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  • List of Brands Endorsed by Saif Ali Khan

    Endorsement is a stream of brand communication where a celebrity acts as a face of the Brand, or as the spokesperson for the brand. They certify the Brand’s claim by lending his personality, popularity, and status in the field of the Brand or any other established field that is given worth to by the society.

    Celebrities are always considered to be idolized by the youth of the country. Influenced by their skills, their lifestyles people tend to follow their ways. On the Brand’s part, it is always important to choose the right person from the right field for endorsements to win customer confidence. The right celebrity will be the face of the Brand representing the image of the company righteously.

    Hence, the nawab of Bollywood Saif Ali Khan takes up brand endorsements of very selective brands because they need to be just as unique as his personality and aura. Another reason can also be Saif Ali Khan family tree, as he is the 10th Nawab of Pataudi, the son of former royal and Indian cricket team captain Mansoor Ali Khan also known as ‘Tiger Pataudi’ and the iconic Bollywood actress Sharmila Tagore.

    Saif Ali Khan’s birthday is on 6th August 1974, the actor was also born with the name of Sajid Ali Khan Pataudi. There are also other reasons to why he is called unique in the industry. Unlike most other actors and actresses of the film industry, he’s absent in social media! Paparazzi get to spot him not very often in common get-togethers.

    We can also find his unique characteristics shadowing the movies he acts in. Some of the top Saif Ali Khan movies are Kal Ho Naa Ho, Tanhaji, Hum Tum, Agent Vinod, Cocktail, Chef, Phantom, Go Goa Gone, Etc. While his best performances were in movies like Dil Chahta Hai where he played a unique hysterically funny character and Omkara where he also played a dark role. Saif Ali Khan awards and accolades include National Film Award, Filmfare award, and IIFA award for his Bollywood status.

    Hence, He charges INR 3.5 crores yearly for every endorsement he undertakes. When it comes to Saif Ali Khan property, the actor is said to have bought back his ancestral house Pataudi Palace for Rs 800 crore after the death of his father Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi. Saif Ali Khan net worth in 2021 is estimated to be $150 million. Keep reading to find out the list of brands endorsed by Saif Ali Khan:

    House of Pataudi
    Limca
    Lay’s
    Pepsi
    Santoor
    Asian paints Royale
    Head and Shoulders
    Royal Stag
    Oxemberg
    Amul Macho
    Carlsberg
    Airbnb
    Airtel
    Ponds
    Paan Bahar
    FAQ

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    House of Pataudi

    The Saif Ali Khan brand name is House of Pataudi, this is an ethnic wear clothing brand that was started as collaboration between the actor, Myntra and Exceed Entertainment. This brand was launched on Myntra in 2018 as it wanted to tap into the booming ethnic wear market in India. This Saif Ali Khan company makes an elaborate range of finely crafted ethnic clothing for men, women and children.

    This Saif Ali Khan clothing brand has signed Soha Ali Khan as its brand ambassador in 2019. The sibling duo was also a part of an ad campaign, the ad paid tribute to the Durga Pujo one of the biggest festivals of India. This commercial exemplifies the ethos of the brand, not just through the duo’s lineage but also by their charm and elegance.

    Limca

    Limca a lemon-based soft drink was launched in India by Coca-Cola in 1977. Though it was introduced in 1971, however, Parle Bisleri’s Ramesh Chauhan gave the drink its wings in 1977.

    This was among the first in the Saif Ali Khan advertisement list, as he made his first appearance in the Limca commercial in 2010. As a quirky teenager, his first appearance made a good catch on the audience. His comical behaviour attracted a huge fan base. Limca utilized that base for its promotion.

    Lay’s

    Lays chips were introduced in the year 1995. This Saif Ali Khan advertisement became popular as he endorsed the brand during 2003, just before the ICC world cup. Manu Anand managing director of lays India stated that warm, mischievous, fun lay’s characteristics go well with the characters that Saif Ali Khan.

    Also, the targeted core audience, 13 to 18 years old could relate to Saif, as he holds a fun-loving, guy next door kind of image. Indeed the campaign was a great success to date.

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    Pepsi

    Pepsi was introduced in India as one of the Cola Giants in the year 1991 by PepsiCo. Saif was first seen in a Pepsi commercial in 2003. Alongside Preity Zinta and Kareena Kapoor, the nawab held his charm impressively to catch hold of a young audience. He did quite a few commercials solos ahead for Pepsi, while Saif Ali Khan brand deals increased after these commercials.

    Santoor

    Santoor was a soap introduced by Wipro Consumer care and lighting in 1986. In 2012 it relaunched its flagship soap with Saif Ali Khan as its brand ambassador. Anil Chugh Senior vice president of Wipro stated that they have been very selective about celebrities who were the face of their brand. This Saif Ali Khan brand ambassador deal was as unique and genuine as the components of their relaunched soap according to the actor.

    Asian paints Royale

    Asian paints established in 1942, stands as the largest paint brand in India and third-largest in Asia. Saif Ali Khan is the brand ambassador of Asian Paints Royale range.

    Amit Syngle President of marketing and technology of the company states that Royale stood for impeccable performance and ahead of curve decorations sensibilities to a quest for extraordinary. Just like the Nawab of Bollywood, extraordinary and elegant.

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    Head and Shoulders

    The parent company of this shampoo is an anti-dandruff shampoo manufacturing American company, namely Procter and Gamble introduced in 1961. This is top among the Saif Ali Khan brand ambassador list was introduced by this brand in the year 2008 and has created many ad commercials with the brand. He was chosen for this because he represented the time’s youth and style. Who were multi-purposing and had varied interests about life and had no time to worry about physical issues like dandruff.

    Royal Stag

    Being introduced in India in 1995, Royal Stag, alcohol made Saif Ali Khan the face of their brand in 2010. This Saif Ali Khan advertisement was alongside Shahrukh khan, he represented the unique entity of this liquor like his personality.

    Oxemberg

    It is a formal and casual clothing brand for men from the house of the Siyaram’s. They launched Saif Ali Khan as their brand ambassador during the year 2013. As the brand showcases apparel for every phase of a successful man’s life, Saif is unmatchable to portray their wardrobe on him.

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    Amul Macho

    Amul Macho was introduced to Indians during mid-2005’s.  To rebrand itself in 2010, Amul Macho announced Saif Ali Khan as its brand ambassador. It also changed its tagline from “Ye To Bada Toing Hay” to “Bade Araam Se”. According to the company their product, is as cool and easy-going as the nawab of Bollywood. This ad campaign was among the top Saif Ali Khan advertisement list as it became popular.

    Carlsberg

    Carlsberg started its mainstream commercial operations in June 2007. Saif Ali Khan made his appearance as their brand ambassador in 2018. According to Saif, he was always happy to associate with brands that try and make an unforgettable experience for consumers. He was really happy to work for Carlsberg smooth.

    Airbnb

    Airbnb though founded in 2008 was launched its platform in India, in 2016. Airbnb cast the glam couple, Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor as their brand ambassador in the year 2018. Amanpreet Bajaj, country manager of Airbnb India stated that Indians are always fascinated by movies or star-inspired travel. Airbnb is also top in the Kareena Kapoor brand ambassador list.

    Staying at places their favourite star did is also a craze of fans. Hence, watching their favourite star couple stopover at Airbnb will indeed engage a lot of audiences to choose them.

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    Airtel

    In 2018 again, Saifeena that is Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor was roped to launch Airtel’s DTH service. There has been really less heard and said about this being in the Saif Ali Khan brand ambassador list.

    Ponds

    Hindustan Unilever after acquiring Pond’s an American company worldwide introduced it to India in 1987. Pond’s launched a literal ad film with the trio of Saif Ali Khan, Priyanka Chopra, and Neha Dhupia. The movie was namely “Kabhi Kabhi Pyaar Mein”. It was a very Bollywood story about a love triangle. How a woman wins back his man’s love with the much-needed glow which missed in her and Pond’s white provided her with so.

    According to Zenobia Pithawalla, senior creative director, Ogilvy and Mather plotted the whole story. This Saif Ali Khan brand deal was close to him as also added the unmatchable Bollywood gold dust to this ad film which none of his Contemporaries could.

    Pan Bahar

    In 2016, Saif Ali Khan got endorsed with Pan Bahar. According to the company, royal by heritage, sophisticated by nature the nawab gives the product its brand. He compliments the class and legacy of the Brand which will be conveyed well to the audience with his presence on screen.

    This is among the Saif Ali Khan brand ambassador deals, as has been part of many more ads and endorsements. These were the few major and very considerable ones over his work span.

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    FAQ

    What is the net worth of Saif Ali Khan?

    The estimated Saif Ali Khan net worth is $150 million.

    How much is Pataudi Palace worth?

    The Pataudi Palace is reportedly worth a whopping Rs 800 crores.

    What is the age of Saif Ali Khan?

    Saif Ali Khan age is 50 years old as he was born on 16th August 1970.

    Who is the mother of Saif Ali Khan?

    The mother of the iconic Bollywood actress Sharmila Tagore.

    Who is Saif Ali Khan Wife?

    Saif Ali Khan wife is Kareena Kapoor.

    What business does Saif Ali Khan do?

    In addition to film acting, Khan is a frequent television presenter, stage show performer, and the owner of the production companies Illuminati Films and Black Knight Films.

  • Companies that provide Incentives and Wellness Programs to employees for staying healthy

    In the current day and age, most employees find it difficult to balance their work and wellbeing. This is why many companies are providing their employees with incentives and even coming up with unique wellness programs to keep their employees healthy. While wellness programs might not be a new thing, they have grown over the past years as the top MNC companies are coming up with unique programs that can benefit their employees.

    According to the Health benefit survey done by the Kaiser Family Foundation in 2020, the average amount that is contributed by covered workers for health insurance in 2020 were $1,243 for single coverage and $5,588 for family coverage. Whereas there are some companies that provide their employees 100% of the health insurance costs, which will help employees save up a lot of money, stay productive and remain loyal to the company.

    Despite the incentives, companies are now also coming up with programs to promote health, happiness and productivity by unique program ideas that are engaging, fun and promotes holistic approaches to wellness. Only 44% of the big companies are said to offer their employees incentives to participate or complete such a program. In a survey done by LinkedIn in 2018, 49% of employees prefer health-based incentives and wellness benefits over other perks.

    Another study found that these benefits and incentives are responsible for over 75% of career decisions. The main goal of providing incentives and wellness programs to employees is that it will help employees adopt and maintain healthy behaviours. This is the list of companies that provide their employees with amazing health-based incentives and wellness programs.

    Zerodha
    Google
    Accenture
    Microsoft
    Asana
    Netflix
    Airbnb
    Deloitte
    Frequently Asked Questions

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    Zerodha

    On 29th August, Nithin Kamath the founder and CEO of Zerodha one of the top financial service companies in India announced that the company will be giving its employees one month of salary as a bonus and a lucky draw of Rs. 10 lakhs for staying fit. This was done because of how the recent work from home culture has had a negative impact on the employee’s mental and physical health during the Covid 1 Pandemic.

    Covid 19 has had a major impact on work-life balance, this is why Nithin Kamath of Zerodha stepped up and made efforts to promote a healthy lifestyle. The aim of providing this incentive was to promote a healthy lifestyle and guide the company employees in the right direction. Nithin Kamath went on to Twitter to inform his employees to set a 12-month goal to get healthy and share their progress on the monthly basis.


    According to Nithin Kamath “Post the first lockdown, like everywhere, our team at Zerodha as a whole was probably the unhealthiest ever, due to the lack of physical activity, work-life imbalance, bad diet, & more. We thought of a way to nudge the team to get healthy and the results are phenomenal,” he quipped Nithin also added that, “The transformation stories are super inspiring & pushing others to take action as well.”

    The tweets of Nithin Kamath went viral and the comment section was filled with netizens who appreciated the initiative. This inspired many on the social media platform and encouraged many other companies to take up innovative initiatives to help their employees stay fit. This proves how health can play a major role in improving the professional performance of employees. And because of this positive feedback, Nithin also went on to make this initiative a permanent affair and named it the ‘get healthy’ program.

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    Other companies that provide employees health-based incentives

    Google

    Google is already well known for its workplace wellness, as the company offers various incentives and programs such as on-site healthcare services, access to gyms and fitness centres, classes and community bikes. The healthcare services on the site can include physicians, chiropractors, including physical therapy, massage parlours etc.  The Google employees can also take up classes for cooking, coding, guitar among the cool options.

    The google campuses are popular as they have nap rooms, ping pong tables, cafes that offer colour-coded healthy meals and snacks. It also has good financial wellness resources such as financial advisors and even financial planning services that help employees in any way. Google has set a new standard with the office experience and health-based incentives that many companies are struggling to compete with.

    Employees health benefits and perks
    Employees health benefits and perks

    Accenture

    Accenture’s is one of those companies that care about both the minds and bodies of their employees. The company offers its employees assistance programs for mental health problems like stress, substance abuse, depression and anxiety. When it comes to physical health Accenture provides its employees support with their choice of the medical sector like dental or vision coverage. The Accenture employees get specials incentives, offers and discounts for gyms and other fitness centres.

    Besides that, it also gives its employees access to telemedicine, free second opinion services and programs for weight loss. These programs have an app for tracking fitness, nutrition and provides cash rewards based on its report. Accenture also has telemedicine services where an employee can ask physician’s health-related questions 24/7. Their unique wellness programs help their employees set health goals through their apps and even review rewards for completing those health activities.

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    Microsoft

    Microsoft is known for the world-class benefits such as competitive pay, bonuses and stock awards based on their employee’s performance. The company is also one of the best when it comes to provides health-based incentives and wellness programs. Microsoft offers its employees resources for smoking cessation, weight management and even fitness training. The company provides its employees with over $1,200 annually for wellness-related expenses that can be used for staying fit physically.

    This can also be used for gym memberships or even fitness classes and services like meditation programs, massage, weight-loss program fees, caregiver support, financial advising, and debt management. Microsoft offices have free on-site flu shots, mammograms, biometric screenings, and more. The office campuses have fun alternatives such as Zumba classes, running tracks, and courts for basketball, volleyball, baseball, etc. The Microsoft CARES services is an employee assistance program that offers free personal and family counselling and refers you to child cares.

    Asana

    Asana is a project management software company with headquarters based in San Francisco, California. The company is widely popular for wellness programs as Nap rooms where employees can rest, recharge and de-stress by sleeping and even get paid for it.  The company values their employees so much that they provide them with unlimited PTO so they can maintain a healthy work-life balance.

    The company also offers its employees incentives for yoga programs as well as free gym memberships. Besides that, the Asana campuses offer their employees three healthy and nutritious meals with ingredients purchased from organic farms. Asana also promotes living an active lifestyle, offers mentor programs and even immunity workshops before flu season.

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    Netflix

    Netflix has many unique incentives and health benefits for its employees. The company is known to offer its employees over $16,000 every year to cover their medical, dental and vision benefits. If the employee’s don’t use this allowance they get back over $5,000 back at the end of the year. Netflix also provides its employees with unlimited paid time off, providing to tell them how your workload will be handled while you’re away.

    The company has a flexible and free mentality when it comes to their health care options as the employees can choose how to allocate the funds to each type of benefit. The Netflix model has two factors which are diverse providers and yearly allowance. They offer 100% coverage for certain preventive care at in-network providers.

    Airbnb

    Airbnb is also among the top companies that provide good incentives to keep their employees healthy. The company provides insurance to cover the health, dental and vision that can help employees save over $1,243 annually. Airbnb is also known to provide contributions towards dependent care.

    Unique benefits of Airbnb are providing its male employees with over ten weeks of paternity leave, while the female employees get long maternity leave for healthy bonding after a birth or adoption. Another benefit of working at Airbnb is that if you like volunteering, then the company will offer you paid volunteering time to do what you love and maintain a healthy work-life balance.

    Deloitte

    Deloitte also has one of the best healthcare benefits and incentives as it allows its employees a month of unpaid leave for any reason and up to six months of partial paid leave in order to help them pursue their personal opportunities. Besides that, the company also offers a 50% payment for social cryopreservation and up to a maximum lifetime benefit of $20,000.

    Another unique incentive that Deloitte is that it offers over $50,000 for adoption and surrogacy expenses. It has other healthcare options to meet the needs of its employees, family and their children of up to 26 years of age. Deloitte offers programs, a 24/7 online health portal and professional help for marital counselling, child care, anxiety, and even for conflicts at the workplace.

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    Conclusion

    Especially in times of the Covid 19 Pandemic, it is important to provide employees with incentives and wellness programs are important as they will boost productivity and result in the reduction in absenteeism. Another advantage of providing employees with incentives and wellness programs is that it will bring about a competitive advantage in hiring good candidates and will help in the company’s retention strategy. This is why companies must start offering their employees health care benefits and incentives.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    What are the companies that have the best healthcare based incentives?

    The companies that have the best healthcare based incentives are Deloitte, Google, Microsoft, Airbnb, Netflix, Asana, and Accenture.

    What are the basic healthcare incentives that big companies offer?

    The basic healthcare incentives that big companies offer on-site healthcare services, access to gyms and fitness centres, and insurance to cover the health, dental and vision.

    What are the top health incentives?

    The top health incentives are

    • offering cash-incentive payments and gift cards.
    • reimbursing workers for gym memberships.
    • providing free health coaching.

    What are health insurance incentives?

    These incentives can include cash payments or discounts on insurance premiums.

  • What Makes A Unicorn Startup & How To Build One

    People know about popular unicorn companies like Uber, Swiggy, Airbnb, Snapchat, and Pinterest and their journey to success, but most people don’t know what a unicorn company exactly means. What are the different criteria for a startup company to become a unicorn? A unicorn in the Business world indicates a privately owned startup company that has a valuation of $1 billion.

    The term was initially coined by a well-known venture capitalist Aileen Lee, who choose the mythical animal to represent the statistical rarity of successful startup companies. The simplest definition of a startup has remained unchanged ever since, while the number of unicorns has gone up. Unicorn has now become a catchphrase within the global startup market. When a startup becomes a unicorn, it shows how the business model of the company and its value proposition is in the eyes of the investors. The unicorn helps grows in both visibility and operational outlay, which often leads directly to greater business opportunities for the organization.

    The article ahead will give you an insight on How to become a Unicorn Startup, the Features & Characteristics of a Unicorn Company, and more.

    The Characteristics of Unicorn Startup
    Investors of the Unicorn Companies
    Can Only Startups be a Unicorn?
    Disruption and Value Seeding
    Market Size of the Unicorn Companies
    Maximizes Growth and Net Profit
    Which Indian Startups turned Unicorn in 2021?
    FAQ’s
    Conclusion

    The Characteristics of Unicorn Startup

    The process to be a unicorn is not easy and each and every unicorn has its own story. All the unicorn companies have a similar set of features that makes them a unicorn startup.

    • Groundbreaking innovations: The unicorn companies have brought a disruption in the field they belong to. Uber, for example, changed the way people commuted. While Airbnb is known to have changed the way people planned their way while traveling. The innovative strategies are what make them a unicorn company.
    • The First innovations: The unicorn companies are mostly the starters in their industry. They change the way people do things and gradually create a necessity for themselves. They are also known to continuously innovate and stay ahead of competitors which might later boom.
    • High Technology: Most unicorn companies have a business model run on a higher level of technology. Almost 87% of the unicorn products are software, 7% of them being hardware, while the other 6% of them being based on products and services.
    • Consumer-focused startups: Their main goal into simplify and make things easy for consumers and be a part of their day-to-day life. Over 62% of the unicorns are particularly B2C companies. Another key ingredient is keeping their products and services affordable.
    • Privately owned: Many known unicorn companies are nowadays privately owned which gets their valuation bigger when an established company invests in it. There are more than 361 private companies around the world valued at over $1 billion. India has 16 of these companies, that are taking up 4% of the overall share.
    Popular unicorn companies outside US
    Popular unicorn companies outside the US

    Key ingredients of a Unicorn

    • To make a simple solution to an existing problem
    • Make a strong and highly marketable value proposition
    • Make a plan in order to have a clear vision for the future of the company and the products and services they offer
    • Unicorn companies have Potential beta testers and customers
    • They usually have an easy-to-use UX that allows users to quickly adapt and get the product.

    Investors of the Unicorn Companies

    Great ideas usually don’t have value until you do something with them, which is what the unicorns companies are good at as they have the right people, skills, tools, and data to make the magic happen. This is taken into consideration by the investors for deciding which startup to fund. It is very important to project revenue and growth.

    Some projections need to be backed by hard data and the forecasting growth for the next 6, 12, or 18 months. If a startup in need of funding without any numbers to back up its claims, the potential investor may not be interested in good. Recent startups wait in order to seek out investors until they have a marketable product with proven demand as well as a number of opportunities coming your way.

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    Can Only Startups be a Unicorn?

    The answer is yes because the unicorn is a term given only to startups who have a valuation of over a billion. The only startups that have a valuation of 10 billion are grouped under the term called decacon (which is a super unicorn). Dropbox, SpaceX, and WeWork are some examples of decacon.

    For the startups that are based out of Canada, there is an exclusive term for what we call a unicorn. It is the narwhal. This means that any Canadian startup company with a valuation of over 1 billion is called a narwhal. Some of the famous narwhale companies are Hootsuite and Wattpad.

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    Which Indian Startups turned Unicorn 2021?

    Startup Unicorn 2021
    Indian Unicorn Startups 2021

    Here’s the list of Top Unicorn Startups in India 2021

    Disruption and Value Seeding

    The main reason behind the growth and success of each and every unicorn is the disruptive impact it has on its chosen market. A well-known example of this is the on-demand taxi aggregator Uber. Uber uses smartphones as a medium to connect consumers with their nearby cab drivers at the touch of the button, the only reason that has driven the massive success that the company continues to enjoy.

    Uber not only made booking a cab booking more convenient for the end-user but also headed more operational efficiency for cab drivers and taxi service providers by helping them optimize their revenue streams. As a result, the company is now one of the most successful unicorns with a valuation of 64.5 billion in 2020.

    Market Size of the Unicorn Companies

    It is important for startups aspiring to make the title of a unicorn in order to analyze the market they are operating in. Entrepreneurs must understand and analyze their target markets well in advance in order to aim for the title of a unicorn in order to analyze the markets they are operating in. They must analyze their target market and target audience well in advice before aiming to make their startups into the next big thing in the startup community.

    An example of the is Airbnb. Founded as an alternative lodging/hotel solution for business travelers all over the world, the company then changed its approach to target the much larger global hotel industry, which is currently worth 550 million.

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    Maximizes Growth and Net Profit

    There no fixed rule that requires a company to be profitable in order to become a unicorn. In fact one of the earliest unicorns, Nutanix earned the status in 2013 despite a complete lack of profits. The point is that profits and growth don’t always go hand in hand. In fact, going after profit can sometimes slow your ability to increase revenue.

    The startups must work towards building sustainable growth rather than opting for a quick, short-sighted bump in profits. Instead of only focusing on growing your margins to impress investors with fast ROI, they must also focus on perfecting your product, increasing your total revenue, and growing your user base.

    FAQ’s

    What is a startup unicorn?

    A term that describes a privately-owned startup with a valuation of over $1 billion.

    What is a unicorn in a startup?

    In finance, “unicorn” is a term that describes a privately-owned startup. The term was introduced by venture capital investor, Aileen Lee, in 2013 to describe rare tech startups that were valued at more than $1 billion. The phenomenon of unicorns is quite controversial.

    Which Indian startup became unicorns in 2020?

    In all, 11 Indian startups — Unacademy, Pine Labs, FirstCry, Zenoti, Nykaa, Postman, Zerodha, Razorpay, Cars24, Dailyhunt, and Glance — became unicorns this year.

    Which is India’s fastest Unicorn startup?

    Bengaluru and San Francisco-based SaaS startup Postman became the fastest SaaS startup to reach unicorn status. In June 2020, the six-year-old startup secured a Series C funding of $150 million at a valuation of $2 billion.

    Which country has the most unicorns?

    The number of unicorn companies found in China in early 2020 was bigger than those of 29 other countries, including Germany, India, and the UK, combined.

    Conclusion

    Hope you got an idea on how to build a unicorn startup & what are the unicorn startups’ characteristics. Startups into tech will now embrace machine intelligence mostly in its devices or products. Artificial intelligence is the future and is making innovations in the tech industry for years. But its presence will become more in the coming years. This in turn will give rise to unicorn startups which will dominant the startup industry. The moto is not to make unicorn startups but to create something that takes away the human effort by making the world a little better.

  • Y Combinator’s Most Successful Startups | YC Startups

    Y Combinator is a startup accelerator unlike any other. Since its inception in 2005, Y Combinator has helped fund and grow over 2,000 startups through its YC Growth Program.

    Y Combinator, an American startup accelerator, just released their list of the top companies by valuation. The Y Combinator compiled this list to enable potential workers, partners, and late-stage investors learn more about the YC startups. Three Indian firms, Cleartax, Meesho, and Razorpay, have also made the list.

    Of course, valuation as a ranking criteria has flaws. It’s mostly a perception-based assessment, a forecast of a company’s potential rather than a clear representation of how much a firm is generating at any particular time. YC stated while releasing last year’s list that “valuation is a poor method to assess a company’s value in the short term.”

    However, it does give some fascinating information on which of YC’s 2,000+ investments have grown the most, which have held up the best over time, and which sectors perform the best. According to YC, all of the firms on this year’s list are valued at $150 million or more, with a total worth of $155 billion.

    Let’s take a look at the top 10 most successful businesses that have come out of Y Combinator and benefited from it.

    As of 2021, each of the 10 companies is worth more than $150 million.

    Stripe: Taking First Place
    Airbnb: Popularizing Homestays
    Cruise: It’s Cruising To Success
    DoorDash: A Dash To Triumph
    Coinbase: Using Crypto-currencies As A Means Of Payment
    Instacart: On-Time Delivery
    Dropbox: Cloud Storage As A Bet
    Ginkgo Bioworks: The Business Of Organisms
    Gusto: Providing Assistance To Small Businesses
    Flexport: Deciding To Rely On Paperwork
    Conclusion
    FAQs

    What is Y Combinator | Startup accelerator

    Stripe: Taking First Place

    Stripe is a 2009 startup started by Patrick Collison and John Collison in the United States. Stripe’s software allows companies and individuals to send and receive payments via the Internet.

    Stripe | Y combinator's Startup
    Stripe | Y combinator’s Startup

    Stripe was a member of Y Combinator’s Summer 2009 class and has a product-based business strategy. It is now valued at over $36 billion and employs over 2000 people as of April 2020.

    Airbnb: Popularizing Homestays

    Airbnb | Y combinator's Startup
    Airbnb | Y combinator’s Startup

    This business made headlines lately after opting for a direct listing rather than an IPO. Airbnb is an internet marketplace where people can book accommodation and homestays. The firm does not own any of the real estate listings; instead, it serves as a broker, earning commissions on each booking. They enable individuals all around the globe to become hospitality entrepreneurs by unlocking and monetizing their spaces, interests, and abilities. Airbnb offers 6 million rooms to stay in 100,000 locations, as well as 40,000 unique experiences hosted by locals.

    Cruise: It’s Cruising To Success

    Cruise is an American automaker that specialises on developing sophisticated, self-driving cars, motorcycles, and other electric vehicles. Kyle Vogt (Twitch Founder) and Dan Kan launched Cruise in 2013 and it was bought by General Motors in 2016.

    Cruise | Y combinator's Startup
    Cruise | Y combinator’s Startup

    Cruise was a part of the YC Growth Program’s 2014 Winter batch, raising $4.3 million in initial investment. As of late 2019, Cruise employs around 1400 people.

    DoorDash: A Dash To Triumph

    DoorDash | Y combinator's Startup
    DoorDash | Y combinator’s Startup

    DoorDash is an American meal delivery service that uses delivery workers to link businesses and customers. Tony Xu, Andy Fang, and Stanley Tang started DoorDash in 2013.

    DoorDash was a part of the Y Combinator Summer 2013 class and now employs over 1800 employees. As of mid-2019, DoorDash was valued at $12.6 billion.

    Coinbase: Using Crypto-currencies As A Means Of Payment

    In 2012, Brian Armstrong and Fred Ehrsam established Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange company. Coinbase is a digital currency exchange located in San Francisco, California. It is one of the most popular locations to trade, sell, and buy digital currencies such as Bitcoin.

    Coinbase | Y combinator's Startup
    Coinbase | Y combinator’s Startup

    Coinbase operates on a fee-based business strategy, charging customers a fee to utilize its platform. Coinbase was a part of Y Combinator’s 2012 Summer batch and now employs over 1000 employees. Coinbase raised approximately $600 million in investment through Y Combinator during its early phases of development and now has a market valuation of over $8 billion as of late-2018.

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    Instacart: On-Time Delivery

    Instacart is a grocery delivery and pickup service that is available in the United States and Canada. Apoorva Mehta launched Instacart in 2012. Instacart’s selling point is that it guarantees 1-hour delivery of goods bought on its website.

    Instacart | Y combinator's Startup
    Instacart | Y combinator’s Startup

    Instacart’s business strategy is built on the sharing economy, in which it functions as a platform that connects merchants and consumers to create a hyper-local on-demand grocery delivery service. Instacart was a part of the Y Combinator Summer 2012 class and now employs over 1100 people. It is now valued at over $7.5 billion and follows a combination of e-commerce and hyperlocal on-demand grocery delivery business strategy.

    Dropbox: Cloud Storage As A Bet

    Dropbox is a software business based in the United States that provides online file hosting services to its users. Dropbox was founded by Drew Houston and Arash Ferdowsi in 2008 and has since grown to become one of the most popular ways for individuals to share files over the internet.

    Dropbox | Y combinator's Startup
    Dropbox | Y combinator’s Startup

    Dropbox operates on a freemium business model, which means that the majority of its services are free, but additional capabilities can only be accessed by signing up for one of their premium plans. Dropbox was a part of the Summer 2007 Y Combinator cohort, and as of late-2018, it employed over 2,300 people and was valued at over $12 billion.

    Ginkgo Bioworks: The Business Of Organisms

    Ginkgo Bioworks is an American biotech firm formed in 2009 by Tom Knight and a group of MIT scientists, including Reshma Shetty, Austin Che, Barry Canton, and Jason Kelly. Ginkgo Bioworks now assists in the creation of bespoke creatures via the use of software and hardware automation.

    Ginkgo Bioworks | Y combinator's Startup
    Ginkgo Bioworks | Y combinator’s Startup

    Ginkgo Bioworks was a part of the Y Combinator Summer 2014 class and now employs about 270 people.

    Gusto: Providing Assistance To Small Businesses

    Gusto is a software business located in the United States that specialises in human resource management and cloud-based payroll. Josh Reeves, Eddie Kim, and Tomer London created Gusto in 2011.

    Gusto | Y combinator's Startup
    Gusto | Y combinator’s Startup

    Gusto was a member of the Y Combinator Winter 2012 class and now employs over 1,000 people.

    Flexport: Deciding To Rely On Paperwork

    Flexport is a freight forwarding firm that uses its comprehensive management software and solutions to make the logistics underlying the freight forwarding business more transparent and efficient. Ryan Peterson created Flexport in 2013 and it is situated in San Francisco, California.

    Flexport | Y combinator's Startup
    Flexport | Y combinator’s Startup

    Flexport has a SaaS business model, in which it uses software products and services to assist optimise goods transportation, brokerages, trade financing, and insurance. Flexport was a part of the Y Combinator Winter 2014 class and now employs over 1,700 people.

    How to Apply For Y Combinator

    Conclusion

    While the top ten companies have generally remained the same since 2018, a few have moved about a bit, while some have vanished altogether. Last year, Airbnb was No. 1 and Stripe was No. 2; this year, they’ve switched positions. Machine Zone, the developers of the once-popular mobile game– Game of War and the No. 7 business in 2018, is nowhere to be found, as is last year’s No. 9, Zenefits. This list isn’t thorough, according to YC, because they “allowed alumni to opt out of being included for any reason.”

    The majority of the firms on the list are at least four or five years old, which makes sense given that it’s rare for startups to achieve enormous, record-breaking values straight away. Of course, there are exceptions: Grin, a Latin American scooter rental business ranked No. 27 on this year’s list, only just completed YC in the summer of 2018. Atrium, a tech-focused startup law firm formed by Twitch co-founder Justin Kan, is ranked No. 83 in the Winter 2018 class. After starting just months ago, ZeroDown, a firm that seeks to help consumers buy houses without a down payment, squeaked onto the list at No. 101.

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    Meanwhile, the Summer 2016 class has more entries on the list than any other, accounting for 10% of the total. At number 13, Reddit, which was a part of YC’s Summer 2005 class, is the oldest business on the list.

    FAQs

    What is Y Combinator?

    Y Combinator is American startup accelerator which provides funding for startups to help it grow.

    What does Y Combinator do?

    Y Combinator provides funding for startups in the earliest stage of venture funding referred to as seed funding.

    What is YC Startup?

    The list of startups funded by Y combinators are referred to as YC Startups.

    How to  join Y Combinator?

    Startups can join Y Combinator by application to Y Combinator by just filling out an application form. They invite the most promising groups to meet make funding decisions afterward.

    How many Indian startups does YC have?

    There are 43 startups in the latest batch(W21) of YC startups.

  • Airbnb- Personalizing accomodations in your budget!

    The idea of welcoming a couple of strangers into your home is scary. And so it letting yourself stay in a strange home is. But almost a decade ago, some brilliant minds saw an entrepreneurial opportunity in this and launched Airbnb. These brilliant minds are none other than Brian Joseph Chesky, Joseph Gebbia, and Nathan Blecharczyk who launched Airbnb in 2008.

    Airbnb Highlights

    Company Name Airbnb
    Headquarter San Francisco
    Sector Hospitality, Travel Accomodation
    CEO Brian Joseph Chesky
    Founded 2008
    Website airbnb.co.in

    Airbnb – About and How it works
    Airbnb – USP and Innovation
    Airbnb – Founders and Team
    Airbnb – How did it start?
    Airbnb – Startup Launch
    Airbnb – Business Model and Revenue Model
    Airbnb – Competitors
    Airbnb – Funding and Investors
    Airbnb – Growth
    Airbnb – FAQs

    Airbnb – About and How it works

    Airbnb is nothing but an accommodation marketplace that provides access to over 6 million unique places to stay comfortably and at their leisure in nearly 100,000 cities and 191 countries. Interestingly, Airbnb also offers access to local communities and interests through more than 30,000 activities run by hosts across over 1,000 markets around the world so that you can be a traveler and not just a tourist. It entered India in 2016. Since its inception in India, the company has around 45,000 listings with Goa being it’s a most popular network with 6000 listings.

    So all in all, one can safely say that Airbnb is an online marketplace that connects locals who want to rent out their house to immigrants who are looking for accommodations in the local area.

    Airbnb – USP and Innovation

    There are quite a few unique selling factors of Airbnb including a combination of factors, but the highlights are primarily the financial ones.

    • The guests who come through Airbnb get good value accommodation with a wide array of price points that the user can choose from. This ranges from a few pounds a night to hundreds and thousands with often such prime locations where a hotel would cost infinitely more than Airbnb accommodations.
    • Airbnb hosts can cash in more on spare space that they have available in their homes. So it’s a win-win for the guests and the hosts and also for the platform, Airbnb.

    Airbnb – Founders and Team

    • Brian Joseph Chesky, CEO – Brian is a very known American technology entrepreneur and also the co-founder and CEO of Airbnb. Chesky was named one of Time’s “100 Most Influential People of 2015”. Chesky attended the Rhode Island School of Design and received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Industrial Design. Post that, Chesky worked as an industrial designer and strategist at 3DID, Inc. in Los Angeles. And then he went on to co-found Airbnb with his fellow co-founders.
    • Joseph Gebbia, CPO – Joseph is one of the finest designers and Internet entrepreneurs around the globe. Joseph has quite a few recognitions on board like he was listed in BusinessWeek’s Top 20 Best Young Tech Entrepreneurs in the year 2009, followed by being named in Inc. Magazine’s Thirty Under Thirty in 2010, and in 2013, he was named in Fortune Magazine’s Forty-under-Forty.
    • Nathan Blecharczyk – Nate is an American billionaire businessman. He is the co-founder and chief strategy officer of Airbnb. Also, he is the chairman of Airbnb China. Nate is a Harvard Graduate and was working as an engineer at OPNET Technologies before co-founding Airbnb.

    Airbnb – How did it start?

    In case you’re wondering how Airbnb actually started? This is how it did. The Airbnb story is full of determination and adventure. All of it started in 2007 when Airbnb founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia had just moved from New York. They were legit surviving without employment and were having serious trouble paying their rents. So to overcome this situation, they were looking for a way to earn some extra cash. And it’s during this time that the co-founders noticed that all hotel rooms in the city were booked because there were a lot of visitors coming to the local Industrial Design conference.

    The young and talented minds saw an opportunity here and following that, they bought a few airbeds and quickly curated and put up a site called “Air Bed and Breakfast.” Their idea was quite basic and it was all about offering visitors a place to sleep and a lush breakfast in the morning. This freshly turned entrepreneur duo charged $80 to the visitors for each night.

    And it quite turned out that their idea succeeded and the first Airbnb guests were born. And they were a 30-year-old Indian man, a 35-year-old woman from Boston and a 45-year-old father from Utah sleeping on their floor. And that’s how Airbnb was born.

    Airbnb – Startup Launch

    Airbnb started in 2008. But it came to India almost after 8 years of its inception, i.e., in 2016. Soon after Airbnb’s launch in India, it announced a strategic partnership with India’s largest media conglomerate, The Times Group. This association was done in order to expand Airbnb’s operations in the country and build a more channeled and a localized network. It had just been a year after this collaboration that Airbnb launched a travel category called Trips. This was initially available in Delhi and then later expanded to Goa.

    In June 108, Airbnb launched ‘Experiences’ in its ‘Trips’ category to offer its travelers the chance to explore unique destinations by providing them with handcrafted activities powered by locals.

    “We have offered Experiences in New Delhi and Goa and the product is doing quite well. It grew over sixfold last year, and will continue to grow at a very fast rate,” said Nate.

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    Airbnb – Business Model and Revenue Model

    This is how the business model of Airbnb works. Airbnb is an online marketplace, which lets its users rent out their properties or spare rooms to guests. In this process, Airbnb takes 3% commission of every booking from the hosts, and between 6% to 12% from the guests.

    Airbnb offers a plethora of criteria to list for or search property in a particular destination. These criteria range from locating or renting a shared room to a complete house, to having a lavish swimming pool to having basics like TV and washing machines. There are pictures of the property listed on the site, and both the hosts and the guests get a full map listing.

    Airbnb – Competitors

    Though the concept is new and recently gained all its popularity, Airbnb still faces tough competition in India. Its main rival in terms of market standing in the country is a homegrown hospital chain namely, Oyo Hotels and Homes. Though both are different in how they run and operate, they still cross paths as both of their end customers are the same. Oyo mainly operates as a full-stack fulfillment-led model where it normally acquires the entire hotels and homes on a franchise-based or leasing model and then goes on to renovate the same. Whereas on the other hand, Airbnb focuses majorly on the homestay accommodations.

    Airbnb – Funding and Investors

    Airbnb has received an all-round of $4.4 billion in funding over the years and currently is being valued at $35 billion.

    • In January 2009, in just one year of its inception, Airbnb received $20,000 in venture funding from Y Combinator.
    • The next funding round came in April 2009, when Airbnb raised $600,000 from Sequoia Capital, with renowned participants like Youniversity Ventures partners Jawed Karim, Keith Rabois, and Kevin Hartz.
    • This was followed by funding round in November 2010, where the company raised $7.2 million in Series A funding led by Greylock Partners and Sequoia Capital.
    • Then came the mega funding year, July 2011, when the company went on to raise $112 million in financing round which was led by Andreessen Horowitz. Other investors who participated in this funding round were Digital Sky Technologies, General Catalyst Partners, and A-Grade Investments partners Ashton Kutcher and Guy Oseary.
    • In April 2014, Airbnb again closed an investment of $450 million by TPG Capital. Right around the same time, it acquired additional funding by Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia Capital, Dragoneer Investment Group, T. Rowe Price and Sherpa Capital.
    • Then came the June 2015 funding, when Airbnb raised $1.5 billion in Series E funding. This round was led by General Atlantic, and there was also some huge participation from Hillhouse Capital Group, Tiger Management, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, GGV Capital, China Broadband Capital, and Horizons Ventures.
    • In September 2016, the company raised a grand amount of $555.5 million in a funding round led by Google Capital and Technology Crossover Ventures.
    • And then again a year later, in March 2017, the company raised $1 billion in funding, which brought its total funding to more than $3 billion and at this point in time Airbnb was valued at $31 billion.
    • It’s latest funding round happened in September 2018, where it came to raise $25.92 million from two undisclosed investors.

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    Airbnb – Growth

    • Airbnb India hosts collectively earned more than to $28 million (over Rs 190 crore) till date
    • The Indian hosts have welcomed more than 800,000 guests
    • Guests in India, through Airbnb, spent $61 daily, on an average
    • Airbnb has seen a steady rise in popularity in India over the years and the number of listings is increasing at an increasing rate of 150%
    • Airbnb’s business in India has doubled over the years
    • On average, 1.8 million Indian have used Airbnb in its 4 years of operations in India
    • Airbnb India recently signed a strategic partnership with its main competitor, OYO Rooms. One of the prospects of this association include listing OYO’s properties on Airbnb
    • Airbnb recently introduced ‘Plus Homes’ in India, where the company is featuring homes with high ratings.
    • Globally, Airbnb has over 2 million listings
    • And is currently active in over 190 countries and 34,000 cities.
    • Airbnb hosts, throughout the world, have hosted over 40 million guests.
    • The company is worth an estimated 35 billion

    Airbnb – FAQs

    What is Airbnb?

    Airbnb is an online marketplace that connects locals who want to rent out their house to immigrants who are looking for accommodations in the local area.

    How does Airbnb work?

    Booking is made through Airbnb where the traveller pays the amount mentioned by the host and some additional money as transaction charges. The host approves the booking. Traveller stays there and finally, Airbnb pays the amount to the host after deducting their commission.

    Who are the competitors of Airbnb?

    Airbnb competitors in India:-

    • HomeToGo
    • FlipKey
    • OneFineStay
    • Vrbo
    • HouseTrip

    What are the rules for an Airbnb?

    Some common house rules examples that many Airbnb hosts include in their listing pages:

    • No loud noise after 11 pm
    • No food or drinks in bedrooms
    • No parties or events
    • No smoking
    • No pets / Pets allowed

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  • The Ultimate List of Trip Planning Apps You Must Have

    Whether you want to have a relaxing holiday or a pilgrimage trip or a business trip, any trip it may be, many travel apps are cooking up to make your experience breezy, they are making your trips much more comfortable and easier by organizing many things from booking tickets to hotel accommodation.

    Notwithstanding it, these best trip planning apps also help you in answering questions like famous places to visit, what are the different means to reach your desired location and so on. So, let’s have a look at the top 6 trip planning apps that can save your time by 37%.

    Best Trip Planning Apps for 2020

    Best Trip Planning Apps for 2020

    Hopper

    trip planning apps
    Hopper | Best Trip Planning App

    The mobile-only app Hopper tracks flight prices and gives periodic updates on whether you should buy now or wait, you can book through Hopper with a commission fee of a few dollars.

    The price predictor feature explains if and when the price will rise and by approximately how much, allowing travellers to make an informed decision about whether or not to book or wait.

    Trip Case

    trip planning apps
    Tripcase

    Trip Case is a mobile app that helps you organize your trip by making an itinerary for you, the itinerary can include flights, accommodation, rental cars, reservations, and more. It is one of the easy trip apps.

    To make an itinerary, you need to forward travel confirmation emails to TripCase, and the app then organizes everything. The next time you launch the app or log into the website, a complete line of your trip is waiting for you. You can manually add details, too.

    Trip It

    Best Trip Planning App
    Trip It App | Best Travel Apps

    TripIt is one of the best travel apps in India. It is creating an itinerary for you, but TripIt organizes your travel plans like booking tickets, hotel accommodation, cabs, etc. You just have to send a confirmation email like TripCase. If you don’t want to give TripIt access to your email, you can use the app by forwarding emails to it instead of manually entering details.

    If you upgrade to the pro version, the company will find you alternative routes for when your flights get cancelled, as well as send you notifications from airlines about flight delays, cancellations, and more.

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

    easy trip apps
    Airbnb | App to Plan Trip

    Airbnb is one of the other the best travel planning apps. It lets you rent individual rooms, couches. After entering your destination and dates, you can filter results based on the home type, price, requisite amenities and more. You can access all your bookings under the “Trips” tab, where you can view your reservation, contact your host.

    Once you have booked, you can also book tours, shows, concerts and more.

    Roadtrippers

    best travel planning apps 2020
    Roadtrippers

    Roadtrippers plan your driving route, book hotels, and also activities along the way, it tells you the best places, things which lie nearby, you can have some great suggestions to include more fun in your experience. It currently works in the USA, Australia, and New Zealand. Sometimes you need to fly somewhere to experience the magic in this world.

    En routing to a new place can be a heavenly escape from one’s daily routine, travelling can be soothing music for people who are undergoing through hurdles. It is one just experience where you can embrace the essence of a new world.

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    TripHobo

    best travel apps
    Triphobo

    TripHobo slots in your interests, needs, and budget. It comes up with the ideas of what to do, it works well for your vacations, it suggests everything from flights to hotels, it lists hours of operation for all suggested destinations, along with maps and detailed routes, an offline view mode is available too for those times when your data connection is flaky, it is possible to view other travellers plans as well if you are in an unfamiliar place.

    There is a saying, ‘When you are in chaos, just travel’, you enter a new zone where you will get to learn so much from your experiences. This is the our list of trip planning apps to use. Just shape your trips with these simple travel apps to create a beautiful experience. So, which trip planning app do you think might work best for you?

    Let me know in the comment sections.

    FAQs

    What is the best travel planner app?

    • Hopper
    • Trip Case
    • Trip It
    • Airbnb
    • Roadtrippers
    • TripHobo

    What is Hopper?

    Hopper is a trip planning app that tracks flight prices and gives periodic updates on whether you should buy now or wait, you can book through Hopper with a commission fee of a few dollars.

    Is TripIt a good app?

    Yes, It is a good app.

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  • Ithaka Travel- Your Personalized Trip Planner

    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.

    There is a breed of travelers, who hates the one size fits all travel packages. Those, who want to explore places at their own pace, rather than rushing through the hyped sites of a destination. For those who prefer their holidays to be planned with a personal touch over any auto-generated itinerary, there is Ithaka. This Mumbai based platform plans your trips just the way it fits you best with the assistance from experienced travelers.

    Know more about Ithaka Startup Story, Founders, Business Model, Funding etc., in the article ahead.

    Ithaka – Company Highlights

    Startup Name Ithaka
    Headquarter Mumbai
    Founders Rahul Singh & Mithilesh Said
    Sector Travel Planning App
    Founded 2015
    Parent Organization Traveljunkie Solutions

    Discover more about Ithaka:

    About Ithaka and How it Works
    Travel Market in India
    Founders of Ithaka and Team
    How was Ithaka Started
    Ithaka – Name and Logo
    What is Ithaka
    Ithaka – Revenue Model
    Ithaka – Funding and Investors
    Ithaka – User Acquisition
    Ithaka – Startup Challenges
    Ithaka – Competitors
    Ithaka – Growth

    About Ithaka and How it Works

    Ithaka was launched as an in-destination experience booking website. Today Ithaka is a chat-based travel planning app, that covers destinations from Thailand, Bali, Europe, UAE, Singapore, Malaysia and Turkey. The Ithaka app is available for both Android and iOS.

    Our vision is to build a seamless ecosystem for travel. We want to take ownership of your travel experience from the first spark of inspiration, to the very last day of your trip, we want to stay involved, keep it personal and help you every step of the way.

    Ithaka is a free travel planning platform focused on travelers who want to plan and execute their own trips and don’t want to book a pre-made package.

    Ithaka is helping travelers through the 3 most important parts of trip planning:

    a. Discovery – Through product features that mirror users’ behavior online (first shortlist by a visual stimulus, matching by preferences, etc)

    b. Decision Making – Driven by influencers and a smart product which understands ‘good travel choices’ (anchors, time to catch transport, is the trip rushed, etc)

    c. Trip Management – Beautiful, detailed itinerary which can be booked in part or full with a single click in-app with real-time costing

    On Ithaka, you would connect over chat with a Travel Influencer who’s been there done that. You can seek validation around your ideas and find all the answers you seek or if you are someone who is too busy to plan the trip you could get your whole itinerary planned to the very minute details. The Influencer and the product help you structure the whole trip plan and gives you detailed information that will ensure a smooth travel experience.

    Along with that, you can do all your bookings (flights, hotels, activities, visa, forex) through the app as well, ensuring you are sorted end to end.

    We believe that travel is the best way to break down barriers between people. If we can help more people travel to newer places and experience them well, we would have played our part in moving the world towards a more unified, harmonious future, and that’s a vision worthy of anyone’s life’s work. There is a need for one product to be the anchor app of their trip. Ithaka is trying to do just that and define how the next generation of travel looks like.

    Ithaka has pivoted twice–

    • From the experiences booking platform to chat based travel planning in 2015.
    • In 2018  the company pivoted from in-house travel experts to a community of Travel Influencers to help people plan trips. This shift allowed Ithaka to be more scalable.

    Travel Market in India

    According to UNWTO, the Indian outbound travel market is going to grow to 50 million travelers by 2020. Out of this, the leisure travel market is 30%. Ithaka is catering to the Indian Millennial travel audience which is around 5 million travelers by 2020. The average spends by an Indian traveler on an outbound trip is about $800. The rough market size Ithaka is dealing in is $4 billion right now.

    Travel is going to change fundamentally in the next 5 years as a new batch of youngsters enter the job market and have the disposable income to go out and explore the world. Their needs and ambitions while traveling are going to be quite different than what we see now. The overall market will keep increasing. Many profitable businesses can emerge in the thriving travel market in India.

    Ithaka Services

    Founders of Ithaka and Team

    Rahul Singh and Mithilesh Said are the founders of Ithaka.

    Ithaka Founders
    Rahul Singh and Mithilesh Said – Founder, Ithaka

    Rahul Singh is the CEO of Ithaka. He is an IIT Bombay, 2012 grad. He worked at Gulf Talent, a Dubai based market leader job portal for the Gulf region with over 1 million users a month. started off as an Analyst and worked across Product, Operations, Sales, Marketing before becoming the first Product Manager there.  Rahul was CPO at Ithaka till March 2019. He took over as the CEO when Ameya Sahasrabudhe left Ithaka.

    Mithilesh Said is the CTO of Ithaka. He is  Mumbai University, 2014 graduate.  He started off at a services company called Genii that got acquired by Practo. One of the best techies in the Mumbai circle, he is amazing at designing tech solutions and has built the Ithaka product from the ground up.  

    Ithaka’s current team size is 30.

    Ithaka’s work culture is centered around freedom and ownership and a love for travel. The team is empowered to independently execute projects and drive impact led by strong direction from the founders. The best part is that the employees can work from anywhere they want, so a lot of folks sometimes travel and work.  

    As long as work gets done, everyone has the freedom to manage their personal lives. Everyone has to travel internationally once a year and there’s a specific trip fund budget for each person. We have done this so that people can be close to travel and feel the problem that they are solving.

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    How was Ithaka Started

    Ithaka was started by Rahul Singh and Ameya Sahasrabudhe. Rahul and Ameya were friends from IIT Bombay. Both of them loved traveling and the inspiration to startup Ithaka came from their own travels. They saw that there was a specific need for discovering things to do and booking it online, especially in South East Asia. To validate it, they did a pilot run in Bangkok to see if people are interested and it came back positive. So they went about creating the first prototype: a mobile website for booking things to do and launched it in the market. That is where they first got the inspiration for a chat-based travel planning model.

    While trying to sell activities and in-destination experiences to travelers on the ground, the Ithaka team noticed that there are many people who keep asking for travel advice. This made the team come up with the idea of a chat-based travel planning app.

    We added a chat widget to the website. Interestingly we also started seeing more bookings as we helped more travelers on the chat which convinced us that there is a big business to be made out of this.  

    Ithaka’s name is inspired by an illustrated poem by Constantine P Cavafy. This poem talks about how the journey is rewarding and the destination doesn’t matter and that’s the core spirit of Ithaka as well – to drive experiential travel that impacts a traveler’s life.

    Ithaka Logo

    Since the poem was about a sea voyage and that’s also related to travel, Ithaka’s logo is also made as a boat.

    Ithaka – Revenue Model

    Ithaka is free for travelers.

    Ithaka earns revenue through Itinerary bookings that travelers do after they plan it with Influencers: these are bookings of experiences, hotels, flights, transport, etc. We have partnered with various operators to process these bookings and make commissions on them.

    Soon Ithaka will be experimenting with a new monetization model where travelers will have the option to avail premium concierge services to make their bookings in the most optimized way for their route, budget and preferences.

    Ithaka – Funding and Investors

    Ithaka has raised 2 rounds of funding.

    Funding Date Funding Stage Funding amount Investors
    July 2016 Angel $325K Angel Investors
    November 2018 Seed Undisclosed Thomas Cook

    Ithaka is the only travel tech company funded by Thomas Cook India.

    Thomas Cook sees us as a major strategic play in building for the millennial travelers of India. Post-funding we have gained a lot of insight into the travel space that we lacked before. We have also started giving forex and visa services which we couldn’t before. And of course, the capital infusion has accelerated our growth path.    

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    Ithaka – User Acquisition

    Ithaka was able to attract its initial set of customers organically, through social media. As said by Rahul, Ithaka spent zero money on getting its first customers. Ithaka spread awareness about its services in the Facebook groups where travelers were already discussing questions around their trips.  Ithaka team also posted heavily on Quora to gain its first customers.

    Content marketing, SEO and also word of mouth publicity has worked quite well for Ithaka.

    If you have built a product that is truly valuable for the users, you grow organically. Our first 10,000 users came primarily from word of mouth of existing travelers.

    Ithaka – Startup Challenges

    The biggest challenge faced by Ithaka was while pivoting from in-house travel experts to the community of travel influencers for planning trips.  It was a difficult phase for the company. However, the Ithaka team solved it by being lean and experimenting at a small scale.  The company started with just 3 Travel Influencers which it got from the existing traveler base.  

    We first ensured that the traveler experience wasn’t suffering due to this shift from travel experts to travel influencers, and then we scaled it slowly while making the product better.

    Ithaka – Competitors

    For the Ithaka team, the plan is not to compete at all but to create the most connected travel eco-system ever built.

    There are many apps for travel planning like Tripoto, Klook, Trip Planner and Travel Triangle which are competing with Ithaka. However, all these apps have their own USPs. Ithaka is even partnering with companies like Thomas Cook, Klook, etc. to bring the best of booking experiences to travelers on the app. For the Ithaka team, Airbnb has always been a source of inspiration.  

    What Ithaka primarily helps with is deciding what to do e.g. if a traveler is going to Europe, which cities will be the best for him. Where should he stay, what are things to do which he should not miss out on. There are no travel companies like Ithaka which help travelers make these crucial decisions and plan their trip properly.

    Ithaka – Growth

    The growth milestones achieved by Ithaka are-

    • Helped over 50,000 travelers.
    • The company has grown about 5 times in 2018-2019.
    • The company is doing great in terms of customer relationship management. Its NPS(Net Promoter Score) is 70.
    • Currently, Ithaka is live for 14 destinations across the world.

    In the next 2 years, Ithaka plans to be live for any destination in the world and would expect to be growing 100x from the current scale.

  • Digitalization Influencing Business Model Innovations

    Living in a dynamic era where speed and transformation is the key to victory, the call for better technologies comes into being. The most notable example of such a transformation is Digitalization. Digitalization means using digital technology in business models to generate income and value-producing opportunities. It is a process of shifting towards digital business. Digitalization can be seen in every segment. Digitalization is a mechanism for transforming all the sectors across the Globe.

    Digitalization in common terms means the way people socialize i.e., the movement of interaction through analog technology(phone, mails) to Digital ones(e-mail, chats, social media). The increase in digitalization has impacted various business activities, including firms’ business models(BM). Digitalization has put stress on companies to exhibit on their prevailing strategy and examine innovative business opportunities at the early stages.

    Value creation, value delivery, and value capture are the main aspects of any business. Thus, a combination of these features to create a system that delivers more value for both consumers and industry is termed as business model innovation.

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    Digitalization and Business Model Innovation Components

    Digital technology affects business and its various components in the business that are listed below:

    Digitalization & Value Creation

    Value creation refers to offering customers what they want that is customized services and products as per their preferences. Digitalization allows companies to revise or extend their products and services through IoT. Digitalization also helps in increasing customer value and reducing transaction costs. It lets companies create novel offerings.

    Digitalization & Value Delivery

    It illustrates how activities are employed to deliver the insured value. This includes delivery resources such as- support staff, online monitoring systems, etc. Digital business models require developing new capabilities. New business models require updating operational activities and processes for Global distribution. Companies need to develop scalable platforms that utilize modularity to deliver effectiveness and efficiency.

    Digitalization & Value Capture

    The value capture model is related to revenue and economic viability. Digitalization helps in enhancing internal processes that facilitate the firm to improve cost efficiency. It enables increased revenue streams. It has some negative impacts that are new and increased risks related to business innovations.Most of the models rely on leveraging digital connectivity to expand globally rather than on the physical movement of the good and fixed investments in the market.

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    Developments contributed to the rise of innovative business models:

    Connectivity

    Integration of people and businesses through digital technology is reducing the cost of acquiring data by enabling software features to deliver services to customers. The number of people connected to the internet is rising incredibly, while the number of connected devices is estimated at 21 billion by 2020.

    Data Analytics and AI

    Speedy advancements in data analytics and artificial intelligence are enabling companies to gain valuable insight into the global business and customers through the flow of data. This will give rise to employment for data analytics.

    Digital Platform

    The digital platform is fueling more than thirty percent annual growth in e-commerce, which is expected to reach $1 trillion by 2020. The concentration of buyers, sellers, and products on digital platforms lessens the cost of acquiring the customer base.

    Industry 4.00

    The new era of industrialization with advanced manufacturing capabilities such as- 3-D printing, advanced robotics, digital prototyping, and factory management systems are boosting productivity up to 30 percent and reducing the cost of labor.

    Protectionism & State Capitalism

    Protectionist barriers such as- tariffs, new procurement rules, and others are increasing the cost of cross-border trade. The increasing economic nationalism is forcing businesses to rethink their physical presence.

    Connected & Mobile Consumers

    Consumers are increasingly connected digitally. The rising popularity of pay-as-you-go business models is increasing for goods such as- automobiles,  agricultural equipment, and aircrafts engines. These changes are altering demand and setting expectations for the products as well as services.

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    The emergence of New Business Models In Digital Markets

    In digitalization, businesses interact with consumers through various web-based interfaces. The platform allows direct interaction with the end-users. It becomes challenging to classify the entire company into a specific type as digitized companies as they have more than one business line.

    Multi-sided Platforms

    Platforms that allow end-users to exchange and transact while leaving liabilities towards customers. Example- Uber, Airbnb, Amazon Marketplace, Facebook, Google, UberEATS.

    Resellers

    Businesses that acquire products from suppliers and resell them to buyers. In such a case, resellers decide the price of products. Example- Alibaba, Spotify, Tencent’s music distribution, Netflix.

    Vertically Integrated Firms

    Businesses with the ownership of suppliers integrate the supply side of the market. Example- Amazon e-commerce, Xiaomi, Huawei.

    Input Suppliers

    Suppliers of intermediary products use in production processes of goods or services in other firms. Example- Intel, Tsinghua Unigroup.

    Cross Border e-Commerce users(millions)

    The New Business Models

    These business models take benefit of the technological developments that make it less expensive to reach customers and provide services. The following models are leading among companies that are succeeding in the new era.

    Cross-border Servitization

    Manufacturers relied on the physical selling of products, but due to rising trade barriers, it becomes hard to increase the market size. Thus, by focusing more on delivering digital services, manufacturers are generating new growth opportunities. The growth of IoT and advanced data analytics are driving this trend. Rolls Royce Totalcare program is one of the examples of servitization.

    Asset Light Market Entry

    Increased digitalization provides greater digital connectivity, Global IT platforms, and all aforementioned makes it easier for companies to enter new markets with fewer investments. For example, Xiaomi uses platform based partnerships. By teaming up with local E-commerce company- Flipkart, it entered the Indian market. By offering low-cost phones, Xiaomi captured 11 percent of India’s smartphone market with a sale of $1 billion in two years.

    Global digital Systems

    Global Digital Business ecosystems deliver the most reliable technology, featured products, and accelerate commercialization. Google android provides functions such as tools for managing workflow and coordinated manufacturing operations.

    Global Personalization

    Technology is helping companies to deliver personalized experiences through digital platforms directly to customer’s connected devices. Example- Starbucks has tuned AI algorithms to personalize offers, rewards, and recommendations to its customers based on their purchased history.