Missouri’s first-ever startup competition in October 2011.
The pair’s complementary skill sets helped them work well together as a duo, and they began taking on projects together. Then, one day, in September of 2011, Bryan messaged Wade with an idea. The rest, as they say, is history.
The app, which Bryan had dubbed “API Mixer,” took first place in the competition – and that’s when Zapier’s co-founders began to treat their creation as more than just a side project. They changed the name, applied to the accelerator program Y Combinator, got rejected, then applied againand got accepted. Zapier officially launched in June of 2012, offering integrations with 34 apps.
Today, Zapier has integrations with over 2,000 apps, adding 600 partners in 2019 alone (with Microsoft Teams, Google Ads, and DocuSign being a few notable mentions).
Zapier – Future Plans
Just two years after launching – with only one round of Series A funding totaling $1.3 million – Zapier pulled off a feat that takes many companies years to achieve: profitability. And when you look at the company’s annual recurring revenue (the revenue they earn from product subscriptions in a given calendar year) it’s easy to see how that was possible. Between 2016 and 2018, Zapier’s ARR grew from approximately $10 million to more than $50 million.
Zapier is continuing to prove itself as a tech powerhouse. This year, the company placed 24th on Forbes’ annual Cloud 100 list, which ranks the world’s top private cloud computing companies. And while Zapier’s customer-centricity, transparency, and work ethic, have helped propel the company to where it is today, their actual product offering – automation – has them poised for longevity.
Businesses are doubling-down on digital transformation and recognizing the power of automation. In fact, McKinsey estimates that automation could increase global productivity growth by up to 1.4% annually.
“Automation is one of the most pivotal topics of the next decade. People and businesses are proactively seeking smarter, better ways to drive tangible results in less time…we’re able to give businesses of all sizes valuable time back in their day so they can focus on their most important goals,” said Wade.
Zapier – FAQs
What is Zapier?
Zapier is an online automation tool that connects your favorite apps, such as Gmail, Slack, Mailchimp, and more.
How does Zapier work?
You can connect two or more apps to automate repetitive tasks without coding or relying on developers to build the integration. Or you can have Zapier automate this for you, saving you time and effort.
What apps work with Zapier?
You can integrate with apps such as Facebook Lead Ads, Slack, Quickbooks, Google Sheets, Google Docs, Gmail, Google Calendar & many more!
Who founded Zapier?
Zapier was started in Columbia, Missouri by co-founders Wade Foster, Bryan Helmig, and Mike Knoop as part of the first Startup Weekend Columbia in 2011.
Which companies does Zapier compete with?
Top competitors of Zapier are Integromat, Automate, Microsoft Flow, Workato and IFTTT.
Is Zapier for free?
Zapier offers a free level of service, albeit with some limitations. With this account, you can perform up to 100 tasks per month, but you can only have five Zaps active at any given time. To clarify, a task is a completed action within a Zap.
Is Zapier safe to use?
Zapier takes the security of your data seriously. Credentials that you use to connect your accounts to Zapier are protected with bank-level encryption. The only action that Zapier takes on your accounts is those necessary to run the Zaps you create.
Zapier – Conclusion
Zapier is an online automation tool that connects your apps and services. You can connect two or more apps to automate repetitive tasks without coding or relying on developers to build the integration. This guide walks you through key concepts to help you get started with Zapier. We’re just some humans who think computers should do more work for you! Zapier lets you connect the apps you use to complete routine tasks automatically. Free up time to focus on what’s important to you and Zap away your busywork.
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 Upwards.
Get quick loans worth up to INR 2.5 lakhs sanctioned within 24 hours, via Upwards! Yes, it is that simple. Founded by Nimesh Verma and Abhishek Soni, Upwards is intended to be a one-stop solution for all credit-wellness needs, especially for the lower-income, underserved segment of the population who are unable to avail credit from formal financing institutions. Upwards has a wider geographical reach due to its entirely digital loan application and approval process.
As Upwards is growing at a rapid pace of 20-30% month-on-month growth, StartupTalky exclusively interviewed Nimesh Verma (Co-founder & CTO) of Upwards to know its Growth Story, Upwards business and revenue model, funding, how it started, marketing campaigns & more. Know more in the post ahead!
Upwards is intended to be a one-stop solution for all credit-wellness needs, especially for the lower-income, underserved segment of the population who are unable to avail credit from formal financing institutions. Since Upwards is in the lending segment, the product is essentially cash. At the PAN India level, access to credit continues to be a major challenge, especially amongst the lower-income segment of the population which constitutes at least 60% of the population.
Upwards addresses the problem of lack of access to credit to the underserved population of the country by offering quick loans worth up to INR 2.5 lakhs sanctioned within 24 hours to salaried individuals across the country. As an RBI-registered NBFC, Upwards has a wider geographical reach due to its entirely digital loan application and approval process.
In the short term, Upwards is targeting a month-on-month growth rate of 20-30%. On a year-on-year basis, it is aiming for 3x-5x growth. Upwards is also planning to raise funding later this year (2021) and scale its business further, to penetrate the underserved population of the country and enable easier access to credit.
Upwards – Industry/Market Details
At a broader level, a large chunk of India remains unpenetrated when it comes to credit access as most formal institutions cater to the crème de la crème of the society which is either the upper middle class or the rich. This leaves the lower-income segment, the salaried individuals turning to informal sources of credit such as money lenders who charge unreasonably high rates of interest, resulting in the borrowers being stuck in a debt trap.
The lending industry is a rapidly growing one with quick loan option available at reasonable interest rates for a long tenure. Upwards target market comprises of nearly 60% of the population that belongs to the lower-income segment. Over the next five years, the lending sector is bound to witness rapid growth. With respect to Upwards, it is aiming for a 3x-5x growth year-on-year.
Nimesh Verma and Abhishek Soni are the founders of Upwards.
Nimesh Verma (CTO), Abhishek Soni (CEO) – Founder, Upwards
It was initially Abhishek who presented Nimesh with a few ideas for potential business models. He initially didn’t have a finance background but his stint with a leading fintech organization helped him learn more about the domain. As Upwards started and began to grow, the founders gained a strong understanding of the lending segment, target market, etc. Both Abhishek and Nimesh are IIT, Delhi graduates.
Abhishek Soni (Co-founder & CEO, Upwards)
Abhishek holds a dual degree in Chemical Engineering and is a CFA Level-2 candidate specializing in Finance. He has worked with distinguished organizations including PwC, The Parthenon Group, and Indifi. At present, he is the CEO and Co-Founder of Upwards.
Nimesh Verma (Co-founder & CTO, Upwards)
Nimesh holds an integrated M.Tech in Mathematics and Computing. He has always been a core techie and have previously been associated with LinkedIn, Housing.com, and Crafstvilla. During his college days, Nimesh began 2 ventures and those marked the start of his entrepreneurial journey.
Role and Responsibilities
Being a CEO, Abhishek is in a way responsible for every person who is a part of the Upwards team and the business as a whole. In the umbrella of the organization, he comes at the top level as he is to an extent responsible for Nimesh’s end as well.
Nimesh’s responsibilities lie in looking after the tech-based products and data. They also divide certain common responsibilities such as HR activities, sales, etc., among them.
At present Upwards has 60-70 people who work from various cities across the country.
Upwards – Hiring and Work Culture
With respect to hiring, Nimesh & Abhishek tend to take time and avoid rushing into hiring potential candidates as they look for highly driven, passionate people who can contribute to the company’s growth. The approach to hiring also changes with each team as every team has varying requirements.
“For instance, when we hire someone for the underwriting team, the requirements are different, and they would need to have at least a few years of experience in the finance domain. When we hire for tech-based roles, we consider different criteria as the job demands a different set of skills and knowledge base” says Nimesh.
Upwards work culture is overall quite flexible, and employees can work according to their convenience as long as they are meeting the requirements and deadlines.
“During college, I began a couple of ventures, those ideas were primarily the ones that had engagement but the revenue models weren’t strong with merely engagement and traction aren’t enough to sustain a business” says Nimesh, Co-founder, Upwards
Hence, Nimesh was determined that his next venture would be in the fintech domain, as the business and revenue model had to be strong. Then he met his co-founder Abhishek. They pondered over several ideas and finally, decided to start Upwards. Since Abhishek has had a previous stint with a distinguished organization in the fintech domain, he suggested a few concepts and ideas. Nimesh and Abhishek landed on the same page and that’s how the Upwards journey began!
“With a business like Upwards, you also tend to know beforehand a fair estimate of your revenue, profit, and other such things needed to keep the company growing” Nimesh added
Upwards – Product USP
Upwards is intended to be a one-stop solution for all credit-wellness needs, especially for the lower-income, underserved segment of the population who are unable to avail credit from formal financing institutions. It offers quick loans worth up to INR 2.5 lakhs that are sanctioned within 24 hours and have a long tenure of repayment, that eases pressure and burden on the borrowers.
Since the loan application and approval process is entirely digital, Upwards has a wider geographical reach and is able to penetrate regions of the country that were previously inaccessible for other institutions due to a compulsion of physical visits.
“With every journey, there are several learnings, and these make you modify and improvise your concepts and ideas to grow further and improve your products and services. This is precisely what happened with Upwards” says Nimesh.
While Upwards has been in the lending segment since the ideating level, its services have evolved over the years. Upwards team continuously worked on refining it, digitizing the end-to-end process, method to onboard customers, and even the roles of the employees. There have also been other minor pivots in which it understands how to gather data, etc. Upwards hasn’t majorly pivoted from its core business, but its has realigned the approach and strategy now & then to develop the business and improve services.
Upwards offers credit for customers at the right time which can progressively transform their lives and takes them upwards. That was the basic idea when the founders came up with the name and the logo.
Upwards Logo
Upwards tagline is ‘Quick personal loans online’ which is quite a simple and straightforward one as it is self-explanatory with regards to what Upwards does – enhancing lifestyles through easy access to credit in times of need.
Upwards – Business Model and Revenue Model
Upwards has a standard revenue model where it earns via interest which is as conventional as businesses in the lending segment have always earned.
Upwards business model is also a straightforward one that offers quick personal loans to the lower-income segment and salaried individuals across the country. Since the entire process is done digitally, they are able to gain a wider reach across the country.
“On day one, as with any business, there would be no users. Initially, we did enterprise sales where we approached wholesalers and blue-collar platforms and that’s how we completed our first 50 lakhs of loan disbursal which was for approximately the first 300 customers” Nimesh added.
Alongside this, the team also launched Upwards app on the Google Play store and that began to gain some organic traction. Combined, these helped Upwards build and improvise its services, app, and tech segments further, and Upwards grew.
Upwards – Customer Retention Strategies
As per Nimesh (Co-founder & CTO, Upwards) – There is no single answer to attracting and retaining customers. It is a constant journey where one has to try and optimize everything right from the core product and services to the unit economics, sales efforts and then begin scaling the company. It is then that you are able to recover your fined costs and increase revenue while offering best-in-class service to customers. This ongoing process plays a major role in attracting and retaining customers.
Upwards – Startup Challenges Faced
No venture comes without its fair share of challenges as they come in different magnitudes every day. They are a part and parcel of any entrepreneurial journey. Since both the founders hail from non-finance backgrounds, gaining an in-depth understanding of how the lending sector works at an operational level required extensive research and work accompanied by day-to-day learnings.
“Also, initially, we faced a significant amount of delinquencies. We were focusing on building a diverse portfolio which helped us tackle delinquencies but for a particular period of around 6 months, the delinquencies spiked” says Nimesh
The team then revisited the strategy and approach at the grassroots level and learned that they had to be more aggressive in its approach to erase bad books. “As long as we can overcome these challenges and navigate its way through them, it helps us learn faster and progress in the longer run” Nimesh added.
“From our observations and experience, when it comes to lending, it is never about one single channel. You always need to diversify the channels you adopt for marketing strategies and be present in multiple channels to connect with customers” Nimesh Stated
For Upwards, Facebook has been a significant channel and has worked well. Social media marketing and word of mouth are deemed to be excellent marketing tools that can really give a boost to sales as per the founders of Upwards. The team at Upwards used Facebook right from inception to date apart from other online and offline partners who contribute to its sales. At the moment, it is involved in enterprise sales and planning to collaborate with corporates.
At present, Upwards is growing at a rapid pace, with a 20-30% month-on-month growth. Later in 2021, Upwards is planning to raise a round of funding. For the next couple of years, it will be focusing on expansion, enhancing its services, and growing 3x-5x year-on-year.
Upwards – Funding and Investors
Upwards commenced as a bootstrapped company and closed its seed funding at the idea level post, and raised the Series A round in late 2018. Upwards is fortunate to be funded by marquee investors such as Shunwei Capital, India Quotient, and Mayfield Fund. So far, it has raised a total of USD 5 million and will be raising another round of funding later this year (2021)
Upwards Investors – India Quotient, Mayfield & Shunwei provide valuable inputs from time to time.
Upwards – Top Competitors
Given that fintech and the lending spaces are becoming crowded markets, there are quite a lot of competitors. Amongst these, Upwards consider Money View, Early Salary, and CASHe, to be its main competitors.
Few tools used by Upwards
A few tools used by Upwards to run the company –
From a business standpoint, Upwards uses standard tools such as Microsoft Office.
“Abhishek and I are some of the youngest founders in the lending segment in the country today. We haven’t received any awards per se” says Nimesh
Regarding achievements, the team believes that the growth and the validation it received from its investors and customers along with receiving the NBFC license – are some significant milestones. In terms of volume and reach to customers, Upwards has had an impressive uptake in a short period.
Upwards – Future Plans
Upwards looks at expansion as a part of its business growth. The plan is to grow 3x-5x on a year-on-year basis while continuing to retain its focus on the product and services that Upwards offer. The team is also aiming for better penetration in the semi-urban and rural areas of the country to reach the underserved segments and offer them easy, quick access to credit in the upcoming months/years.
Shiv Nadar is an Indian billionaire tycoon who founded the IT company, HCL Enterprise and serves as its Chairman. He is also the Founder and Chairman of the Shiv Nadar Foundation, through which he made efforts for the development of educational system in India. He is the founder of SSN College of Engineering and Shiv Nadar University. In 2008, the Government of India awarded him Padma Bhushan for his outstanding efforts in the IT industry. As of January 2021, Forbes named him as the third richest person in India with a net worth of $26 billion.
Shiv Nadar- Biography
Name
Shiv Nadar
Born
14 July, 1945
Birthplace
Moolaipozhi, Tamil Nadu, India
Age
76 (2021)
Nationality
Indian
Education
PSG College of Technology
Profession
Entrepreneur
Position
Founder & Chairman, HCL Enterprise; Shiv Nadar Foundation
Shiv was born to Sivasubramaniya Nadar and Vamasundari Devi in Moolaipozhi Village, Tamil Nadu. S.P Adithanar, who is the founder of Dina Thanthi newspaper, is the sister of Shiv’s mother. His cousin, Ramanichandran is a Tamil romance novelist.
He is married to Kiran Nadar and the couple has a daughter named, Roshni Nadar Malhotra, who currently serves as the Chairperson of HCL Technologies.
Shiv Nadar- Education
Shiv completed her elementary education from Town Higher Secondary, Kumbakonam. After completing his 6th standard, he was admitted in St. Joseph Boys Higher Secondary School, Trichy. He further studied from Elango Corporation Higher Secondary School, Madurai.
He received a pre-university degree from the American College, Madurai. He pursued a degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore.
Shiv Nadar- Professional Life
Shiv started his professional career from Walchand group’s College of Engineering, Pune (COEP) in 1967. He soon left the job to start his own business with the partnership of his friends and colleagues. He is the founder of the IT firm, HCL Enterprise, and the philanthropic firm, Shiv Nadar Foundation.
Shiv Nadar- Startup
Shiv initially launched a company, Microcomp, which sold teledigital calculators in the Indian market. He started the business with his partners, Ajai Chowdhry (Ex-Chairman, HCL), Arjun Malhotra (CEO & Chairman, Headstrong), Subhash Arora, S. Raman, Yogesh Vaidya, Mahendra Pratap and DS Puri.
He founded HCL in 1976 with an investment of INR 187,000. After four years, the company set forth into the international market with the opening of Far East Computers in Singapore to sell IT hardware. The company reported a revenue of INR 1 million within the first year, in continuation of the Singapore operations.
Shiv founded Hindustan Computers Limited (HCL) Enterprise in 1976 and serves as the Chairman of the company. The company has successfully established three of its subsidiaries including, HCL Technologies Limited, HCL Infosystems and HCL Healthcare. He is the largest shareholder in the company without perpetuating any management control.
HCL Technologies Limited is an Indian multinational information technology (IT) firm based in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was originally HCL’s R&D division and emerged as a subsidiary of HCL Enterprise in 1991. The company has its offices in 44 countries including, United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany.
Shiv Nadar- Philanthropy
Shiv founded SSN College of Engineering in Chennai, Tamil Nadu in 1996. He named SSN college under his father’s name, Sivasubramaniya Nadar. He has played a vital role in the college activities, like gifting INR 1 million worth shares of HCL to the college.
Logo of SSN College
In 2005, he joined the executive board of Indian School of Business and his Shiv Nadar Foundation declared the establishment of two Vidyagyan schools for students of rural areas with a offer of free scholarships for 200 students from 50 districts of Uttar Pradesh.
He also served as the Chairman of the board of governors at Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. He has donated computers and other equipment’s of worth INR 80 lakhs. He established Shiv Nadar University in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. He funds the university through his philanthropic firm, Shiv Nadar Foundation.
In April 2017, he was ranked #16th in India’s 50 most powerful people list by India Today.
In 2011, he was named among Forbes’ 48 Heroes of Philanthropy in Asia Pacific.
In 2010, he was conferred with the Dataquest Lifetime Achievement Award.
In 2008, he received the third highest civilian award, Padma Bhushan from the government of India.
In 2007, he received an honorary doctorate degree from Madras University.
He was recognized as E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year in 2007.
In 2006, he received an honorary fellowship from the All India Management Association.
In 2005, he received the CNBC Business Excellence Award.
In 1995, he was declared the Dataquest IT Man of the year.
Shiv Nadar- FAQ’s
Who is the owner of HCL?
Shiv Nadar is the Founder of HCL Enterprise, a $9.9 billion global organization with over 153,000 professionals operating from 50 countries. He is also the Chief Strategy Officer of HCL Technologies, a group company, and India’s third-largest IT services organization.
Where is Shiv Nadar from?
Shiv Nadar is from Thiruchendur, Tamil Nadu.
What is Net Worth of Shiv Nadar?
He is the third richest person in India with a net worth of US$26 billion as of January 2021, according to Forbes.
What do HCL Technologies do?
HCL Technologies Ltd is a leading global IT services company that helps global enterprises re-imagine and transform their businesses through Digital technology transformation. The company is primarily engaged in providing a range of software services, business process outsourcing and infrastructure services.
What is Shiv Nadar’s Education?
Nadar received a pre-university degree in the American College, Madurai and a degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering from PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore.
Shiv Nadar- Conclusion
Shiv Nadar has always focused on quality education and he credits his success to the education and scholarships that he has received during his early years. He has always believed that access to quality education is the most potent tool of transformation which led him to establish the philanthropic Shiv Nadar Foundation. The Shiv Nadar Foundation endeavors to create institutions of transformational education that will continue to influence and nurture the country’s youth for decades to come. All the institutions established by Shiv Nadar Foundation aim to address the issue of quality in education, create lasting partnerships, and have a strong research orientation.
Rishita Jain
