Current lifestyle of young generation is leading to many diseases. Today’s era though junk is spread everywhere but people are looking for healthy bites with good taste.
Healthy Master is a Bangalore startup co-founded by Shivali Agrawal and Dipti Singhal with a vision to “Replace Junk with Healthy”. It provides a platform where all healthy food items are available so people should not give second thought before purchasing. Read this article to know everything about Healthy Master.
Healthy Master is founded by two Moms, Shivali and Dipti, with the sole purpose to provide quality bites with delicious taste. Moms are the ultimate champions when it comes to healthy eating habits. With nourishment being an inherent nature of a mother, two moms are now moving beyond their roles to launch Healthy Masters – A one stop counter for all healthy needs.
Their vision is to spread awareness on healthy eating habits while making quality products available at your doorstep. Today, the fast-paced life is increasingly making junk food the most appealing food trend for all age groups. Although junk snacks are tasty and easily accessible, they are proven to be the main culprits for bad health. Therefore, Healthy Master is determined to replace the junk snacks with healthy and tasty dry fruits, millet-based substitutes and many more varieties.
Healthy Master – How It All Started?
Being mothers, Shivali & Dipti used to talk about magical world where only healthy stuff is available so they can close their eyes and pick anything for their family. But in real life its not like this. Junk is easily accessible to all the places while we need to struggle for healthy bites. With that thought they planned to build one stop shop for all healthy needs.
Healthy Master – Product/Services
Healthy Master’s current product ranges are non-fried millet based snacks, cookies, dry fruits, and berries. They have around 150 healthy food items. The products use no preservatives, no maida and are high in fiber & low in calorie.
They take at least 30-45 days to bring any items to their platform. They decide their do’s and don’ts for all the products, like if its cookies – No Maida, No Baking powder & No Artificial color. Like wise Millet snacks – Non fried and with No Preservatives.
They don’t just sell quality products but also provide best services to their customers like timely delivery, customer care support, diet help for people with diabetic, gluten free, keto diet etc.
Shivali was a housewife and always passionate about cooking healthy food. She started a business of selling dry fruits in May 2018.
“As Shivali and myself we were close friends, we discussed to create a complete Healthy platform as being mothers we were struggling to provide quality bites to our family.”, says Dipti.
By profession Shivali is an interior designer and Dipti is a Chartered Accountant and worked with corporate for more than 13 years.
Healthy Master Team
Healthy Master – Name, Tagline, and Logo
The team of Healthy Master took almost 21 days to finalize the name. Many rounds of discussion happened to finalise the name. Finally, co founder Tarun has suggested ”Healthy Master” and Shivali & Dipti loved it.
As name says, Thisplatform is Masters of Everyone’s Good Health.
Healthy Master Logo
Healthy Master – Startup Launch
Healthy Master was started with few of the co-founders’ friends, and got an amazing response that helped them to build their confidence level and then they started putting exhibitions in various apartments, tech parks etc.
The most challenging part was to finalize business partners, as initially volume was very low and they have fixed do’s and don’ts for their product ingredients. Their business partners were not ready to work for small volume and with stringent ingredients norms. They faced many obstacles but with patience and continuous efforts they have overcome that phase.
Healthy Master – Future Plans
Company is doing good and the team is continuously studying products which require to build a good immunity and will bring all those products that is good for everyone’s health.
Healthy Master – Recognitions and Achievements
“Our biggest achievement is customer satisfaction.”, says Shivali.
Healthy Master is a Bangalore startup co-founded by Shivali Agrawal and Dipti Singhal with a vision to “Replace Junk with Healthy”.
What does Healthy Master provides?
It provides a platform where all healthy food items are available so people should not give a second thought before purchasing.
Who handles the marketing for Healthy Master?
Tarun Agrawal is a cofounder of Healthy Master. He has a strong marketing background and handles a complete marketing portfolio for the company.
Healthy Master – Conclusion
Healthy Master are very experienced and knowledgeable in introducing less oil & non-fried items which are made up of power food items like millet, wheat, soya, fox seeds & different variety of snack items. The company’s mission is to create a junk-free world by providing healthy products to the community. They believe in one vision “Vision to serve healthy”. One of the main priorities for this decade is to inspire people to overcome unhealthy eating habits. They have managed to exhibit their products to create health awareness among, individuals, schools, colleges, workspace to make healthy & happy living an essential part of everyone’s life.
Do you feel drowsy even after 6-8 hours of sleep at night? Are you suffering from back pain, weak immune system or obesity? Do you have fine lines or dark circles? If you are saying yes to any of these, then maybe it’s time to change your mattress. Good sleep depends a lot on the sleep environment and a good mattress is a very important part of the sleep environment. Sleeping on a comfy mattress leaves you rested, relaxed and rejuvenated when you wake up and helps you to be more productive at work.
To help you sleep better, Sunday Mattress, a Bangalore based startup has come up with scientifically designed mattresses which ensure that you enjoy your daily quota of rest.
Sunday Mattresses is a Bangalore based startup, founded in the year 2015. It is India’s first sleep-focused online startup.
The company’s aim is to offer internationally certified products such as mattresses and pillows that have been developed after extensive research. Sunday Mattress makes internationally certified sleep related products. The company manufactures mattresses, pillows, mattress topper and mattress cover.
Currently, Sunday Mattress has three types of mattress-
Sunday Latex Plus 4 Mattress.
Its features are-
Firmness score is 5/10
Good Balance of firmness, support and comfort
For people who weight up to 140 kilos
Supports all sleeping postures
Sunday Ortho Plus 4 Mattress.
Its features are-
Firmness score is 6/10
Middle ground with some plushness and limited sink
For people who weight up to 100 kilos
Supports all sleeping postures
Sunday Memory Plus 4 Mattress.
Its features are-
Firmness score of 7/10
Best firmness for chronic back pain
For people who weight up to 80 kilos
Budget-friendly
Sunday Mattresses – USP
It is made of 100% organic cotton top with no chemicals and finest certified foam from Belgium.
Raw materials used are certified by European agencies (Euro Latex, Oeko Tek 100).
Sunday mattresses are designed to isolate movements. So you don’t feel when your partner moves – and you don’t wake up.
Breathable material is used which keeps the mattress cool even during summers.
All mattresses come with washable cover for easy maintenance.
Sunday’s three-zone design is the perfect combination of comfort and therapeutic support. It is proven to reduce pain and stiffness.
Sunday Mattress provides free shipping and returns, 100 nights free trial, and comes with 10 years warranty.
Having founded and run Fabmart- a dedicated sleep marketplace for 3 years, the Sunday mattress team realized that the current mattress-buying experience is broken for a consumer. They have to choose from a number of models minutely different from each other and with hi-tech buzzwords of little value, they are left being completely confused. Sunday mattress wanted to improve the whole mattress-buying experience for consumers.
The Sunday Mattress team carried out extensive research to build its mattress as per customer requirement. They noticed that there is much confusion in the market about different types of materials used in mattresses. Essentially there are four types of raw materials: Latex Foam, Memory Foam, Spring and Coir. There are typically three layers to a mattress — Comfort Layer, Support Layer and Base Layer. If you do the math and make some obvious exclusions, you end up with about 30 different combinations. Sunday mattress built a modular bed where they could quickly create a prototype mattress from any of the 30 combinations.
They tried these different combinations for 2 weeks each and made notes. Once they narrowed down to the best combinations, they engaged test customers in Hyderabad and Bangalore in the winter of 2014 and the summer of 2015 and tried these mattresses with different types of personalities: gender, weight, height, back conditions, pregnancy, etc.
So basically, we ended up doing the hard work on behalf of the customer and built a great product that suits most people. The design aspect for us is not just about how the product looks but also how the product functions. For example, more rugged woven fabric is used on the side so that the wear and tear of the mattress is minimized.
Hiroko Shiratori from Tokyo who is an acclaimed designer has won several awards across the globe including Australia and London has been instrumental in the design of Sunday Mattress.
Mattresses Industry in India
The mattress industry in India is expected to reach INR 14,000 crore by 2021. The online mattress market is expected to reach INR 290 crore by 2020.
According to ‘India Mattress Market Overview, 2016-2022’ the mattress market is expected to become more organized in the coming years. The market share of unorganized players is expected to drop drastically. The reason for this shift is the increase in demand for good quality branded mattresses among Indian consumers.
As said by Sunday Mattress founder Alphonse Reddy, the addressable market for Sunday Mattress is about $3.5 billion which is growing at a healthy rate of 20% y-o-y.
Mr. Alphonse Reddy is the founder of Sunday Mattress.
Alphonse Reddy | Founder, Sunday Mattresses
Alphonse Reddy is an engineer from BITS, Pilani and an MBA from INSEAD France. He is also the founder and CEO of Fabmart, an online marketplace for sleep-related products.
The Sunday Mattress team currently has 10 members.
We are a lean company in every sense of the word. We are probably the only e-commerce company that doesn’t have a single technical professional on board. Within our team of 10, we are organized by critical functions. Most of the support functions have been outsourced to able partners. At work, we share mutual respect and empathy towards each other. During weekends and days off, we don’t disturb someone on their time off. When we have some free time, all the employees discuss our future plans on our office terrace.
Sunday Mattresses Team
Sunday Mattresses – How It All Started?
The Idea for starting Sunday Mattress was formed in 2011, due to some bitter experiences that Alphonse had to face while finding a good mattress.
Sleep is one of the most important things in everyone’s life and my personal experience showed me the difference between a good mattress and a bad mattress. I faced great difficulty in finding the right mattress. I ended up changing three mattresses within a span of six months.
He noticed that there was not much information about mattresses in the market and they were exorbitantly priced. Even the post-sales experience was bad, without a returns policy. The idea of a sleep startup germinated in 2011. However, until 2014, Alphonse was running Fabmart, which is a sleep-related marketplace. In mid-2014, he started working on Sunday. The Sunday mattress team took more than 12 months of extensive research in developing the product range that it is currently offering.
Sunday Mattresses – Name & Logo
A nap on a relaxed Sunday afternoon, lead to the name ‘Sunday’.
Sunday Mattresses Logo
After deciding to build a mattress that was highly comfortable, safe and honestly priced, the Sunday team wanted to choose a name that best represented the product. They wanted a name that evokes curiosity, sounds cool and trendy and that had a great recall value.
We commissioned an agency from London, who are known for their talent in the industry and credited for coming up with some familiar household names. However, the names suggested did not sound right and I felt it was a bit complicated and confusing. One fine afternoon in April, I fell asleep on the couch watching TV. I was sleep thinking. That’s when my eureka moment happened! Boom there it was, Sunday!
Sunday is cool, easy to remember, it’s a day that stands for rest in most cultures and brings pleasant memories to mind. Alphonse ran a quick internet search to make certain it was not used to shop for mattresses online or other related products. The next morning, he bounced this name off my colleagues and existing investors and it was unanimously loved by all!
Sunday mattress has a well-planned revenue model. They maintain a healthy margin by aggressively cutting wastage and middlemen. Maintaining fewer SKUs and economical shipping etc also helps Sunday Mattress to keep a good margin.
The Sunday team wants to build customer confidence in its pricing strategy and offers products at reasonable rates. For example, A latex mattress (even an uncertified one) in the market costs about INR 75,000 to INR 80,000, whereas Sunday’s Latex plus mattress is priced at INR 40,000.
Sunday Mattresses – Funding and Investors
Sunday Mattresses raised a funding of $250K in seed round in November 2015 and is in the middle of raising a $1M pre-Series A round. Current shareholders of Sunday Mattresses comprise of the founder and a few investors.Sunday Mattresses’ has got major investment from Anand Morzaria and team, who recently sold their venture to WPP (Ogilvy & Mather).
Funding Date
Funding Stage
Funding Amount
Investors
November 2015
Seed
$250K
Anand Morzaria
We are following a slow and steady approach to fundraising. We will seek a bigger round of funding once we are confident of meaningfully deploying those funds. This would also protect our current and future investor interests. says Alphonse Reddy.
Sunday Mattresses – Startup Challenges
According To Alphonse, Sunday Mattress also went through the same journey as most startups do. It faced challenges with hiring, managing vendors, product development and marketing, etc. Surviving and competing with well-funded startups with limited capital is also a challenge for the startup.
Luckily, we have a great team and made some smart decisions along the way that have helped us grow our business in a very competitive space.
Sunday Mattress wants to grow as a one-stop destination for all sleep-related products.
It aims to gain 10% of the $3.5 billion market until 2022.
Sunday Mattress currently has an experience center in Bangalore that supports its online sales. The company wants to start more such experience centers in different parts of the country.
It sees great potential in the rest of the Indian sub-continent, Middle East and Australia, and have plans to expand in those parts of the world.
Sunday Mattresses – FAQ’s
What is Sunday Mattresses?
Sunday Mattress makes internationally certified sleep-related products. The company manufactures mattresses, pillows, mattress topper, and mattress cover.
Who is the founder of Sunday Mattresses?
Mr. Alphonse Reddy is the founder of Sunday Mattress.
Is there a minimum period for the trial?
When you purchase the Sunday mattress online or from one of our sleep lounges, you are eligible for the 100 Nights trial. You can return the mattress on the same day or return it after using it for 99 Nights.
How does the 100 Nights Trial work?
Physiologically speaking, the human spine takes about a month to get used to a new mattress. Unfortunately, the 10 minutes that one gets to try a mattress in retail showrooms is not at all sufficient to make an informed decision. So, one needs to try the mattress for about a month before knowing whether the mattress is the right fit or not.
What happens to returned mattresses?
We only have a small percentage of returns. As a policy, we do not sell opened and used mattresses to customers. Instead, we use these mattresses as display in our Sunday Sleep Lounges or for customer demonstrations.
Sunday Mattresses – Conclusion
Sunday Mattresses company has made a mission to design products that help us to sleep better. By using their mattresses and bedding we can be relaxed, mattresses that make our body feel like it’s resting more naturally. The company believes that good sleep is extremely important for people, especially those who are 30 years and above. A good mattress and pillows make a huge difference to someone’s sleep experience. The company wanted to be the new age sleep startup that combines transparency and product innovation to provide better sleep to Indians at an affordable price.
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.
This article is part of Behind the Scene series by StartupTalky where we bring you the insights on how a company operates at ground level. Source ~ from the horse’s mouth that is as told by the founders, core management.
Ninjacart is Bengaluru based India’s largest B2B fresh produce supply chain company. It is a pioneer in solving one of the toughest supply chain problems of the world by leveraging innovative technology. Their high-quality and hygienically handled fresh produce ensures healthy food to consumers, with a promise of delivery within 12 hours!
Founded by Ashutosh Vikram, Kartheeswaran KK, Sharath Loaganathan, Sachin Jose, Thirukumaran Nagarajan and Vasudevan Chinnathambi in 2015, Ninjacart has successfully built a tech-enabled supply chain for fresh farm produce, delivering over 1,400 tons of fruits and vegetables daily.Ninjacart has become India’s one of the largest Fresh Produce Supply Chain platform.
StartupTalky interviewed Thirukumaran Nagarajan (Co-founder & CEO of Ninjacart) to get insights on how he is Operating India’s One of the Top Supply Chain Startups Ninjacart. In this post, you’ll get a complete insight on Ninjacart’s Supply chain model, how it functions, Ninjacart’s business model, growth hacks & more.
And here’s what Mr. Thirukumaran Nagarajan has got to say –
How did Ninjacart’s business model and revenue model look like in its very initial days and how it changed gradually?
Ninjacart commenced business in 2015 as a B2C model. Our main aim was to deliver fresh produce to the end consumer within 60 minutes while providing online inventory to retail outlets. We launched our operations in Bengaluru. During those initial 6 months of operations, we realized that the production side of the supply chain is fragmented and retail outlets struggle to source fresh produce on time. It helped us to understand the inefficiencies in the supply chain. These systems relied heavily on expensive and erratic last-mile delivery fulfillment, increasing pressure on the retailers and us as a delivery provider.
This prompted us to pivot our business model from B2C to B2B and we started sourcing fresh produce from farmers directly, simultaneously supplying to retail outlets and small businesses. Addressing challenges like persuading retailers and grocery store owners to take their business online and introducing technology to farmers as a more trustworthy alternative to harvest and sell their produce, Ninjacart’s B2B model began to thrive and we knew we had created something impactful.
ninjacart Logo
There were plenty of hurdles we had to overcome. Evaluating the entire network and identifying the gaps is one matter, but actually being able to implement our solution is quite another.
At the offset, the two major obstacles we set out to tackle were – convincing retailers and grocery store owners to take their business online and persuading farmers to trust us, a tech startup, over the traditional middleman they had known for years.
Then it was devising a mechanism to standardize the pricing of fresh produce. More often than not, farmers would sell their produce for a loss, given the perishable nature of their goods. Therefore, we needed a solution to provide high value for farmers while ensuring the best possible output for the end party.
Limited connectivity, inadequate storage infrastructure, and mismatched supply-demand led to post harvest losses which needed to be controlled with the provision of proper tools and equipment for harvesting. Simultaneously, we also had to train/educate the farmers.
Easing the challenges faced by retailers, from exhausting procurement processes to poor quality management and competitive pricing.
Introducing more sophisticated management and new technologies to improve efficiency in the supply chain, making it low cost, effective, and super fast.
What have been major growth hacks in the early days of Ninjacart?
At Ninjacart, technology has played a major role in making the food supply chain more efficient and independent to handle advanced logistics. Since we started functioning as a B2B model, there is plenty of learning and transformation involved.
As an agritech startup, it was difficult to gain trust in the farmers’ community as they prefer to work with a familiar face rather than a tech company. To understand the framework at the grassroots level, the core team of Ninjacart made overnight trips in mandis. It took us almost three months to determine the price of tomatoes at which farmers sell to the middleman. The timespan of fresh produce being sold in the market is very limited. Within a few hours, the fresh produce is segregated, sorted, and sold. The farmer has to harvest and bring the item to mandi and then figure the price and demand, leading to huge losses as they are unaware of the market conditions.
Ninjacart has solved this issue with the innovation of the Farmer Harvest Calendar, which gives farmers a week’s notice on what is expected of them.
In the traditional supply chain wastage goes up to 25% which Ninjacart succeeds in shrinking up to 4% by leveraging deep machine learning. Furthermore, with the adoption of traceability infrastructure, we ensure food safety until last-mile delivery.
Thirukumaran Nagarajan, Co-founder and CEO of Ninjacart
The access of farmers to warehouse facilities in India is limited. In the absence of adequate cold storage and efficient warehousing facilities, fresh produce gets wasted even before it arrives in the market or to the end consumer. Therefore, the implementation of tech-incentive processes helped Ninjacart to develop more controlled distribution chains. Over the years Ninjacart has expanded its operations, we are currently operating in 11 major cities across India and promise a delivery within 12 hours. The positive response and overall impact has strengthened our vision to change the way India consumes food.
How do you manage such a large supply chain model?
At Ninjacart, we strive to tackle some of the most difficult structural issues while keeping pace and performance at the forefront of everything we do. Being a supply chain company we have a large workforce at the ground level, making labor a significant business cost.
It starts with farmers bringing fresh produce to the Collection Centre, where it is weighed, batched, and dispatched to our Fulfilment Centers (FC) and Distribution Centers (DC) located throughout the city. Our algorithms then establish an optimal route plan for drivers to reach their destinations with clearly defined points, set a dispatch schedule, and fix arrival slots.
To plan each route with full capacity at minimal cost, we also consider the distance between the Collection Centers (CC) as well as the distance between the Fulfilment Centers (FC) and Distribution Centers (DC). With sophisticated software to understand the geography of the city, the maximum capacity of the vehicles used, cost required. All of this adds up to enough information to run and build a distribution route for the day.
It can be summarized as follows:
The first step is to acquire and understand the ‘Farmer Harvest Calendar’, which would give the team an overview of fruits and vegetables available in each season. This makes Ninjacart aware of the demand and supply, and gives farmers a week’s notice.
The notice period allows farmers to understand the market expectations. Our technology helps us to gain a complete understanding of past buying data, such as – order history and its frequency to figure out a pattern. It helps us to know which items to procure.
Once the produce is procured as per the demand analysis, it is then put into crates at the collection centers
After the produce is weighed and tagged, a message goes out to the farmer through an app which details the supplied quantity and the price so that the amount is credited to the farmers’ bank account the subsequent day
Ninjacart then moves the crates to the fulfilment centers. With the use of special trolleys these crates are loaded and unloaded, ensuring a quicker turnaround time as compared to the traditional lift-and-place logistic systems. The entire process is monitored through an app that the company has built with a sophisticated algorithm
As next steps, these crates are loaded onto vehicles at the distribution centers for delivery, which starts at 2.00 am daily. There are no names on the crates as everything is enabled through the app. Every crate has a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag so that the company knows exactly which vegetables and fruits have been delivered
More importantly, the empty crates don’t necessarily return to the same collection center and Ninjacart’s technology ensures that the chain remains efficient. This has enabled tighter control so that operations are profitable
Ninjacart also maps the simplest routes for drivers to reach their destinations with clearly identified points
How implementing AI and machines has helped the company to grow?
Technologies like Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Data Analytics drive decision-making at Ninjacart, and help perform complex human tasks accurately.
The use of generative models and programming helps Ninjacart to accomplish a recommendation engine. The prediction model is used to analyze hundreds and thousands of market factors.
For instance, we analyze past buying data of consumers and the frequency of orders to determine the kind of produce that needs to be procured. It enables us to track produce and thus, provide complete transparency within the food value chain. This way, we inform farmers about what is expected of them for that particular month by issuing a ‘Harvest the farm’ calendar offering weather forecast.
Diagnostic analytics techniques combine growth plans with historic demand data and market conditions to organize the weekly sales and procurement forecast at SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) level. Another analytics tool is predictive analytics, which tells us what is likely to happen. It identifies potential threats in the supply chain spotting optimal patterns while neutralizing errors.
The Ninjacart Supply Chain relies on vehicle route planning to transport tons of fresh produce from farms to retailers in less than 12 hours. The algorithm saves the details of retail customer orders made the day before. It determines the best delivery route based on factors such as customer position, tonnage, crate count, delivery time window, and so on. Similarly, the algorithm uses vehicle information such as vehicle type, start place, maximum crate size, maximum number of points, available time window, and average vehicle speed to allocate the delivery route for the next day’s door-to-door deliveries to stores. After considering both the factors, the algorithm perfectly optimizes the vehicle route towards the customer locations. The route is decided to use the vehicles more efficiently in terms of vehicle usage, occupancy, and positioning the orders to be delivered.
Our algorithms automate the planning and optimization of logistics by mapping 1000+ routes for vehicles crisscrossing 15 states for delivering to customers daily across 7 cities.
We have adopted special trolleys to load and unload the crates, ensuring a quick turnaround compared to the normal lift-and-place logistic systems. The entire process is monitored through an app that helps us place crates in a particular order so that the team can deliver faster. At Ninjacart, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) plays a crucial role in every step of our supply chain, including internal control. Future-ready ERP increases efficiency, lowers operational costs, and acts as one source for information that permits agility and rapid decision transformation.
What major initiatives were taken during Corona to keep the whole operation running and support farmers?
The operations at Ninjacart were at a standstill during the initial days of the lockdown as the government regulations were unclear on which part of the supply chain could keep running. Despite that, we worked around-the-clock to fill the gap between supply and demand by deploying several initiatives. Our problem-solving approach helped the entire supply chain network one way or the other. These initiatives helped farmers to sell their produce directly to the end consumers. At the same time, it benefited consumers as they were able to buy fresh produce at subsidized rates.
There was uncertainty and fear amongst the consumers as supermarkets were closed at the time. After analyzing the situation, we concluded that we have the infrastructure to serve society by bringing food to their doorstep. The execution part was difficult as we had to expand our operations to directly reach the apartments and societies across cities. We created and disseminated a Google Form on social media for people in residential complexes to order fresh produce in bulk. It was a huge success, and we helped thousands of people in 7 cities – Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi, Gurugram, Mumbai, and Pune during the lockdown.
Additionally, to ensure that essential commodities reached everyone in need, we started a special program to sell at subsidized rates to old age homes, orphanages, community kitchens and slums. Many NGOs worked with us to feed numerous people, creating a huge impact during a period of crisis.
At Ninjacart, we were flooded with calls from farmers seeking our help in finding end consumers as they were left stranded with their harvested produce. It was time to step up and help our farmers as a way of showing gratitude and support.
We launched ‘Harvest The Farm’ initiative asking consumers to buy fresh produce from Ninjacart at cheaper prices through Swiggy, Zomato, and Dunzo. With the existing supply chain in place, we identified the farmer with a ready harvest, purchased their produce, and helped them recover their cost.
The lockdown gave us an opportunity to work towards our vision of establishing a traceability infrastructure that will help trace fresh produce to its origin from any given stage of the supply chain.
On the occasion of World Food Safety Day on 7th June, we launched FoodPrint. FoodPrint allows us to know everything about the food we eat. Starting from – identifying the farmer, the date and time of harvest, the truck that carried the produce, the warehouse that processed it, the helper who handled the product at the warehouse, the retailer who bought the product, and finally how it was delivered to your doorstep, this endeavor focuses on driving home transparency.
What are different tools the company uses for smooth flow of the work and the organisation?
We have removed intermediaries and replaced them with Artificial Intelligence and machine learning. We have taken a constraint-oriented modeling approach. Constraints are based on distance, vehicle, cost, capacity and time. After defining these constraints, we use a metaheuristic optimization technique (Guided Local Search), to maximize objective function and reduce supply cost. Every process and action is governed by technology at Ninjacart.
The tools developed and implemented by the core of Ninjacart can be concluded as follows:
Facial Recognition: The software quickly captures the entire face, which is then fragmented into small pieces and converted into data streams. To mark attendance, 90% accuracy is required each time. This data can then be used to track worker productivity of employees from start to finish and at various points in the supply chain, as well as to solve many of the common problems that arise to ensure an order is delivered on time and without hiccups.
Futureready ERP: Mobile-ready ERP ensures removes all paper use of in the supply chain
Demand Forecasting: Leveraged deep machine learning to perfect forecasting to 97% and reduce the overall wastage to 4% [Traditional supply chains have wastage up to 25%].
Farmer apps: Ninjacart also have specific apps for the farmers wherein they help them not only in demand forecasting but also with harvest planning and determining the price indent
Connected Logistics: Speed and price can make or break any supply chain. Ninjacart’s indigenous route optimization and utilization keeps the load factor at 92% and puts fresher vegetables on the plate (they move the produce from farm to store within 12 hours) at a cost almost 1/3rd of the traditional supply chain
Vehicle Route Planning is vital in driving the Ninjacart Supply Chain
Being the top player in the niche, do you plan to acquire small startups to expand?
We aim to learn and grow together as everyone is trying to solve the fragmented food supply chain in India. In recent years, we have witnessed new players entering the market only to help the farmers in their pre- and post-harvesting journey. At Ninjacart, we hope to bring as much innovation and solution as we can so that the end consumers and farmers have a seamless and safe supply of fresh fruits and vegetables. The launch of FoodPrint has enabled us to expand our vision of making farmers aware of residue-free farming methods.
We have partnered with Kilofarms, an agritech startup company. Together we have produced the first batch of residue free tomatoes and we intend to add 18 more residue-free fruits and vegetables by the end of this year. Leveraging each other’s tech capabilities, we have developed tech-enabled methods such as drip irrigation to assist farmers in achieving the finest grade of fresh produce through residue-free methods. It not only enables the production of food through optimal farm inputs and low Maximum Residue Limit (MRL), it is also scalable, practical and more affordable than pure organic food.
The whole millennial generation today is all about renting rather than owning! Right? Be it shared cabs, carpools, co-working spaces, or renting home accessories, millennials are up for it. And following that premise, IIT-Guwahati graduates – Manish S. Sugandhi, Shubham Jain and Aditya Sharma launched GrabOnRent in the year 2015. Read this article to know more about GrabOnRent founders, competitors, funding, growth, wiki, and future plans.
GrabOnRent attempts to promote optimal utilization of the products by offering flexible rental times. This means that you can rent the item either on an hourly, daily or monthly basis.
GrabOnRent is ideally a product rental marketplace that aggregates various vendors in the market who own brick-and-mortar shops for rentals to the buyers on the platform. The idea of the co-founders behind GrabOnRent is to provide accessibility of the home products like furniture and other categories to everybody irrespective of their capacity to buy it.
GrabOnRent helps its users in renting products online across 8 major categories namely furniture, appliances, eventsupplies which includes lights, sound systems, etc, bicycles, cameras, gaming consoles, party items like hukka, barbeque, etc, and adventure gear. Also, it essentially enables the renting of cool gadgets such as Pebble Smartwatch, Kindle e-book readers, and Hoverboards. GrabOnRent has a provision that allows the buyer to try the product before buying for a minimal amount.
GrabOnRent summer advertisement
GrabOnRent follows a clear methodological bucket system to address the concerns of a wide population like in India. These four buckets are as follows:
Discoverability – This bucket is all about creating awareness in the market and amongst the target market allowing them to browse the possible and available products on rent.
Quality Assurance in refurbished products – This bucket stands in the list to improve the ‘sticky-ness’ towards the service GrabOnRent is providing and also gain the loyalty of the suppliers who have recurring customers due to the consistently improved quality.
Convenience – This bucket includes online payment mechanisms (or COD) and effective logistics service, to and fro so that seamless experience can be provided to the consumers.
Trust – This bucket involves dealing with a much-specialized product rental firm against vendor forms the basic layer of trust apart from the combination of quality assured products and supreme customer service to the users of GrabOnRent.
GrabOnRent Logo
Things work pretty simply on GrabOnRent. All the users need to do is browse through the superiorly extensive array of products, then select the item they want to buy and go on to make the payment online towards the rent and security deposit. The item gets delivered to the user’s doorstep, without any further delay.
Each item at GrabOnRent passes through a very strict and stringent quality check before getting shipped to, therefore, ensure the best of services to the users. Post usage, the item gets picked up from the doorstep and the security deposit is returned online after verification and quality check of the used item.
GrabOnRent has essentially tapped into the market that is being brought by the constantly shifting millennials of the current generation. These millennials do not care that much about putting down roots as the generations before them.
Moreover, this saves them a lot of money as well so obviously, this seems like a better option to them. On GrabOnRent’s website, the users can rent products as per their convenience, be it for an hour or a day or even for months and years. The interesting part is that both refurbished and new products are listed on this website.
GrabOnRent – Founders and Team
The founders of GrabOnRent are Manish S. Sugandhi, Shubham Jain and Aditya Sharma.
GrabOnRent – Founders
Shubham Jain is the Co-founder and CEO at GrabOnRent. An IIT Guwahati graduate, Shubham has earlier co-founded Trip Engineers. Before GrabOnRent, he was working with Perdix Business Solutions as the Head of User Experience.
Aditya Sharma is the Co-founder and CTO at GrabOnRent. Again, graduated from IIT Guwahati, Aditya was a senior R&D Engineer at Hewlett-Packard before launching his current venture.
Manish S. Sugandhi, Co-founder of GrabOnRent – This venture is not Manish’s first. Before this one, he had co-founded Perdix Business Solutions and was a Business Analyst at Flipkart. And Manish is also an IIT- Guwahati graduate.
Everything around GrabOnRent started during one of the founders’ own crises moments. And that’s exactly when the idea for GrabOnRent struck them. So it happened so that they had to organize a barbecue for a party one evening, and they ended up having a tough time just to find out where to rent it from.
And they finally decided to buy a new one because there seemed to be no way they could avail it on rent. This particular experience drew the founders closer to the tremendous amount of hassles people face while renting objects, and this triggered a new idea.
GrabOnRent – Startup Launch
“As the idea for GrabOnRent started taking shape and we were drawing out a plan of action, we had some reservations – what should be our target group, should we launch a fully functional product or a hacky one, which categories to start with, should we introduce an app-only model or an app-website model, etc”, says Shubham Jain, co-founder of GrabOnRent.
The founders then finally decided to keep the ever-increasing questions aside and they moved forward to launching their venture. Hence, GrabOnRent was launched with two preliminary categories in Bangalore. And to reach out to the target audience, the team started distributing pamphlets and as a result of which they also got the first few clients in the first week itself. All of this was followed by the fairly good inflow of orders, positive customer feedback, and guidance from industry leaders, GrabOnRent paved its way forward to the successful journey of building a startup.
Grab On Rent competes with other startups in the space like Rentomojo, Rentwala, Rentongo, Rentmasti, RentSher, etc. However, GrabOnRent is perceived to have only two of these startups as its real competitors. They are Furlenco and Rentomojo. Grab On Rent considers these two as competition for the simple reason that these startups have huge amounts under their kitties. Amongst these, Furlenco is into the opulent furniture segment and Rentomojo is dealing with furniture and appliances and both of these hold inventory whereas GrabOnRent doesn’t.
GrabOnRent – Funding and Investors
The funding amount of GrabOnRent stands at $3 million.
Date
Stage
Amount
Investors
June 2016
Seed Round
$1 Million
IvyCap Ventures, Unicorn India Ventures
June 2017
Venture Round
–
IvyCap Ventures, Unicorn India Ventures
April 2018
Venture Round
$2 Million
IvyCap Ventures, Unicorn India Ventures
GrabOnRent is funded by 2 investors – Unicorn India Ventures and IvyCap Ventures.
GrabOnRent – Growth
Serves more than 35,000 customers
The average ticket size of INR 1800
The average rental duration is about 12 months
Team size of 103 across four cities
Currently active in four cities- Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and Gurugram.
Sells more than 500 unique products across 8 different categories
“Moving ahead, some of our plans are – We are strongly focused on expansion, and have immediate plans to launch our services in Pune, NCR region and Chennai. We wish to increase awareness about our platform and have more and more people use our services for renting purposes. Our target is to have around 2 million customers by the end of 2020″, concluded Shubham Jain, co-founder of GrabOnRent.
However, sadly GrabOnRent Shut down their operations in September of 2020. It might have been due to their inability to raise more funds, being ahead of their time or them losing the trademark infringement case by GrabOn It could be a culmination of all three.
GrabOnRent – FAQs
What is GrabOnRent?
GrabOnRent helps its users in renting products online across 8 major categories namely furniture, appliances, eventsupplies which includes lights, sound systems, etc, bicycles, cameras, gaming consoles, party items like hukka, barbeque, etc, and adventure gear.
Does GrabOnRent own the products?
GrabOnRent doesn’t own any of the items. It is a marketplace, wherein based on the customers’ choice it collects the product from the vendor and delivers it. After the completion of rental tenure it returns the product back.
Who is the founder of GrabOnRent?
The founders of GrabOnRentare Manish S, Sugandhi, Shubham Jain and Aditya Sharma.
What is Rent-to-Own?
Rent-to-Own is a specially designed program. Wherein You can try the products by using them on rent and if you love them so much that you can’t live without them, purchase them from GrabOnRent at special discounted prices that are pre-defined.
Is it better to buy or rent furniture?
Buying your own furniture is an expensive process, requiring a high amount of money that requires to be paid up front. Whereas the key benefit of renting furniture is the fact that only a negligible amount is paid up front, with a reasonable rent to be paid monthly.
Has GrabOnRent Shut down?
Yes, unfortuntely, GrabOnRent has to shutdown operation in September of 2020.
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 Paytm.
Love shopping right? Want things branded? Always want to follow the trend? Online shopping is a process of buying and selling which helps consumers to buy products with a lot of information. Shoppers are able to visit web stores from their homes itself. Isn’t it interesting?
Paytm Mall is an E-commerce platform. Paytm Mall’s electronics category is very popular on the website as it helps users in finding the latest mobiles and eletronic gadgets at the lowest prices. Paytm Mall app also provides its customers with the best deals, offers and cash backs. Starting from home appliances to laptops everything is available here. Read the Paytm Mall success story below to know more about the company.
Paytm Mall India is dedicated towards online shopping like any other e-commerce app or website. But it doesn’t deal with options like bill, recharge, payment, utility bills or any other money-related activities. Paytm is a word that everyone has come through. Apart from this many don’t know that the shopping section is also available along with the bill payment section. Rest there are no such differences.
Paytm Mall – Startup Story
In the beginning, Paytm dealt with money bills. A few years later the company launched a consumer shopping app for its users. It is inspired by the model of China’s largest business to consumer (B2C) retail platform. The aim was to create a combination of the mall and bazaar concept to Indian consumers. With the help of the new app, consumers will now be able to shop from 1.4 lakh sellers. The Paytm Mall app is available for Android and Apple, and is soon said to launch an upgraded version.
The Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma is currently an Indian billionaire businessman and an entrepreneur. He was born on 8th July in 1978 and is currently, 42 years old. He completed his education from Delhi College of Engineering, which is now known as Delhi Technological University. In 1997 he started a website but sold it two years later for $1 million.
In the year 2017, he was ranked as India’s youngest billionaire. He was also the one who was present in the list of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2017. Besides Paytm Mall, the platform is also known for creating Paytm first game and the Paytm wallet.
Paytm Mall – Tagline, Slogan And Logo
The tagline of the company is ‘Ab Shopping ke liye bhi, Paytm Karo!‘
Paytm Mall logo
Paytm Mall – Business Model
The Paytm Mall business model is based how the platform is designed especially for Paytm merchants, vendors and sellers. The company charges a commission between 5 to 20% of the products sold. The company has moved away from the warehouse model and is leveraging its successful O2O (offline to online) model to save costs up to 35%.
With the help of the O2O model, the company has seen a lot of progress. The Paytm Mall’s business model is said to improve in the coming years. Here, customers can also scan codes using their smartphones to shop in their favourite shops. The company feels that these kind of things will help consumers more.
The Paytm Mall login and interface is easy to use, so the visitors can turn into buyers. The Paytm Mall customer care is also responsive and solves the customer queries immediately. While the Paytm mall delivery time is said to be anywhere between 2-8 days, The Paytm Mall return policy is also available for the customers who want to exchange their products.
The Paytm Mall revenue has doubled its in the year 2019. But after going through a loss in 2020 due to the pandemic, its again aiming towards increasing the revenue by three times in 2021. Paytm Mall spent Rs 2140 crores in 2019 to earn revenues of Rs 893 crores. Through brand promotions and shipping fees, the company earns a lot of money. Like Rs 66.7 crores and Rs 50.05 crores itself. The company also earned Rs 75.12 crores through mutual funds in the year 2019.
The company’s revenue is also earned through advertisements and Paytm Mall offers. But in the year 2018, the company spent Rs 944.21 crores and earned Rs 317.22 crores in the year 2019.
Paytm Mall – Funding And Investors
Paytm Mall funding has raised a total amount of $795 million in just 3 funding rounds.
The company is emerging as the preferred online to offline (O2O) platform across the country. It has seen more than 200% growth in the year 2019. To support and continue this growth the company has added more 200 people for the business in 2019. They are observing strong growth. And more improvement is required in the growth sector. Paytm Mall will consider getting listed on stock changes only after 2021 arrives.
Paytm Mall – Competitors
The top competitors of the company are Koovs.Com, Shopclues.Com and Snapdeal.
Koovs.Com is the topmost rival of Paytm Mall. The company was founded in 2009 in Haryana.
Shopclues.Com is one of the competitors of Paytm Mall. The company is headquartered in Haryana.
Snapdeal is also one of the competitors of Paytm Mall. It was founded in 2007 in New Delhi.
Paytm Mall – Future Goals
The company is aiming towards adding more workers by 2020. Along with technology, business and products, Paytm Mall is ensuring to its consumers that they will be getting a wide range of products and offers across online and offline stores.
Paytm Mall – Latest News
9th July 2021 – According to the media sources, some seniors Paytm executives have decided to quit before its anticipated $2.3 billion Initial Public Offering (IPO). This includes the president of Paytm Amit Nayyar and a few other executives, however the company is yet to find a replacement for the president.
Earlier in the year, Paytm Mall continued to face losses due to the covid 19 pandemic, however the company is looking to come out ahead with the help of its ‘End of Season Sale’ from June 25 to June 28 in 2021. The company will showcase best in class fashion collection from huge range of top international and national brands.
For the Paytm Mall sale today, the company has partnered with Axis Bank, Bank of Baroda, IndusInd Bank for exclusive Paytm cashback deals on all debit and credit card transactions. The Paytm Mall sale is offering discounts from 50% to 80% on more than three lakh products in various category. The platform provides big savings with the help of Paytm mall promo code, deals, Paytm mall coupons and Paytm mall cashback rewards, etc.
Paytm Mall is an E-commerce platform. It helps you to find the latest mobiles online at the lowest prices. The company also provides its customers with the best deals, offers and cash backs.
How does Paytm work?
Paytm customers can pay, receive and shop with just a smartphone at zero extra cost. Users can simply scan the recipient’s QR code or entering their mobile number in the ‘Pay’ option in the Paytm app to instantly pay virtually anyone with a smartphone and the Paytm app.
Who is the Founder of Paytm?
The Paytm owner is Vijay Shekhar Sharma
What is the benefit of Paytm?
Paytm offers saving details for wallet, postpaid, saved UPIs, merchant gift vouchers, Paytm payments bank details.
Is Paytm Mall safe?
Yes, Paytm Mall app is safe as Each and every transaction at Paytm Mall is securely.
Which country created Paytm?
India
Is Paytm a Chinese company?
PayTM is completely Indian, it lists Ant Financial, a Chinese bigwig, as its major investor.
How much is Paytm worth?
The Paytm valuation according to the company IPO will be Rs 16,000 crore.
What is the difference between Paytm mall and Paytm?
Paytm Mall is an online shopping e-commerce website where as paytm is an eCommerce payment system where the users can engage in financial transactions.
How can I create a paytm account?
After the paytm app download, the users will need documents like the GST certificate and the Address proof of the registered business.
How is Paytm Mall doing?
Paytm Mall is doing good as it hit a GMV of $10 billion in FY 2019 based on its O2O strategy.
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.
In the absence of the concept of online marketing, offline marketing has for decades been very important to businesses. Today, owing to its highly targeted nature, and availability of accurate analytics data, online marketing is gaining much popularity. But, that does not undermine the importance of offline ads. In fact, an ideal marketing strategy should be a combination of both online and offline ads. In 2018, Google spent half of its total ad spend on offline advertisements.
However, despite being so vital, the offline ad space Industry is still unorganized, broken and lack transparency and has zero analytics. ADmyBRAND, a Bangalore based startup is disrupting the offline ad industry by letting you invent, plan, book, execute, manage and analyze your offline ads, online.
ADmyBRAND is a one-stop portal for buying and selling offline ad spaces. It is an analytics-driven ad exchange that lets you book ad on outdoor media, hoardings, mobile, radio, TV and newspaper. ADmyBRAND makes offline advertising hassle-free by letting you
Discover information on ad spaces online.
Book best ad spaces in real time along with standardized experience of campaign execution.
Measure the ROI of campaigns with the number of views/impressions, facilitating targeting and place “call to action” in offline ads.
The objective of creating ADmyBRAND is to organize and standardize the offline ad space industry bridging the gap between offline and online ad bookings. It strives to provide its users the same user experience and analytics for offline ads which they get for Facebook/google ads.
Our aim is to become a virtual assistant of every marketer. How startups like redbus, uber have helped make transportation (mobility) Industry online, we want to repeat it with advertisement Industry.
According to a report by GroupM, ad spends in India is expected to grow higher in 2019, as compared to the 13% growth recorded in 2014-2018. The report also says that offline media will continue to grow in India and contribute about 80% of the total ad spends.
Global Advertising Industry ScenarioIndian Advertising Industry Scenario
ADmyBRAND Founder/CEO
Sudhanshu Goyal is the founder and CEO of ADmyBRAND.
Sudhanshu Goyal – Founder, ADmyBrand
Sudhanshu is an alumnus of IIM Calcutta. He is a serial entrepreneur who besides ADmyBRAND also founded several startups like Chikoop.com, Plazmatio.com Machaoo.com and Chikoopay.com. He also worked as the CEO of Kotted, a building materials and building solution provider from 2010-2014 and with reputed brands like Adani Group and Zee Media.
How was ADmyBRAND Started
The idea started to form in Sudhanshu’s mind while he was studying. As a student of IIM Calcutta, Sudhanshu got an opportunity to interact with different brand managers of HUL. There he got an opportunity to learn about the challenges of offline marketing. Meanwhile, Sudhanshu also completed an internship with Zee News, where he had practical experience with the challenges associated with offline advertising.
Sudhanshu realized that there is a huge scope of innovation in offline marketing. He perceived that immense value can be created by solving problems of the offline ad industry and facilitating online booking and management of offline ads. Owing to the high ticket size of transactions and marketing being a must activity for almost all brands, there is immense scope of making profit in the offline ad industry. Inspired by the idea, Sudhanshu started experimenting in this domain.
In 2015, Sudhanshu even started a mobile advertising platform, Chikoop, which somehow didn’t work. Though after this failure Sudhanshu took up a job in Adani Group but he kept researching on new ways to make a difference in the offline advertisement segment. He met many alumni in marketing domain to research this space and for validating his idea with respect to various stakeholders of the Industry. He also continued working on the ADmyBRAND portal. Finally, in early 2017, Sudhanshu quit his job and started ADmyBRAND India, registering Sorcerer Technologies.
ADmyBRAND – Name and Logo
The name ADmyBRAND was selected because it matches with the services provided by the company and also because the domain name was available.
Six Phases of Marketing Ad Campaign Managed by AdmyBrand
Each color in the logo represents the six phases of the marketing ad campaign.
Admybrand Logo
What is ADmyBRAND
ADmyBRAND is a one-stop platform for buying, selling and analyzing ads across all media. The ADmyBRAND portal currently has 32+ products to completely automate marketing. There are various products for searching ad spaces, and booking and analyzing ads. Some products of ADmyBRAND are-
Products for booking and selling ad space
8Hoarding- a hoarding and fixed media advertising platform
Ad8OOH- Avenue and movable media advertising platform
8Digiad- for booking and selling ads on digital screens & LCDs
Ad8Mobi- Mobile advertising platform
Ad8Paper- Newspaper advertising platform
Ad8Radio- Radio advertising platform
Ad8TV- Television advertising platform
Ad8Social- Web and social media platform
Ad8plan- Platform for managing inventory and lead generation for media sellers.
Products for searching and exploring ad spaces
Calci– A search engine for Ad spaces
8 Surface – A DIY tool for creating ads
Ambicode – Allocating ad spaces with universal codes.
Pages– Gives the ad sellers the advantage of an online presence.
Search Seller – Search Engine for ad spaces sellers
InventMyAd– lets users create and design advertisement campaign
Console – A single dashboard to monitor all campaigns Products for Ad Analytics
ARP – It provides real-time rating and analytics for ad spaces
AnalyzeMyAd – For analyzing and strategizing Ad campaigns
Ambicash – A Blockchain based solution for mobile ad analytics
Boost – For TV & radio ad analytics
VIA – Offers visibility scores for outdoor and OOH ad media
Social Media listing – Lets users see what’s trending on social media.
Listen – Lets users identify radio ad audience with audio QR codes
Adify – It’s an AI-based personal assistant to plan, book and manage ads
Pixel – Lets users identify and retarget TV ads to viewers on other ad platforms
Box – Big data solution for retargeting TV and Radio ads to mobile devices.
Products for growing the business
Zeedback – Lets users get feedback and generate surveys for ad viewers and clients
8Chat – Professional Networking platform for marketing professionals
Clicko – A single platform for social media management.
Besides, ADmyBRAND offers Ambloan– working capital loan for marketing campaigns, And Ambsure– a plan to insure marketing campaigns against uncertainties.
We have improved portal and added inventory on the supply side in 2018 and for the last 4 months, we are now doing aggressive marketing campaigns receiving 4-5 campaigns in a week. Prior to that we did more than 100 campaigns but those are offline mainly as I am acting as an agency manually connecting demand and supply side, but now we have a complete automatic portal with 32+ products to completely automate marketing. Just like Google Suite and Microsoft office, ADmyBRAND is a suite of products and not a single product.
What Admybrand Does
ADmyBRAND – Launching Startup
In 2017 Initially, Sudhanshu worked on the product for 4-5 months in Indore which is his hometown, renting up an office in Silicon City. However, soon he realized that Indore does not have a startup ecosystem, which made him move to Hyderabad, where he met various seller including leadspace – leading outdoor ads player, Sakshi TV, leading Media Company in Newspaper and TV. This gave Sudhanshu an opportunity to understand their problems and tweak ADmyBRAND’s product accordingly. Recently ADmyBRAND has also opened its tech office in Bangalore.
ADmyBRAND – Revenue Model
For every transaction through its portal ADmyBRAND charges a convenience fee of INR 199 per media or INR 2499 per campaign (whichever is higher) from advertisers.
It charges a 5-15% commission from ad-space sellers.
There are also other services like premium analytics and design support that come at extra cost but DIY drag and drop style tool to create ad designs along with basic analytics module for each campaign is free of cost.
If sellers want to show their listing on top of search results there is a separate fee.
ADmyBRAND assigns a unique six-digit code to each ad media, if sellers want a premium code for their media, there is an additional cost.
Besides, ADmyBRAND provides an Inventory management system to sellers on freemium based subscription plans. Similarly, for agencies, white-labeling solution is available on a freemium based subscription model.
Admybrand revenue model
ADmyBRAND – Funding and Investors
ADmyBRAND raised angel funding in the year 2017.
Funding Date
Funding Stage
Funding Amount
Investors
2017
Angel Round
INR 3.5 Crore
Angel Investors
ADmyBRAND – User Acquisition
On the demand side, the initial set of customers were acquired through Sudhanshu’s personal network. ADmyBRAND did not do any serious marketing of its products until August 2019.
“I think we are on our strategy to refrain doing our own marketing till August 2019. We are a media-shy company for the time being, you will not find much of our mention in any key media outlets, the reason is simple because we want to first create a big entry barrier creating a superior non-replicable product and then move aggressively to capture 80% market share as what our online counterpart Google is doing to online ad industry” says Sudhanshu.
ADmyBRAND – Startup Challenges
As Sudhanshu says, formulating analytics and finding suitable manpower for platform development was the most challenging part of starting ADmyBRAND.
At first, I hired a web development company for creating my portal but wasted a lot of time and money on it. Then I experimented with a lot of other models, freelancers, etc. Finally, I understood one thing that for tech startup you cannot outsource technology now we have in-house design, technology and analytics team.
ADmyBRAND – Competitors
ADmyBRAND is one of its kind startup, the services it provides in the field of offline marketing is vast and unique. As such, there is no direct competition for ADmyBRAND. ADmyBRAND enjoys first mover advantage in its field and has a wide scope for profitable expansion in other parts of the globe.
We are probably India’s first pure tech company that is not a replica of any other startup. In fact, because of this first mover advantage of ours, we look forward to moving to other geographies as well. I had a discussion with one ex-director of Softbank and He suggested me to plan our company’s tech architecture and technology stack planning International expansion from day one, thus, you see the current version of ADmyBRAND. We thought about many things from day 01 which many companies think later on. We are working to create a robust product
ADmyBRAND envisions to become a global technology company in the next few years and has implemented features like single sign-on and multiple login that helps it stand out from the competition. It has also enabled country wise different admins and different customer care team for different countries.
In India, ADmyBRAND is now managing inventory from all over the country and have regional offices in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. In the supply side, ADmyBRAND is handling 10 lac + inventory with 5lac + inventory available for booking.
ADmyBRAND is currently running 4-5 campaigns of ticket size 10-12 lacs per month.
Besides, ADmyBRAND tied up with major media companies like Spotify, Verizon Media (Yahoo, AOL, Tumblr), Twitter for its mobile and digital advertising platform. The company has partnered with almost all TV and radio companies to book ad spaces on them.
ADmyBRAND also has international presence and is operating in countries like Singapore, China, United Kingdom, United States, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Macau, Nepal, Thailand and Vietnam.
ADmyBRAND – Awards
Being a single founder, Sudhanshu believes that its more important to concentrate on up-scaling the startup from all aspects rather than diverting attention to compete for awards.
The founder won various competitions at IIM Calcutta and was mentored by IIM Calcutta Innovation Park and Times Group. He even won a competition and received INR 30,000 prize money from Times Group to start Chikoop.com.
I participated in lots of events and competitions for my previous startup Chikoop.com, but then I realize that all these competitions are of no use and generally pull away focus of startup founder. For me being single founder, it’s necessary to skip on everything and focus on one thing at a time. Last 2 years I focused on product development and for the next 1.5 years I want to focus on building huge supply (real-time inventory) for the venture.
ADmyBRAND – Future Plans
ADmyBRAND is looking to move aggressively on supply side after its next funding round. It is also coming up with the idea of unique QR code-based marketing campaign. The company is looking forward to capture 40-60% market share on the supply side in newspaper and outdoor advertising vertical.
As you see Paytm QR codes outside every retail store similarly we want each ad space to assign unique AMB QR code. Currently, on empty billboards, you see some random numbers written to contact them and book space but we want to replace it assigning unique QR code and unique checkout page for each media. Each outdoor media to carry this code and you can book it online by simply scanning that QR code.
ADmyBRAND – FAQs
What is ADmyBRAND?
ADmyBRAND is a one-stop platform for buying, selling and analyzing ads across all media. The ADmyBRAND portal currently has 32+ products to completely automate marketing.
Learning a new language is always advantageous. Being multilingual can bring along career benefits, in many fields like marketing, education, sales, banking, public relations, tourism, etc. to name a few. Not just this, several studies have shown that learning new languages has many cognitive benefits as well. However, learning a new language is by no means an easy task. After a certain age learning a new language becomes more challenging. Again, taking a formal training on any language is time consuming and expensive.
Luckily, with the advent of the internet era, with everything else, learning a language has also become somewhat easier. Now teachers and students can come together virtually allowing flexibility of learning at one’s own pace and time. Multibhashi, a Bangalore based startup is utilizing the power of the internet to help learners learn new languages through one’s native language. Besides serving as a platform for learning languages, Multibhashi also provides various translation and transcription services along with creating content for various purposes in multiple languages.
StartupTalky interviewed Multibhashi founder Anuradha Agarwal to know how this startup came into being, and how it is simplifying the process of learning new languages.
Multibhashi aims to empower blue-collar aspirants and workers towards gainful employment and career progression by linguistic upskilling via bilingual mode in a blended e-learning format.
Multibhashi is an android/web app for learning languages most effectively and effortlessly. The current version of the app has audio-visual courses and quizzes to learn English from Hindi, Bangla, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi. You can also learn Hindi, Bangla, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati, Malayalam, Oriya and Punjabi through English.
Some USPs of Multibhashi app are–
Multibhashi offers self – paced learning that any learner can utilize in leisure /off-working hours, thereby, making this a more viable and affordable solution to the target segment
The self-paced learning is augmented by live tutor assisted training that ensures personalized blended learning to catalyze the learning process.
Bilingual training ensures each learner can pick up a new language via the native mode of instruction before graduating to monolingual learning.
Multibhashi’s interactive e-learning platform is based on the latest cloud technologies that ensure low latency and low data consumption on devices as varied as simple browser-enabled feature phones to the latest smartphones, thus, making it a ubiquitous solution for the masses of India.
Lets the learners learn the content in bite-sized chunks that helps the learners in grasping the learning quickly.
The platform allows adaptive learning by applying algorithms to personalize the content as per the learner’s pattern, grasping power, etc.
The learners can chat with the mentors anytime to clear doubts.
Evaluates and assesses the learner’s progress from time to time to ensure better learning.
Besides all these, Multibhashi offers several other services like multilingual SEO services, transcription services, translation services, social media content creation in vernacular languages, and much other content and voice-related services in multiple languages.
Multibhashi has recently started “Multibhashi classes” where students can learn English from more than 500 language experts through live video calls. These classes give an opportunity for students to directly learn the language over a video call any time of the day, from the comfort of their homes and we have been seeing a lot of students who are interested in these classes.
Multibhashi – Founders & Team
Anuradha Agarwal | Founder, Multibhashi
Anuradha Agarwal is the founder of Multibhashi. Anuradha comes from Jaipur, Rajasthan. She finished her Engineering and went on to pursue her MBA in Finance. She was a part of Dexter Capital Advisors before she started Multibhashi.
The current core team at Multibhashi comes with diverse experience, yet they all unanimously possess the commitment to building a strong community of English learners. The current team size is about 10 who handle different aspects of the product. Apart from this, there is also a team of 200+ educated housewives who work from home and help the company with several projects.
Multibhashi – How It All Started?
The idea to start Multibhashi was born out of Anuradha’s genuine will to help people learn English. Anuradha started out by helping a few people in her immediate circle who needed help with English learning. Even before the app was launched, Anuradha created over 100 animated videos which taught various concepts of English and started posting them on Facebook. She also designed a chatbot for helping people play quizzes on various topics related to English and the page became more and more popular. In order to make the content more engaging, she created an audiovisual course.
Soon after, she formed a team and launched an Android app to teach English from Hindi and Bangla, and there has been no looking back after that.
When Anuradha was searching for online resources to help learners learn English, she realized that there is no single comprehensive solution to learn a language.
There were problems like–
Blue-collar workers who work on a daily wage basis cannot take a break to attend classroom training as it impacts their daily earnings
Existing classroom training is expensive for the target segment.
Personalized training, specifically, linguistic training via native language cannot be feasible in CRT format.
The name came to Anuradha’s mind when Multibhashi wasn’t even a business idea. Anuradha was looking for a name for the Facebook page on which she intended to share all the videos she had created for helping her friends and family members in learning English.
Anuradha wanted a blended name which had English as well as an Indian element. Since the page was dealing with languages “Bhasha/Bhashi” seemed like a good choice. At the same time, Anuradha wanted to convey that this is an open platform for people from different language backgrounds, and this thought leads her to add the word “Multi”.
“Multibhashi literally means a polyglot and that’s what we intend to turn people into” says Anuradha.
Multibhashi – Revenue Model
Multibhashi earns revenue through ads, private sessions and gamification techniques on the app. As a content company, Multibhashi also earns revenue by providing various services related to content like translation, content creation and repurposing, transliteration among others.
Multibhashi – Funding and Investors
Multibhashi has raised 1 round of seed funding till date.
Date
Stage
Amount
Inestor
September, 2018
Seed
Rs 10 Million
Aniruddha Malpani & Startup Oasis
More than the money we are highly grateful for our investors who brought in some very good advice connects and mentorship.
Multibhashi – User Acquisition
India has more than 450 million people engaged in blue and grey collared job roles and gradually they are all coming online via cheap handsets and data availability. This is the target segment for Multibhashi.
Although reaching from 0 to 1.5 million has been challenging and a roller-coaster ride, it has given us the opportunity to experiment with different marketing campaigns.
When it comes to attracting and retaining customers, what worked best for Multibhashi was search-oriented campaigns which made sure that only those users are identified and targeted who had a clear intention of learning the language.
The next best way of acquisition has been word of mouth, referral & downloads through content sharing in its community. Re-marketing to dropped off users also worked well for Multibhashi.
Multibhashi teaches English from regional languages and vice versa. Using the bilingual approach, it ensures that the user is able to learn the language he wants to learn from a language that he already knows and speaks well. Right from acquiring the user to the point where he completes the course, the Multibhashi team ensures every user gets personalized messages, notifications and advertising banners in the language that he knows because users like to see and read these messages in a language that he already is good with.
Dealing with so many languages is definitely a challenge for Multibhashi.
Multibhashi – Competitors
Duolingo, Hello English and Busuu, are some competitors of Multibhashi. However, what sets Multibhashi apart is a keen focus on learning outcomes.
As Anuradha says, “We don’t believe in chasing just the engagement numbers. Engagement is just a means to the final end which is only achieved when our learner can confidently say that he/she can sufficiently understand and speak in the target language”
Multibhashi – Advisors and Mentors
Dr. Aniruddha Malpani from Malpani ventures is mentoring Multibhashi.
Multibhashi – Awards
Multibhashi was selected by Axilor, a platform for supporting early-stage startups, Gray Matters Capital and Google Launchpad Accelerator
GMC Calibrator aimed to focus on the behavioral understanding of users leading to product tweaks that improve learner engagement. Multibhashi got mentored and engaged in one-on-one workshops in the areas of behavioral design, mobile product strategy, monetization and product optimization.
It was selected to be a part of FbStart, a global program designed to help startups build and grow their businesses
Multibhashi was selected to be a part of the AWS EdTech startup accelerator, which is designed to help entrepreneurs build the next generation of online learning, analytics, and campus management solutions on the AWS Cloud
Multibhashi was featured on Forbes in November 2017
It was featured under “top startups to watch out for in 2019” by SutraHR
Multibhashi was selected as one of the top 10 startups out of the 1700 applications received by Startup India and Whatsapp under the Whatsapp Grand challenge
Multibhashi is already 1.5 million-plus learners strong and also have 100+ clients in the language services domain. Multibhashi has 1 Million downloads in the Play Store and has a received a rating of 4.4 from 27.5K+ users.
It intends to reach 10 million users in the next one year and establish Multibhashi as a gold standard in language learning.
Multibhashi – FAQ’s
What is the best place to learn Hindi in India?
Learning Hindi in both online and offline modes can prove to be fun for you. It’s always beneficial to be bilingual. Below mentioned are some offline places where you can learn Hindi.
Rosemount’s Institute of Languages (Dehradun)
Hindi Guru (Panchsheel Park)
Zabaan Language Institute
Landour Language School
Where can I learn Hindi professionally online?
Some of the websites and apps where you can learn Hindi professionally are Duolingo, HindiPod101,Udemy, and MultiBhashi.
Is Portuguese language easy to learn?
Learning a language that is not our mother tongue is not that easy but the effort and time one spends to learn a language will be worth it.
What are good ways to learn how to speak Kannada?
The first step is to get familiarized with the structure of the language. To achieve this, hear more and more Kannada on Radio, TV and also try to catch the live conversations.
What are some best ways to Learn Russian for corporate people?
Below listed are the seven most trusted sources for learning business Russian below.
Blog and Audio Lessons: Everyday Russian
Book: “Learn Russian to Work with Russians”
Learning Program: Multibhashi
Video: Ru-Land Club
Podcast: UCLA Business Russian
Online Course: Business Russian IC
Personalized Course: Communicaid
Multibhashi – Conclusion
Multibhashi, a simplified Language learning platform for upskilling vernacular languages for people who wants to learn new languages and become proficient in multi-languages. It helps the speakers in spoken English as well as refinement of vernacular speakers in their own Indic language usage & associated etiquettes and soft skills.
Multibhashi App is available on the play store and iOS store to learn languages most effectively and effortlessly. The currently available version on the stores has audio-visual courses and quizzes to learn English from almost all Indian languages and vice versa.
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.
Ceiling Fans have always been very plain & ordinary to look at in India. Since 2012, when Nisha Kukrejah launched Luxaire, it has been redefining this Industry in India by introducing “WoW” Looking Ceiling Fans with Revolutionary new Technology & changing the perception of the consumer & designers! So now whenever people think of Designer Ceiling Fans, people think of Luxaire.
Luxaire takes pride in bringing Original Designer Fans with the highest warranties to Asian homes. It is here to bring out the change in consumer’s mindset relating to Luxury Fans, they are as much about lifestyle as they are about functionality. Read this article to know more about Luxaire and it’s success story.
Luxaire is a Bengaluru based startup founded by Nisha S Kukrejah in 2012. They provide Luxury & Designer Ceiling Fans.
Luxaire is working to create disruption in the Luxury Fan market by bringing in the latest technologies with expertise. They aim to be a premium solutions provider for luxury interior projects in South Asia.
Luxaire pride in bringing Original Designer Fans with highest warranties to Asian homes. They believe that they have brought about a sea change in the mindset of the consumer that Luxury Fans are as much about lifestyle as they are about functionality.
Luxaire – Product/Services
Luxaire introduced over 50 models initially from simple to technologically superior. There were Single blade Fans, 2 blade Fans, Chandelier Fans & Funky Outdoor Fans, which people were used to seeing only in fancy resorts in southeast Asia. Many of them had LED, light dimming/light changing options, Remote controls & warranties up to 15 years!
Luxaire Products
In terms of design, these Decorative Fans were made of real wood, not plastic or MDF blades, no screws rearing its ugly head, unlike the local commercial fans. This solved the need for Unique Fans by those who were well-traveled and wanted to upgrade their homes with good design instead of just functionality.
The Luxury Ceiling Fan Market in India is at a very nascent stage. The total size of the Super Luxury Segment is INR 150 Crores. The industry is looking up and would be expected to grow by 20% every year.
Luxaire – Founders and Team
Nisha S Kukrejah is the founder of Luxaire Luxury Fans.
Sachin Kukreja & Nisha S Kukrejah | Co-Founders, Luxaire
Nisha has good experience in the Corporate Marketing Sector & Sachin has more than 20 years of experience in the Fan Industry with relevant domain expertise in the Fan Industry. Nisha S Kukrejah manages the overall marketing activities & Mr. Sachin Kukreja manages the Channel Network. Both the founders are MBA’s.
How was Luxarie Started?
“When we were trying to find ourselves a Ceiling Fan that was awesome in design and features, there was no such concept in 2011”, says Nisha S Kukrejah.
That’s when both these founders started researching more about these fans. There was a lot of plastic and mass-market options but nothing had ‘class’. They also met some industry and tech guys in Bangalore for a quick study, as to what they may perceive as a Smart Fan purchase. So they finally came up with the concept of global styles that would work here as Designer and Luxury Fans for the Indian market.
Being in the Luxury Fan industry, Air delivery is a pretty important component – don’t you agree? So, these founders wanted to name it quite simple with easy brand recall. Hence, they decided on LUXAIRE.
Luxaire Logo
Also, the tagline Luxury Revolution has a dual meaning, based on the RPM of the products & a mindset change on how one needs to view his/her Ceiling Fan!
Luxarie – Startup Launch
LUXAIRE had a fantastic website going good when it started off and with a little promotional activity – both online and offline, the platform was able to get good customers from Delhi NCR, Mumbai, and Sri Lanka in the first month itself.
“We have continued our media efforts in online and print/advertising as does any company that needs to survive in a competitive environment today. We don’t believe in Cash burn, instead, we try to focus on our real customers”, added Nisha S Kukrejah.
Luxarie – Business Model and Revenue Model
The price range is affordable starting from INR 15,000 going up to INR 2,00,000 each. Luxaire works closely with dealers and does bulk hotel projects across the country. It also works with Specifiers such as Architects & Interior designers & collaborates with them for their prestigious projects.
When the team realized that some models that used to be hit in 2012-14 just don’t work in the modern days, they had some amount of dead stock that they had to deal with. Very similar to the white goods industry – which faces this challenge when new technology/models replace old ones.
One more intriguing challenge for them is the constant need to be on the lookout for new designs, and be able to liquidate existing stock puts a certain degree of stress on cash flows. Earlier Indian fashion or design industry used to copy the west after four to five years, now the lag is just six months, depending on your city or the designer one is associated with!
Luxarie – Growth
Luxaire had started with a small team in Bangalore and with personalized attention, the team was supplying clients in Punjab, UP, Sri Lanka & even Maldives. Soon this startup expanded to cater to markets in Hyderabad, Kochi and of course the biggest market, the e-commerce space.
Luxarie – Future Plans
“We have a 3% market share of the market of the Indian Designer Ceiling Fans (around 40% is unorganized) and expect it to touch 15% in the next 3 years. We are scouting for new opportunities in all major cities in India and its neighbors. We are more like a Startup in terms of our culture” concluded Nisha S Kukrejah.
Luxarie – FAQs
What is Luxaire?
Luxaire is a Bengaluru-based startup that provides Luxury & Designer Ceiling Fans.
Who is the Founder of Luxaire?
Luxaire is a Bengaluru-based startup founded by Nisha S Kukrejah in 2012.
How does Luxaire make money?
It provides Luxury & Designer Ceiling Fans. The price range is affordable starting from INR 15,000 going up to INR 2,00,000 each. Luxaire works closely with dealers and does bulk hotel projects across the country.
Do these fans require special fitting?
It depends on the type of fan you’re fitting. If it is any designer or luxury fan, then a carpenter and technician might be needed to fix the fan.
How can the fan speed be controlled?
All the fans are provided with pull chords or remote control.
What maintenance and cleaning are required?
The fans have permanently sealed bearings and double lacquered surfaces and do not require much maintenance.
Luxarie – Conclusion
Luxaire is the sole distributor for original, high quality designer and luxury fans specially designed for the Interior design projects in India, Asia Pacific, UAE & Africa. The collections of fans manufactured by the company produces energy saving fans with latest technology and highest warranties. All these features provided by the company makes Luxaire the last stop to buy Luxury and Lifestyle Fans in the market.
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 Strata.
Lack of access to data-driven insights and expertise often leads investors to make unsafe choices in the real estate industry. Sudarshan Lodha and Priyanka Rathore noticed this problem plaguing the industry in their span of careers in commercial real estate.
Thus, Strata was born with the idea to democratize investment opportunities in CRE (Commercial Real Estate) and unlock value for investors, at scale. Strata’s goal is to achieve this with the in-depth real estate expertise and strong data analytics foundation through its fractional investment model.
StartupTalky interviewed Sudarshan Lodha (Co-founder, Strata) to know the Success Story of Strata along with getting a glance on Strata Business Model, Funding, Revenue Model, How Strata Started and more….
Strata offers investors an opportunity to invest in premium commercial properties at affordable prices with data driven insights. Fractional ownership in commercial real estate provides platform where number of investors join together to invest in a real estate asset so that all of them can benefit from a share of the income that the asset generates, and any appreciation in the value of the property.
Strata’s Mission – Accessibility, Transparency, Affordability in Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Investment
Sudarshan Lodha (CEO) and Priyanka Rathore (COO/CTO) are the founders of Strata
Strata Founders – Sudarshan Lodha and Priyanka Rathore
Sudarshan Lodha (Co-founder & CEO, Strata)
Sudarshan is the CEO of Strata and handles the forefront of the business. Sudarshan Lodha, a successful lawyer, brings over 9 years of leadership experience in real estate & private equity law, having successfully handled several complex legal cases and venture capital transactions, representing private equity deals worth over $1.4 billion.
Priyanka Rathore (Co-founder & COO/CTO, Strata)
Priyanka is the Co-founder, COO/CTO of Strata and takes care of the tech and operational bit of the company. Priyanka has over 8 years of experience in financial planning and analysis with D.E. Shaw and WeWork. As the lead real estate analyst, her in-depth understanding of deal economics and real estate portfolio management played a vital role in WeWork’s expansion in India.
Strata’s journey began in 2019. The idea for Strata came from the personal experiences of Sudarshan and Priyanka. Their career in the commercial real estate industry showed them that most investors in India were uncertain about investing in real estate. It is mainly because of lack of awareness, knowledge and inaccessibility of smart data in real estate that can help to decide on investments.
In addition, when it comes to commercial real estate it is always seen as an investment category for investors falling in the top of the pyramid. This is where Strata’s fractional investment model and offerings come into play. It allows one to invest and own a share of prime commercial property at minimal capital.
There were three ideas that Sudarshan and Priyanka had in mind regarding fractional investment –
1. Reducing the high capital requirement – At Strata, the ownership of premium commercial properties are broken down into more easily investable portions or ‘fractions’ which come in small ticket sizes. Not only does this make commercial real estate more accessible, but it also means that an investor can diversify their investments across multiple properties and locations, thus reducing their risk.
2. Brings in expertise – Finding the right commercial property to invest, takes time, resources, and ample expertise. Strata’s team scours hundreds of properties and measures over a dozen different parameters before zeroing in on one that has the best combination of yield, stability, and value appreciation.
3. Improves liquidity – Owning to the easily transferable nature of the fractions, Strata brings liquidity to an otherwise rigid marketplace. Investors can list their fraction on its proprietary resale market, sell their holdings offline through a personal network or via Strata’s dedicated secondary window.
Word of mouth helped Strata acquire its first 100 investors. Strata’s business model is B2B, hence speaking to investors at personal level acquainted them to the idea of fractional investment whilst building confidence and trust in the brand. The concept of fractional investing is very big in USA and Europe and since the Strata team are bullish on B2B investment themselves, making these HNI investors understand the model was quite easy.
Strata’s transparent and data driven business model has helped it a lot in retaining clients. Strata’s Dashboard tracking system helps investors to track their investments. It’s exclusive partnership with PropStack has helped it a lot in order to keep the transparency with the investors
Strata – Products/Services and USP
Fractional investment allows the ownership of a fraction of a property by the investor. It is a very popular type of investment avenues in the USA. Whereas, fractional investment is one of the fast evolving investment concepts in India. Many people in India still don’t know that they can own a premium commercial properties at an affordable pricing. There is a misconception that commercial properties are only for HNIs.
Fractional investment solves the misconception and democratizes the ownership of premium properties in an inexpensive manner. Investors earn higher rental yields and much better capital appreciation in the commercial properties which is not possible in case of residential property investments.
At Strata, the unique part of the business is that it is pure play backed by data. Data driven investment approach with insights on properties, locations, pricing and building specifications give a confidence and build trust among the investors. In addition to it the investment process are fully transparent in nature. Strata’s platform provides access to detailed reporting and fair pricing, declared upfront.
Strata title is a form of ownership devised for multi-level apartment blocks and horizontal subdivisions with shared areas. The word “strata” refers to apartments being on different levels. Lots are either apartments, garages or storerooms and each is shown on the title as being owned by a Lot Owner.
Strata Logo
Strata’s logo represents a robust and stable shape enclosed with Strata’s initials, conceptualized from the floor plans of the opportunities offered for ownership and growth by the organization.
Strata – Business Model and Revenue Model
Strata’s business model is B2B. Strata’s foundation is based on strong data analytics through its fractional investment model. Fractional ownership in commercial real estate provides platform where number of investors join together to invest in a real estate asset so that all of them can benefit from a share of the income that the asset generates, and any appreciation in the value of the property.
Strata’s Revenue model comprises of Management fee and profit share/performance fee.
Strata gets 0.5% to 1% as an annual property management fee from the investors. The management fee is a monthly charge on gross rent enjoyed by the investors. It is designed to cover the management of the SPV(Special Purpose Vehicle i.e. a partnership firm formed among the investors) and its assets.
Whereas the profit share/performance fee is payable on exit. This has been designed to reward investors, should the investment offered by Strata prove to be successful for the investor.
Strata is backed by marquee investors SAIF Partners, Mayfield Ventures, and PropStack. It recently raised Rs 140 crore to acquire 3 pre-leased warehouses amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Considering the current scenario, rising volatility of the equity markets, extended periods of low interest rates and assets failing to offer intended results are driving investors, especially the long-term ones in deploying their funds in the asset class that is more reliable and offer better returns. With more and more awareness on the benefits of investing in premium commercial real estate through fractional route will help the industry to grow.
As a brand, Strata is focused on bringing in transparency and a data-driven approach to investments in real estate. Strata’s team is razor focused on growth and plan to cross 200 Cr. in AUM in 2021 and touch 1000 Cr. by 2022.
We are thus aiming to create India’s largest tech-enabled real-estate investment platform with our fractional investment model – Says Sudarshan (Co-founder & CEO, Strata)
Strata aims to create India’s largest tech-enabled real-estate investment platform with its fractional investment model. It plans to do this by expanding Strata’s partner base and by continuing to offer investors the best opportunities in commercial real estate. Strata’s team is razor focused on growth and plan to cross 200 Cr. in AUM in 2021 and touch 1000 Cr. by 2022.
Additionally, the team is also excited about the strategic investment from PropStack as it will help Strata get exclusive CRE intelligence and analytics, which in turn, will allow it to have an edge over other platforms in the ecosystem. Strata have over 1,500 users and has over 150 active investors on the platform.
Currently, Strata is operational in Bengaluru and Mumbai, It aims to create new investment opportunities in premium commercial properties and expand to other metro cities while strengthening the existing tech stack.
“Strata is constantly innovating and something we hope to soon offer is the ability for investors to finance their investment with a personal loan” – Says Sudarshan.
Strata – FAQs
What is Strata?
Strata offers investors an opportunity to invest in premium commercial properties at affordable prices with data driven insights. Fractional ownership in commercial real estate provides platform where investors join together to invest in a real estate asset and share the income that the asset generates.
Who are the founders of Strata?
Sudarshan Lodha (CEO) and Priyanka Rathore (COO/CTO) are the founders of Strata
What is fractional ownership in real estate?
Fractional ownership in commercial real estate provides platform where number of investors join together to invest in a real estate asset so that all of them can benefit from a share of the income that the asset generates, and any appreciation in the value of the property.
How does Strata make money?
Strata’s Revenue model comprises of Management fee and profit share/performance fee. Strata gets 0.5% to 1% as an annual property management fee from the investors. The profit share/performance fee is payable on exit.
Who is the CEO of Strata?
Sudarshan Lodha is the co-founder and CEO of Strata.
Shubham Kumar
