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Making legal documents is a cumbersome process and this is the reason why often common man gets scared with just a mention of legal documentation and formalities. But thankfully now help is at hand. With the motive of simplifying the process of legal documentation, Bengaluru based startup, LegalDesk.com was launched in early 2014 by two enthusiastic entrepreneurs Ashok Kadsur and Krupesh Bhat. The sole vision of LegalDesk.com is to make legal services easily accessible.
LegalDesk simplifies the process of legal documentation with its user-friendly interface and using the advantages of digitization.
LegalDesk was ideally designed to help normal people in drafting their legal documents remotely, eliminating the need to visit a lawyer. The needed legal documents can be customized on LegalDesk by filling in the required details. Documents are drafted with utmost caution by a competent team of in-house lawyers of LegalDesk. So all the users have to do is answer some questions on the platform to generate legal documents.
The users have the option to purchase just the softcopy which they can print on Stamp paper before proceeding further. The next option is to let the company handle the Stamp paper printing part. In this case, LegalDesk acquires stamp paper of recommended value and prints the document on it and delivers it to the users.
All the legal forms are subjected to several rounds of review and are guaranteed to be flawless. The users can also customize and add clauses that they feel are necessary in their case.
LegalDesk offers specialized services for startups. It addresses the concerns of budding entrepreneurs through its unique product- Startup Package. This product helps startups with their initial processes like getting registered with required authorities and simultaneously also taking care of all the legal documentation and related paperwork for the newborn venture.
The Incorporation packages at LegalDesk covers some of the most hectic and essential procedures like obtaining the DSC certificate, PAN, TAN, MOA & AOA and their approval and registration of the name. This venture also offers a business documentation package that interestingly offers a set of DIY legal documents and eSigns at a great price.
With the above-mentioned services, there’s a lot more than LegalDesk caters to in totality. They cover a wide range of legal documentation needs. LegalDesk also offers stamp paper printing and door-step delivery services in the majority of the metros and cities.
LegalDesk – Founders and Team
LegalDesk founders Krupesh Bhat & Ashok Kadsur were classmates in college but they followed different paths after graduating. Krupesh after taking his degree in MCA moved to the States after working in India for a while. He worked as a software engineer for ten years in the US and then did an MBA in Finance from the University of Maryland. After returning to the home country, he set up Enclever in Bangalore, a digital media marketing venture
While the other co-founder, Ashok after finishing his graduation worked in a variety of Business Development & Marketing jobs at varying levels with multinationals & Indian companies. After Krupesh returned to India, they went on to curating their own venture- LegalDesk.com
The LegalDesk team consists of Lawyers, Developers, Graphic designers, Digital, SEO, Support & Business teams.
LegalDesk – Startup Challenges
Like any online platform that digitally serves people, LegalDesk too has the same hurdles as constantly being on their toes to ensure that there are no technical glitches on the platform. Next is being in touch with the consumers to ensure their satisfaction in the best possible manner.
LegalDesk – Competitors
With the advent of digitization, there are a lot of other platforms like VakilSearch, MyCase, LogicalDoc amongst a plethora of players that have been entering the industry. With that, the threat of competition is increasing at a substantial level in the online legal services sector.
LegalDesk – Growth
More than 55000 hits per month
More than 6500 registered users
Sold more than 2100 different kinds of legal documents.
LegalDesk – Future Plans
Like most modern-day start-ups, LegalDesk too is hoping to impact the lives of many Indians through its easy and effortless services and products. With firmly rooted values that run in the organization and a competent team that works tirelessly, LegalDesk is shooting for the stars.
Today, with everything available on the touch of our fingertips, finding a house is yet a particularly difficult task. Subbu Athikunte, Ambareesha Athikunte, Mayank Pokharna thought of making it hassle-free and consistent experience. So in 2015, they came up with their startup SimplyGuest to make both the handover and handoff procedures of a rental transaction a conflict-free, pleasant experience.
SimplyGuest offers fully-furnished homes for working professionals close to their workplaces. These accommodations are completely managed & rent is inclusive of monthly bills: electricity, water, 30-100mbps WiFi, DTH, unlimited LPG, maid services, repairs, and maintenance. The flats are hassle-free, where SimplyGuest takes care of everything form paying utility bills, providing maid services, taking care of repairs, replacing LPG cylinder.
SimplyGuest also takes care of finding qualified flatmates, their entry, and exits. Tenants can move to any house in our network when they change jobs at no extra cost. SimplyGuest also has hostels; these are professionally managed to pay guest (PG) facilities. Hostels are slightly cheaper, provide quality food, and also have lesser lock-in periods.
Customers who are predominantly singles can choose from private flats ranging from studio rooms, 1BHKs, 2BHKs, 3BHKs, or live in a trendy co-living facility. These homes come with add-on services like meal delivery, bicycle rentals, car parking, furniture rentals, etc. SimplyGuest takes off keeping the homes clean and tidy on a day-to-day basis.
The idea, in the long run, is to be a space management platform. Customers should be able to rent just about any kind of space: houses, garages, storage spaces, bungalows, stadiums, parking spaces, etc via SimplyGuest, hire additional services via the platform, pay rent, and walk out when the need stops.
SimplyGuest – Target Market
According to a recent PropTiger study, co-living in India has the potential to become a USD 93 billion market annually. Co-living is an umbrella term used to refer to student housing and PGs. Another report by JLL states that the real estate renting industry is majorly divided into working professionals and student accommodation:
Number of Singles, Professionals, Paying Guest Rentals = 15M
Number of Student Accommodation on Rentals in India = 10.4M
Nearly 31.56 million people rent homes in urban India (2011 census) = $22 billion
Subbu Athikunte, Ambareesha Athikunte and Mayank Pokharna are the co-founders of SimplyGuest. Subbu and Ambareesha, the brothers started SimplyGuest in 2015. Mayank was an early customer of SimplyGuest but liked SimplyGuest concept so much that he joined full time in 2017.
Subbu Athikunte is a software engineer. He worked at Apigee (later acquired by Google) before quitting to start SimplyGuest. He has worked on distributed systems, analytics, big data, cloud computing, UI, develops and nearly everything else in the field of large-scale software projects. At SimplyGuest, Subbu takes care of tech and product development along with supply acquisition.
Ambareesha used to work on civil and PWD projects before SimplyGuest. At Simplyguest, he takes care of all the ground operations from setting up new properties to maintaining and servicing the existing ones.
Mayank Pokharna did his BE and MBA from Nirma before starting his job at Practo. In his previous role as chief of staff at Cuemath, he worked on streamlining multiple business processes to drive productivity and sales. At Practo, he was responsible for creating and managing end to end operations and business intelligence processes. He was a SimplyGuest customer before joining hands with Subbu and Ambarish. At SimplyGuest he takes care of sales and marketing functions and anything that lies in between.
At SimplyGuest, they believe in value delivery. The core of the philosophy being every action should add incremental value to the overall business. They are a tiny team and let their software make up for the small team size. Currently, they are all working remotely and are on the field most of the time. And here, they treat everything as a software problem. This helps them find solutions that are more scalable and reduce points of conflict. The big vision for SimplyGuest is to become a platform for services that can be consumed by its tenants.
How was SimplyGuest Started
Simply Guest started as a listing website for certified rental homes. The listing had verified information about various aspects of the house, something similar to a used car in Maruti Suzuki TrueValue. People weren’t interested in it. House hunters don’t do things systematically. They trust they will get a good house. In reality that never happens. They’d rather stay in a suboptimal house.
SimplyGuest pivoted to listing PGs and faced different challenges there. PG owners weren’t open to upgrading their facilities with technology. However, during the research for this project, they visited numerous PGs and realized that they were nothing short of cattle-houses. Even if tenants were willing to pay a higher monthly rent, they couldn’t find a decent PG.
That’s when they decided to create an alternative to paying guest accommodation. Around May 2015, they rented a flat in an upscale apartment society, furnished it with everything a family would require, got a very good WiFi connection, DTH, LPG, made the kitchen functional and hired domestic help; it was everything one could possibly ask for in a house. People could rent rooms in a good apartment without worrying about finding other flatmates. Very soon, the flat was fully occupied and that was the starting point for these brilliant minds. This setup provided the best of both worlds. Comfort and privacy of living in a furnished flat and services as you get in a PG without any unnecessary restrictions.
SimplyGuest – Name, Tagline and Logo
Once they had the idea in place, they started noting down all the names that could describe it. Made a list of 20 names in a couple of months, out of which shortlisted 5 and sent a survey to all their friends and colleagues. SimplyGuest was the second most popular and got selected because they couldn’t get a .com domain for the most popular name.
The SimplyGuest team then went on and created a gig on Fiverr to create a logo for SimplyGuest. But they didn’t like the logo that was received. So they created something on their own with limited Photoshop skills. After some dedicated conviction, they got the logo right and it’s the same that they are using till now.
The easiest parts were done first; building the website. They didn’t have any houses to rent, so they took photos of the house where one of the founders was living in and listed it and marked it sold. But they still had to find a house to let out and also needed to find homeowners. Hence they started going around nearby areas looking for ‘To Let’ boards in front of the houses, call them up and explain SimplyGuest. After 10 unsuccessful attempts, they finally found an empty house. The owner was residing in a different city and they managed to convince him to let his property via SimplyGuest.
Finding the first customer was the toughest part. The founders would stand in front of the big corporates on Bannerghatta Road and distribute flyers with house details in it. It was awkwardly embarrassing at first, but they didn’t know any other way. Few people agreed to hear them out of pity.
few people agreed to hear me out out of pity. Only one boy was interested, but our first house was meant for girls. I made a list of offices nearby, started visiting them one by one; we’d try to meet their admin or HR teams, but nobody seemed to care. Had I built something nobody wanted? – SimplyGuest co-founder Subbu recounts.
It had been one and a half month and they were paying for an empty house. None of the marketing channels had worked. They had a few inquiries but nothing potential yet. They were losing hope and they were starting to think that they probably won’t be able to find customers. And Subbu was anyway not able to sell it and had a lot of free time. They thought, why not find a house for the boy who was interested earlier. They went looking around and found one flat close by; it was turned into a PG. Subbu was walking around the building checking the house, some guys staying in it mentioned they weren’t happy staying there; the PG owner had promised them something and hadn’t delivered; maintenance was bad and it didn’t feel good staying there. He explained to them what he was doing and they found it interesting and wanted to check out even though the only house SimplyGuest had then was for girls. They visited the house and loved the concept. Subbu asked them if they would rent it from him if he found them a good home, they said yes. And finally, they were excited.
Subbu came back home and started searching for a house for the potential customers he had met. Bhanu found a house close by; it was within walking distance of their offices. Two of them worked at VMW while the last one worked at Honeywell. They liked the flat and asked them how much it would cost. Subbu hadn’t worked out the details yet he promised them to keep the prices low and get back to them. Only part of the problem was solved but he still had to meet the house owner and convince them about bachelors staying in the house. Subbu met the owner and figured she didn’t mind letting it to bachelors. He went back to the guys, told them about the rent, after they agreed upon the price, he told them they will have to pay an advance as a token of confirmation. They were happy because they were getting a private room with an attached bathroom at a low price – almost for the price of a double-sharing room. They gave him a cheque for 5000 rupees. And Subbu had sold a house that he didn’t have!
The same week someone called him after seeing one of the sun packs – a small 2×1 feet display ad they had set up near the house. The caller was from Lucknow and was in Bangalore searching for a house for his younger sister – she was a postgraduate student in a dental college near Meenakshi Mall. They visited the flat and liked it. The girl wanted to move in next day itself; they were staying in a hotel near-by. In two days, two more girls made bookings.
And then they started listing properties in existing classified/listings websites. This started giving some leads. And in those days, even one lead was a life-saver.
SimplyGuest – Business Model and Revenue Model
Simply Guest lets house owners rent their flats via their platform. They can rent unfurnished, furnished, and spare rooms via SimplyGuest. They find tenants for these houses, help them move-in and take care of household needs. They take a cut in the revenue generated every month for the services they provide.
They have 4 renting models:
Rent houses on a fixed rent
Rent houses on a revenue-sharing model where they take care of finding customers, managing them and the owner takes care of providing services
A car parking marketplace
Co-living projects.
SimplyGuest – Competitors
Major market players have come and played this field. NestAway is one of them. GetSetHome, VivaReal, PGstay, RentMyStay are some of the entities having a great market standing.
SimplyGuest – Growth
Somehow, the SimplyGuest team feels they had gotten lucky to find the first 16 customers. Things happened too quickly from a hopeless state of 45 days without a single customer to 100% occupancy in the next 30 days, numbers in the spreadsheet were overflowing. This could be a beginner’s luck, and they didn’t want to get fooled by it. Even if they weren’t lucky, and achieved all this by hard work, they had to find ways to replicate this.
They also started trying out SimplyGuest advertisements on the traffic police warning signs. The majority of the calls originating from this were for BTM Layout, specifically Stage II. It became apparent that they needed some houses in BTM Stage II. Hence they started looking around for to-let boards in BTM Layout and onboarded a full building.
They installed sun boards, a small 1×2 feet semi-plastic board that you find in malls, in front of the house, and around BTM Stage II, these are different from sun packs. Since they had signed these houses and realized BTM is a hub for young people. Every second house had been turned into a PG; they thought they’ll be able to sell their new houses very quickly.
People started visiting the flat after seeing the to-let board in front of the house; they were having 8-10 visits a day. They had a free listing on OLX and Quikr and these channels also started giving some leads.
They then went on to open up a referral program; every successful referral would get Rs 2000. They also messaged existing customers about it and created a WhatsApp group for every house. A customer from House #4 referred to three of her friends; these guys were college-mates and wanted to stay together at BTM. (One of them was Mayank; he later became a core part of SimplyGuest)
The marketing channels they tried to find customers were helping them in other ways. A lady called them one day and wanted SimplyGuest to rent 4 flats in Vijaya Bank Layout! Subbu was surprised to know that she had taken his phone number from the sun packs they were using for finding guests. The flats were in the final stage of construction and they had already started looking out for customers. She and her husband showed us the flats, these flats were close to SimplyGuest’s previous properties, and they ended up taking the property.
Domestic house help in general, and cleaning dishes specifically, has been the surprise element that makes customers stick to a house. If they can provide this consistently, they can retain almost all customers. Houses need regular maintenance for long-term use, initial customers don’t stay put if the house becomes unlivable. Plus, if the commuting time to the workplace is manageable, people stick around the house. Scaling this business is not as easy as adding servers and staff; operations are the key. Scaling physical operations takes time and sustained the effort.
Spending on advertising will get new customers, but it doesn’t help to retain existing customers. New customers are a finite set, whereas existing customers pay recurring rent. That’s what they are currently focusing on.
Providing consistently good services year-long matters more than discounts. If the bed goes vacant for a day, the revenue is lost permanently. House owners may not want to absorb this cost. Simply Guest calls this angel-stays.
They operate in about 15 locations in South Bangalore. Unlike their competitors, SimplyGuest operates shared houses, co-living properties, and also hostels (PGS). This covers the entire breadth of home options.
With all the buzz about waste management in the country, it has become imperative for us as citizens to abide by it. Vinayaka Kashyap & Vinod Jaganathan in 2014 took up one such initiative. In a nutshell, they do the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction for large scale biogas plants. They also offer solutions to passionate householders who want to take care of their waste on a daily level too.
Their philosophy behind the venture is really interesting. They are capitalizing on the word Quantum which means the behavior of subatomic particles. They aim to garner the support of all subatomic entities on the planet who will help them realize their mission to make Mother Earth a greener one for the generations to come. Hence the name Quantum Green and the idea is “a quantum leap into a greener revolution.”
Established in 2014 and based at the garden city of Bengaluru, QG envisions to provide unparalleled services in the fields of waste to Energy and Solid & Liquid Waste Management (SLWM). To endeavor this, QG is backed up by a team with rich experience in waste to energy projects. Quantum Green builds biogas plants for a variety of its clients by offering its Engineering, Procurement, and Construction services thereby ensuring a turnkey solution to its customers. The company’s expertise not only includes conceptualizing Waste to Energy projects but also backing it up with scientific waste processing, and reliable and efficient energy distribution. As an integrated technology company, Quantum Green has expertise in Design, Supply and Installation of Biogas plants for varying applications ranging from small scale Household Cooking to mega-scale Industrial Cogeneration purposes viz., Thermal heating, Power Generation and Bio-CNG Bottling plants.
Their projects are smarter as they leverage upon the power of the Internet of Things (IoT) to remotely administer, monitor, operate and maintain the plant. By doing this, they ensure optimal plant availability and longevity as the information they gather from the plant’s smartness will ensure that it operates seamlessly and any outage/breakdown small or big is either predicted before or attended to immediately. This acts as a gateway for building smart infrastructure which is self-sufficient and run with minimum human intervention.
Their clientele includes Individual households, Hotels, Canteens, and Industries such as large Food Processing companies. This indicates that their product range and solutions address a vast target community/sector. Applications of these biogas plants vary from basic cooking to thermal heating, bio-electricity, and bio-CNG. The largest plant is a 50 Tons Per Day (50 TPD) unit for a food processing industry and the smallest is a 2 Kg per day unit for a simple household.
The scenario for Waste to Energy in India is picking up steam. Quantum Green is in this business from the past five years and the team is seeing a surge in the number of inquiries they get year on year. They see a lot of bulk waste generators showing genuine interest in either composting or building biogas projects. The earlier notion of waste as just a waste and the need to get rid of it crudely is a thing of the past. Waste disposal costs and landfilling is getting unviable for them. Pollution control boards are doing their part in ensuring that compliances are in place to dispose of waste in an environmentally friendlier manner. Now clients look at waste as a healthy source of energy and show interest for these plants. They understand that by putting a biogas plant, they need not depend on fossil fuels such as diesel and furnace oil anymore. In some cases where electricity is scarce, the client is more than happy to convert their waste to valuable power. As you see, waste to energy project helps the client to take care of their businesses more effectively and efficiently. Also, the government’s initiatives such as “Swatch Bharath”, “Make In India”, “Smart Cities” etc. are good for this sector. No wonder why so many plants are getting commissioned like never before.
Quantum Green – Founders and team
Mr. Vinayaka Kashyap: BE, M Tech with 15 plus years of Sales and Marketing experience in the Capital Goods industry catering to the Power Plant Sector (Thermal, Gas, Renewable and the Captive sectors). Worked at Triveni Steam Turbines, CICB Chemtron, GE Gas Engines before starting QG
Mr. Vinod J: BE, Elec with 18 plus years of Sales and Marketing experience in the Capital Goods industry catering to the Power Plant Sector (Thermal, Gas, Renewable and the Captive sectors). Worked at Triveni Steam Turbines and Thermax before starting QG
While Vinayaka takes care of Sales & Business Development, Vinod is into Finance, Admin and HR. They are a lean team of about 8 including the founders.
How was Quantum Green Started
The founder’s decision to take up entrepreneurship and starting this business was sudden. That happened in June 2014 when Vinod’s erstwhile friend and old colleague from Triveni Steam Turbines, Steam Turbine manufacturing company based at Bangalore, Mr. Vinayaka Kashyap met him. Vinayak was then working on many Waste to Energy projects, typically Biogas plants. He elucidated Vinod on how waste had become such a menace and how it was affecting the common man and posed a huge danger to the future generations. Being a father of two, Vinod was concerned the world that we leave behind for our children can be so hazardous. After knowing more about the subject technically, he decided in his heart that as a responsible human being, he should join Vinayaka and strive for a greener revolution.
The word Quantum means the behavior of Subatomic particles. They aim to garner the support of all subatomic entities on the planet who will help them realize our mission to make Mother Earth a greener one for the generations to come. Hence the name Quantum Green and the vision is “a quantum leap into a greener revolution” which is the tagline.
Quantum Green Logo
Quantum Green – User Acquisition
Quantum Green’s website is efficiently and professionally managed by the internal team and they do have channel partners who promote the business.
Being salesmen for most of their lives, they know for sure that a genuine relationship with a client, will yield business and repeat orders. This means that they will have to stick up, stand tall and present themselves to the clients’ end whenever there is a need. Clients do appreciate such an attitude. Their previous experience in turnkey businesses gives them an additional advantage on how to conceptualize, interface and commission plants. Clients are very keen on prior experiences as they do not want errors from inexperienced contractors which could damage their reputation as well as cause a business loss.
Quantum Green – Business Model and Revenue Model
Quantum Green’s business model is to provide end to end turnkey solutions to bulk waste producers. In a nutshell, they do the Engineering, Procurement, and Construction for large scale biogas plants. And they also offer solutions to passionate householders who want to take care of their waste on a daily level too.
Quantum Green – Funding and Investors
They were actively looking to raise funds during the initial days to expand the operations. However, since the biogas concept had not gained much momentum in the country at that time, investors were skeptical to put money in the business. Luckily, one of their best friends showed interest and eventually did one round of seed funding for them. Post that round of funding, they did not scout for any other funds. They believe they will raise funds at the right time to support their business growth.
Quantum Green – Awards & Recognitions
Quantum Green has been awarded with “Brightest startup award by TERI” in 2017
From starting in 2014, in five years, little did they expect that they would have orders converted into repeat orders (key accounts). They started with consultancy orders first but slowly ramped up to taking turnkey orders from the same customers. Indian Navy, Mother Dairy Fruits and Vegetables, ISRO, AL Jaleel, Gun Shell factory and EUROPEM are a few prestigious clients that they have onboard now. From operating a 50 Tonne per day plant (Mother Dairy) to building containers which house equipment of the biogas plant to one of the largest kitchens in India (EUROPEM), their journey has been great, if not dreamlike. To summarize the following have been our professional achievements:
Building a very good clientele.
Building a very good and reliable vendor pool.
Building a strong in-house engineering team
Building a dedicated, diligent Commissioning team
Business-wise, they want to have key accounts, and now they have 4 reputed ones. Financially, they are growing at 30% YoY. Since this is a startup, they have consciously kept the human resource lean for easy collaboration and business operations. They also have hired immaculate professionals in different verticals. For now, they are concentrating on the South market and will eventually expand our operations to the North in upcoming years
Once again, the policy here is to gel well as a team. Know each other well, both professionally as well as emotionally, know one another’s strengths and weaknesses and together as one cohesive unit work towards the common goal which is to take our planet to a Greener Revolution.
The office ambiance and décor plays a very important role in the analysis and definition of the experience of employees and clients in the 21st century. As a business, the ability to display an edge and personality has become a prerequisite. To instill a communicative and collaborative aesthetic to the office space, various realms need to be delved upon. One of the major points of consideration among others is “furniture”. However, in the era of start-ups and small businesses generating pioneering ideas working on tight budgets, the scope of buying furniture which is design specific and unique proves to be a financial nightmare. In such cases, renting is a much safer option than actually purchasing units. Hence, with the varying taste, needs and requirements of consumers, renting furniture has become a millennial need and choice, and RentLite is established to take care of this need. RentLite offers trendy and functional office furniture on rent so that the start-ups and corporates can keep their workspaces stylish and updated without worrying about the budget.
Established in April 2019, RentLite is a path-breaking idea, on the quest of revolutionizing the buying behavior for workspace products. RentLite helps to solve the capital and operating expenses related concerns for young entrepreneurs and corporates alike by letting them take the latest furniture affordably on rent, without the need to spend a fortune on buying furniture. Along with an assortment of design possibilities, RentLite also offers flexible finance options for the users.
The distinct furniture configurations by RentLite like chairs, workstations, and pedestals can be rented for an affordable amount serving the commercial flexibility for its consumers.
Since all furniture rented out is manufactured by India’s leading furniture manufacturer, Featherlite, the consumer has an assurance of uncompromised quality and durability. The vast experience in a commercial design that comes with the association to a brand like Featherlite has further created an effective base of expertise in quick and hassle-free office furniture renting, aiding ease of a Plug and Play setup.
The sustainability quotient has been maintained in all the products manufactured, as RentLite being a new age progressive company, believes in conserving the environment through eco-friendly practices. The furniture is produced in solar-powered factories and produces minimum carbon footprint emissions further reducing environmental pollution.
Kush Jawahar and Kiran Chellaram are the minds behind RentLite.
Besides Rentlite, Khush Jawahar is also the director of Featherlite, which is a leading furniture manufacturer in India. Rentlite is an expansion of Featherlite in the office furniture renting segment. Mr. Jawahar is also associated with several other companies functioning in various sectors.
Kiran Chellaram is currently the Digital Brand Manager at RentLite. An expert in marketing and digital marketing domain, Kiran besides Rentlite is also looking after the marketing tasks at Featherlite
Rental Furniture Sector in India
The concept of furniture renting is gaining popularity and the trend is here to stay. In India, the market for furniture rental is expected to increase to $800-850 million until 2024. In the last 3-4 years, the furniture rental industry has seen a 1000% growth, and interestingly, besides Tier I cities, furniture renting is becoming popular in Tier-II cities as well. Around 15% of furniture rented is for the offices, which shows that there is a huge scope for office furniture renting in India.
Currently, the company is generating a monthly tangible business of over 10 Lakhs. The company intends to expand its affairs to a monthly revenue of 1 Cr. by the year 2020. The courageous plunge in an industry full of competition with such vigor makes it a rather radical business outlook. But Kush and Kiran have proved that to be challenged and take challenges is not a big deal.
In such a short time frame, these young entrepreneurs have already completely furnished two MNCs in Bangalore as well as nine startups in sectors like food processing, construction, recruitment technology, and the aviation industry. They also have MNCs working in financial services, digital marketing, telecommunication services sector in Delhi NCR as their clients.
Events bring people together. Everyone loves to be a part of a well-organized event. However, organizing a successful event is by no means an easy task. From flowers to lighting, from catering to artists, there is a lot to be taken care of and everything needs to be perfect. This makes the whole process of arranging for an event quite overwhelming. Now, this is where the event management companies come into play. These companies provide various services for making an event smooth, seamless and successful. BunnyBash is a new name in the event management space which is making hosting an event simple and effortless. BunnyBash provides everything one needs to host an awesome event, in one single platform.
BunnyBash is an event management startup founded in the year 2018. It deals in experimental gifting, surprise planning, event production, and rental services. It provides everything from decoration materials to artists, venue booking and equipment rentals required for an event.
At BunnyBash we are simplifying the service process of the event industry. We wanted the people to feel the hassle-free experience of hosting a party.
Event and Activations Industry in India
Event and Activations industry in India will cross Rs.10,000 crore mark in the year 2020-21. The more interesting part of this data is that it does not include the multitude of ‘unorganized event companies and freelancers’ spread across the country. BunnyBash aims to tap this unorganized segment of the event management industry with the help of technology and creativity within.
Anurag has his roots in Azamgarh, Uttar Pradesh (UP). Born and brought up at Jamshedpur, Jharkhand, Anurag landed at Bangalore in the year 2007 to complete his graduation in business management. He registered his first private limited firm Green Flag Branding Solutions in the year 2010, and started helping local and hyper-local businesses and institutions in localized marketing and customer acquisition.
Within 4 years he worked with more than 100+ local and international brands directly or indirectly. In 2015, he started consulting educational institutions, restaurants and bootstrap startups for branding and marketing strategies.
Anurag is a born seller. He had the entrepreneurial instinct since childhood. Interestingly, as a child, Anurag always used to find new business ideas to make money.
I remember how I started renting out comic books, some of them were mine and some of them were borrowed from my friends! I used to photoshop pictures, create free websites and email ID, upload songs and videos in phones, screen printed t-shirts and greeting cards to make money.
BunnyBash boasts of a beautiful working space in the heart of the city-Bangalore. The work environment is created to keep the employees happy and motivated.
We had options for the heart of the city however to utilize our money wisely we have taken a place on lease for 25 years. We have built our office to feel in a very unconventional way, mostly it resembles a resort rather than an office, we have a lawn to sit and relax, we also do camping in the lawn. We even rent lawn for parties and other small events. If you want to hire our lawn in the heart of the city, It would cost anyone lakhs. We have saved in a tremendous way. We promote happiness not just through our services but internally in the team as well.
BunnyBash Team
How was BunnyBash Started
The idea to start BunnyBash was born from the belief that the host should also enjoy each moment of happiness and togetherness, rather getting into the hassle of event rentals, return gifts, catering arrangements, decorations, etc. BunnyBash was formed with the aim of making hosting a pleasurable experience rather than a tiring one.
“The story behind the startup is the word STORY itself! Every celebration has a story, a story of the birth, a story of coming together, a story of feelings, etc; if it is perfectly crafted, that’s the MOMENT! I wanted to craft every story to moments” –says Anurag
BunnyBash is more about making a wish rather than an inspiration. A wish to change the unorganized event industry, wish to establish both online and offline store to connect with the clients, listen to them, take a chance to shape their dream memories. Overall, a wish to establish a milestone remembered for complete event products and rental solutions.
Host should just feel the moments and enjoy it and let us direct and produce a film that will be worth remembering and watching for the rest of our life.
The name BunnyBash is derived by combining the words Bunny and Bash.
Bunny is associated with speed, sensitivity, planning, opportunity and action. It also symbolizes those moments in life when one must “hop to” even in unfamiliar surroundings, using one’s inner light for directions. While Bash means the party or get-together.
BunnyBash Logo
What is BunnyBash
BunnyBash crafts birthdays, baby shower, naming ceremony, housewarming, engagements, surprise planning and all sorts of corporate events. BunnyBash simplifies the service process of the event industry with event & party rentals, party decor packages, party snack boxes, event artists & venue booking and DIY (Do-It-Yourself) party boxes.
It sells DIY party boxes pan India available at its website and marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart. It has specialized packages, including for dogs and cats birthdays, which a lot of us wish to celebrate but don’t know how to or with what. BunnyBash also provides specialized packages for surprise parties.
In E-commerce event planning and organization, there is no theme based decoration available except us.
BunnyBash Products & Services
BunnyBash – Revenue Model
BunnyBash earns revenue through the sale of Theme Decor Packages, Party Snack Boxes and DIY (Do-It-Yourself) Party Boxes, customized gifts, etc. and by renting various party equipment. It also earns a commission from venue owners and artists.
BunnyBash – Funding and Investors
BunnyBash is a bootstraped company.
I believe that to start something new you just need ‘JOSH’! Funding is needed for expansion and aggressive marketing.
BunnyBash – User Acquisition
BunnyBash employs both online and offline marketing channels to reach a wider demographic. It emphasizes on community events to reach community people and runs campaigns online to attract the youth. BunnyBash also collaborates with restaurants & other corporates to establish its presence.
Ongoing evolution of our thought process is through our customers.
Getting customers to understand the difference of charges between different packages and products is a challenging task for the BunnyBash team. As Anurag says, many people are not aware of the variety of products available and required for creating an event.
People usually know about different types of phone brands and the specifications however if you ask just randomly how many different types of balloons are there and what makes them different or what are the prices, not many can answer. We have to make them understand why there is a difference between charges and what the difference is.
Getting good human resources is another big hurdle. It is very difficult to find experienced decorators & florists and the vetting procedure takes the longest time.
BunnyBash – Competitors
Anurag believes that the current competitors are the unorganized players and freelancers from the industry. While he feels that the players from the organized sector make the industry more professionally managed, which is beneficial for both the businesses and customers.
I never feel and believe that organized players and budding startups can be a competitor to each other, in fact being organized they strengthen the industry, establish transparency in financial prospects, open room for trained, experienced and professional manpower. We cannot overcome the present scenario with a magic wand, it all depends on the best customer experience we provide, which will lead to a comparative atmosphere and becoming the preferred choice.
BunnyBash – Future Plans
BunnyBash initially started operating in Bangalore. Currently, it has started its store in Mumbai. The company has plans to expand to Pune and Hyderabad by the end of July 2019. BunnyBash also estimates to open 25 offline stores in the next 3 years with an industry-leading online presence.
BunnyBash has no plans of acquire any business as confirmed by Anurag.
A startup is culture of someone else’s mind. If a startup is doing very well in the initial stages, it is because of the effort of the initial support of people who started it without them it would not thrive. And if the startup is not working as needed, it is useless to acquire.
“Being into marketing solutions, I managed completely with brand design, marketing collaterals, co-branding activities and brand activation. As per technology and business automation is concerned, I have utilized the 200% of startup wave in India! Now you get technology essentials either absolutely free or with limitations (ideal for a small team). Now you can travel up to 5 km in just Rs.35-thanks to bike taxi startups, you can reach other cities for vendor tie-ups and meetings via car sharing app, you can get clean and professionally managed hotels at just Rs.499, you can get unpaid and paid highly qualified and intelligent interns via free applications, unlimited calls and 4G internet at just Rs.149/month. I think you cannot ask for more than the current startup ecosystem, not only solving the problems of the society but also of budding startups (Bhai-Bhai)” – Anurag Singh.
Medical equipment industry in India is still in the developing stage. As per data, approximately 80% of the medical equipment used in India is imported. The selling and general distribution expenses in the medical equipment industry in India are very high. The industry suffers from huge information asymmetry, lack of transparency and trust between buyers and sellers. Hospitals, on the other hand, are constantly looking for affordable, reliable medical equipment and services. PrimedeQ, a Bangalore based startup is working to bring a positive difference in the medical equipment industry by making buying, selling and renting of medical equipment easily.
PrimedeQ is India’s first e-Marketplace for Medical Equipment, connecting Healthcare Providers, Medical Equipment Sellers & Service Providers all on one integrated platform. Hospitals can Buy, Sell or rent equipment, get medical equipment serviced and buy spares & accessories – New or Used.
PrimedeQ aims to provide access to multiple affordable, good quality medical equipment options to buyers. It aims to bring down selling costs considerably for sellers through its virtual platform.
We are a one-stop destination for all things related to medical equipment. Such a platform does not exist today in India. Our short-term vision is to create as large a network, with a comprehensive portfolio of products and services as possible in Southern India. In the long-term, we will be #1 expert-Marketplace for medical equipment in India.
About PrimedeQ
Medical Equipment Industry Details
Medical equipment and devices market in India is about $5.2Bn growing at a CAGR of 15%. Including after- sales market the total market is estimated to exceed $6.5Bn. The industry is not only expected to grow beyond US$10-12Bn in the next 5 years. But more importantly, it is expected that there will be an increase in participation and market share for Indian Manufacturers.
Medical Equipment Industry
Founders of PrimedeQ and Team
Shanthi Mathur and Achudhan Mani are the founders of PrimedeQ.
Shanthi Mathur is the CEO of PrimedeQ. She has two decades of experience as a management professional in the healthcare domain. She has worked with organizations like ICICI, Max Healthcare, Asian Heart Institute, IBM India, Vaatsalya Healthcare and others in Leadership positions, before becoming a consultant in the area of performance excellence and data analytics.
At PrimedeQ, Shanthi looks after the Sales, digital marketing, technology, finance, HR areas and also other areas if and when needed.
Achudhan Mani is the director of PrimedeQ. He is the MD of Avanttec Medical Systems, a serial entrepreneur with more than 33 years of experience in the medical equipment field. Achudhan and Shanthi met through common contacts. Achudhan was inspired by Shanthi’s idea and so he joined Shanthi in founding PrimedeQ.
As Achudhan puts it “There is not a corner of the TN state that I have not traveled to, for selling and servicing medical equipment and yet, in general, the conversion rate is hardly 2%. I am tired of chasing customers for business… for once I want the genuine ones to call us”. Achudhan strongly believes in the power of Social Media/Digital Marketing and that e-commerce technology is the future of the growing medical equipment market
The other core member of PrimedeQ team is Dr. Sakshi Khandelwal. She is the Chief Officer eMarketplace at PrimedeQ. Sakshi is a dentist and Master of Health Administration by qualifications. Before becoming a consultant in the performance management and data analytics areas, she worked in the hospital management area for more than 6 years.
Dr. Sakshi is in charge of all day-to-day operations in PrimedeQ, including customer care and vendor alliances.
PrimedeQ has a 10-member team largely consisting of eMarketplace operations, bio-medical servicing and field sales teams.
PrimedeQ Team
How was PrimedeQ Started
The problem PrimedeQ is solving one which the Indian healthcare sector has been facing for ages. Shanthi was working with a chain of hospitals in tier-2 and tier-3 towns in Karnataka in 2014. She noticed that there were many instances where equipment break-down and go un-serviced for weeks.
Hospitals in smaller towns prefer to buy used/refurbished equipment as they have budgetary constraints. However, they have very limited options when they want to buy used equipment. In most instances, they know just a few refurbishers or agents and have to pay much higher. Again, when hospitals want to sell equipment they get a bad deal because their access to potential buyers is extremely limited.
“What if selling and buying hospitals could easily find each other in a large network? Both would get a more profitable deal. What if the same network could help find a service provider when the machine is down?” Such questions kept coming to Shanthi’s mind as she wanted to do something to solve this grim issue that the hospitals are facing.
A few years ago, a colleague of mine called up about a hospital who wanted to sell all its equipment just two-years after starting, since they couldn’t get enough business. They had very few offers, hardly recovering 40% of the cost. I could not help them at that time but eventually heard that they sold the whole lot for less than 1/3rd the cost after holding on for another two-years and incurring more losses. I thought if Flipkart, Amazon, OLX, Cars24, etc. could do similar things using e-commerce technology; why not create a platform dedicated to medical equipment.
Shanti started discussing a few ideas with a couple of ex-colleagues and discovered that 20-30% of the medical equipment market is for used/ refurbished equipment. This was huge but largely unorganized. Often when hospitals are unable to run and wish to close-down, they don’t have access to many potential buyers. It is all word-of-mouth still in this e-commerce era. This is what triggered-off the idea of launching an e-commerce platform dedicated to medical equipment and providing hospitals with multiple options when it comes to buying or selling. At the same time, everyone was clear that no equipment business could be successful without proper after-sales support and servicing. Hence the idea of a complete e-marketplace including service-support was formed.
PrimedeQ – Name and Logo
PrimedeQ is a shortened form of Primary Marketplace for Medical Equipment.
We designed the last letter ‘q’ to look like an MRI machine. Funny thing is contrary to our expectations however people pronounce the name as Primede – Q
PrimedeQ is an e-marketplace for medical equipment. It aggregates products and services and connects buyers to sellers in the most convenient and cost-effective manner at the same time offering unbiased information and expertise helping them make the right decision.
PrimedeQ deals in both new and used medical equipment. Besides PrimedeQ also has spares and accessories related to medical equipment. A user can rent medical equipment and also get repairing and maintenance services through PrimedeQ. The company plans to introduce an ‘Auction’ section on its website. PrimedeQ has teamed-up with Kennovation Software Services to develop the portal.
Some USPs of PrimedeQ are-
Bridges information asymmetry/gap
Aggregates and provides expertise
Authenticates buyers/sellers
Provides transparency in pricing/charges
Provides an end-to-end total solution
More than 90% of the hospitals in the country are small-and-medium sized, doctor-promoter lead, looking for affordable equipment and reliable third-party servicing options. As more and more hospital capacities are coming up in smaller towns’ access to quality products and reliable services are getting even more difficult. What is more, the medical equipment after-market is highly fragmented and un-organized in India. Sellers and competent service providers operate in their niche within limited geographic areas and do not have a strong digital presence. The younger generation of doctors is increasingly turning to the internet to look for solutions.
PrimedeQ – Launching Startup
PrimedeQ launched its startup in Bangalore. The first 18-months of its geographic presence was limited to Karnataka and slowly expanded to entire Southern India. Partnerships with equipment and spares suppliers are the key to PrimedeQ’s growth strategy. The company is also continuing to grow its portfolio of equipment through newer partnerships.
As e-Marketplace, PrimedeQ has a virtual presence and it matters less where we are physically based out of. Due to our virtual presence, we are already getting inquiries and servicing customers, not only from all over the country but also from overseas.
PrimedeQ – Business Model and Revenue Model
PrimedeQ has a well-planned revenue model. It earns revenue from the following sources
Equipment Sale
Repair & Maintenance Services
Spares & Accessories Sale
PrimedeQ offers all equipment required by a typical secondary care hospital such as OT, ICU/Critical Care, Emergency, OPD, IPD, Sterilization, Physiotherapy, etc., including products for home care. This includes anything from an ECG machine to MRI, NiBP cuff to CT Tube. Pricing ranges from a ₹1000/- for a spare part to a couple of Crores for a used MRI machine. It charges a commission for the sale of equipment and Spares.
PrimedeQ – Funding and Investors
Presently the founders have brought in Rs 10 million. PrimedeQ is planning to raise funds by the end of this financial year.
PrimedeQ – User Acquisition
PrimedeQ started with a Hybrid model (i.e online portal as well as on-field marketing). It initially spread the word 100% through on-field marketing team, participation in events and also Google Adwords. In the past 2-years, PrimedeQ’s digital presence has strengthened and from less than 10% of its leads coming from online channels, it is now more than 50%.
The company was able to acquire the first 100 customers in 15 months, with nearly 1/3rd being repeat customers. The two features of PrimedeQ which has acquired much popularity among the customers are-
Ability to sell used equipment directly to another hospital/doctor, with minimal intermediary charges and total transparency in the pricing.
One-stop-destination nature of its model – encourages customers to seek us for anything related to medical equipment, which they don’t know whom to reach out to.
From the beginning, we have stayed focused on the used/ refurbished equipment market which constitutes nearly 20-30% of the market and is arguably the low-hanging fruit. As an eMarketplace, a strong digital presence is critical and for a strong digital presence, good content is crucial. We are a one-stop destination for all things related to medical equipment. This means PrimedeQ is a go-to point for any medical equipment, service or spares. We are augmenting online content and features for equipment valuations, comparison and purchase decision support.
In B2B, customers expect credit, and the biggest challenge that PrimedeQ has faced has been in payment collections, delays, constant follow-ups, dis-honored cheques, etc. To solve the issue, PrimedeQ is avoiding credit business with first-time customers.
PrimedeQ is also fighting a perception bias. Many people feel that PrimedeQ is a premature concept and the industry is yet not ready for online purchase of medical equipment, which is not true. The younger generation of doctors are very IT-savvy and comfortable searching for equipment online and PrimedeQ is getting more than 100+ relevant inquiries/ month online alone. Close to 50% of its customers (specifically doctors) search for equipment online through smart-phones and many specifically requested for an App.
For those who believe that online shopping of medical equipment cannot gain popularity in India, Shanthi says that “The same logic was advanced for Flipkart, MakeMyTrip or Cars24. So, every idea sounds crazy until we do it. The customer behavior is changing fast and I strongly believe, time is ripe for leveraging latest technologies including AI, Blockchain and 3D-printing in this field and bring about disruptive transformation”
PrimedeQ – Competitors
There is no platform exactly like PrimedeQ, which is focused only on medical equipment and positioned as a one-stop destination. However, there are existing medical equipment companies with a minimal digital presence or e-commerce players who among other things also sell medical equipment. Some portals selling medical equipment that poses competition for PrimedeQ are Amazon, eBay, Medikabazaar, Colmed, Industrybuying, MedicoMart, IndiaMart OLX, Quikr, etc.
None of these players actively offer medical equipment servicing like PrimedeQ. Worldwide there are organizations like Dotmed, Medwow, etc, focused only on medical equipment who are doing well.
We get several inquiries from customers who have purchased oxygen concentrators from say Portea but need to now sell their used ones. They put it up either in OLX or PrimedeQ. Or say they have purchased a Bi-PAP machine, which is not working – they approach us for repair.
PrimedeQ – Advisors and Mentors
PrimedeQ is being mentored by KN Moorthy, ex-Regional Service Manager, GE Healthcare and Mr. Mukul Mathur, Vice President – IBM Systems Channels and Distribution, Asia Pacific.
PrimedeQ – Growth
PrimedeQ has received tremendous response from the hospitals. Currently, it has over 2500 registered customers (approx. 20% of South India market) and done business with 100+ customers in 38 different towns across the 5 Southern States. More than 30% are repeat customers, while 7-8% of the inquiries it receives are from overseas.
“There have been hospitals whom we met in our early days who did not do any business with us then but are now approaching us with confidence. Response from hospitals has been extremely positive. Many of them went on to say this is the need of the hour. But the strongest validation is that they pay. There are no discounts and freebies. We get market rates” Shanthi says.
PrimedeQ’s Plan for the next 2 years is to improve penetration in the regions it operates and augment its range of equipment & spares. It will also offer equipment valuation and purchase decision support online in the medium term.
PrimedeQ’s future plan also includes using data for AI and 3D printing for spare parts.
We strongly believe that our start-up will help indigenous medical manufacturers significantly and support ‘Make in India’ initiative. Growing regulations regarding quality of healthcare delivery and patient safety through institutions such as National Accreditation Board for Hospitals (NABH) and Atomic Energy Regulations Board (AERB) and others both at State-level and at the Centre will give the much-needed fillip to medical equipment industry. Our objective is to become an expert market place. We are not limited by the idea of being an e-commerce platform.
There were times, when the women of the house used to do all the household jobs like cleaning cooking etc single-handedly and manually. However, now the scenario has changed. Now the women are going out to work and earn. Also, household chores are not considered to be just a women’s job. In this changing scenario, home and kitchen appliances are here to make lives easier. Krutan, a Bangalore based startup, is offering affordable, time and energy saving appliances to make life faster and comfortable.
KRUTAN is a Bangalore based home appliance brand that aims at providing kitchen essentials for every home. Founded in 2013, Krutan believes in identifying useful products globally and making it available at affordable prices to the people. The mission of the company is to make affordable kitchen appliances available in Tier 2 cities as well as go global and introduce products in third world countries and make life faster and easier for people. Krutan’s aim is to make smart living affordable and accessible to everybody.
According to the report titled “India Kitchen Appliances Market Analysis: Forecast & Opportunities, 2016-2022”, Kitchen Appliances market recorded strong growth, with a CAGR of over 13% during the review period of 2011-16. The market is forecasted to advance with a double-digit CAGR of 15.41% during an estimated period of 2017-22.
Krutan’s target market consists of the working class of India that consists of the lower and upper middle class.
Founders of Krutan and Team
BG Krupa is the founder of Krutan. The other members of the team are
Mr. Ashwin B G– Director
Mr. Shashidhar Rao B N – Head of distribution and retail.
Mr. Giridhar RaoB N – Mentor.
How was Krutan Started
Spending 6.5 years in the corporate industry, Krupa deeply understood the need to save time in today’s fast moving life. She also believed the fact that technology would be the soul of this generation. It was seen that the working class did not have the time in today’s world to use conventional methods of living at home. So, with Krutan, Krupa wanted to bring in quality and useful appliances at a price-point which could be afforded by all. Thus Krutan was born.
Krupa’s family received an electric kettle as a gift from a friend in London. She noticed how this one appliance made their lives easy in terms of making their morning tea, cooking, etc. Krupa wanted to make this convenience available to the people around her at an affordable price. As such, the first product launched by Krutan was an electric kettle and they later diversified the portfolio to other electrical appliances.
Krutan – Name, Tagline and Logo
Team Krutan wanted the name to be out of the box and different from the existing players in the market.
We decided to call it Krutan which stands for patience, meticulous and attention to detail.
Krutan’s tagline is “Home solutions for a healthy living”. The tagline was designed keeping in mind health and smart living, which are the major concerns of the people.
Krutan Logo
What is Krutan
Krutan is a Bangalore based home appliance brand launched in the year 2013.
Currently, Krutan deals in electric kettle, induction cooktop, rice cooker, sandwich maker, pop-up toaster, air fryer and hand blender. Krutan’s best-selling products are electric kettle, rice cooker and induction cooktop.
Krutna’s parent organization is Sureseal Pvt Ltd, a metal packaging company. Sureseal manufactures pilfer proof caps for various Pharmaceutical, Liquor and Food Industries. Currently producing 300 million caps per annum, the annual business revenue is about US$ 3.5 million. In the year 2013, Sureseal diversified its activities and broadened the spectrum into the home & kitchen appliances industry with the brand “Krutan”.
Krutan Products
Krutan – Revenue Model
A major part of Krutan’s revenue comes from wholesalers, retailers and hypermarkets. The company keeps a minimum margin of 10% on every product.
Krutan – User Acquisition
Krutan launched its products with Metro- Cash and Carry, which is a leading B2B wholesaler platform. Through this, the company was able to reach out to retailers directly. Besides, the company marketed its products through Facebook. The products are also listed on e-commerce sites like Amazon, Flipkart, Indiamart, etc.
Not much was spent on advertising for Krutan. However, around Rs 50,000 per month was spent initially to grow awareness about the product.
Krutan – Startup Challenges
According to Krupa, establishing a new brand when there are many big players in the kitchen appliance market is a big challenge.
It wasn’t easy to change the mindset of the people. But making the products affordable and giving the best quality has helped us come a long way.
Krutan – Competitors
The major competitors of Krutan are Prestige, Pigeon, Preethi, Fabiano, Philips and Morphy Richards to name a few.
However, Krutan has been able to carve its own niche in terms of price, service and quality of products.
Krutan’s air fryers have been priced at 1/4th of the price of the other existing players in the market. This, in turn, made the competitors reduce their prices too.
Krutan – Funding and Investors
Krutan is a debt-funded company.
Krutan – Future Plans
Krutan has been able to make a mark for itself in the kitchen appliances market. The company has sold close to 20,000 Kettles in the first 1.5 years of inception.
In future Krutan wants its products to reach all the tier 2 and tier 3 cities of India. Besides, Krutan is also planning to expand its operations to South American and African countries.
