Tag: Chennai Startups

Ayurveda at the Click of Your Smartphone: The Success Story of India Shoppe
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 India Shoppe.

Digitization and E-Commerce have transformed the traditional way of business. Online shoppers Online shopping sales across India amounted to around $67 billion in 2021. Online shoppers are increasing year by year. There were 189 million online shoppers in 2021 which is expected to reach 220 million in 2025. The shopping behavior of customers has played a crucial role in the development of ECommerce retail. India Shoppe is one such E-Commerce retail platform that provides all the products for household needs. Staying bootstrapped, India Shoppe’s revenue growth has reached INR 1300 Crores.

Read to know about India Shoppe, its founders, products and brands under it, its business model, and the story of its growth.

India Shoppe – Company Highlights

Startup Name India Shoppe

Headquarters Chennai

Industry Ecommerce Retail

Founder Rajesh Chandan

Founded 2013

Website indiashoppe.com

India Shoppe – About
India Shoppe – Founders and Team
India Shoppe – The Idea and Startup Story
India Shoppe – Vision
India Shoppe – Products
India Shoppe – Business Model and Revenue Model
India Shoppe – Challenges Faced
India Shoppe – Revenue Growth
India Shoppe – Tools Used in the Company
India Shoppe – Achievements & Recognitions
India Shoppe – Future Plans

India Shoppe – About

India Shoppe is an Omni-channel retailing company, started in Aug’13 to provide Wellness & Nutrition, Personal Health-care, Skin-care, Oral-care, Hair-care and Home-care after identifying & understanding their customers. They design & produce the products for which enough demand is created through various social media & other channels of Marketing. Recently, they have added fresh Agro-care solutions to their bouquet of products.

India Shoppe – Founders and Team

Rajesh Chandan is the founder of India Shoppe. Mitesh Bhandari and Viresh Mehta are the Co-Founders of India Shoppe.

Rajesh Chandan – Founder of India Shoppe

Mr Rajesh Chandan is an alumnus of Harvard Business School and a first-generation entrepreneur from Chennai and a technology enthusiast, with over two decades of hardcore exposure in various business verticals. He upgraded himself to the latest trends in business & technology, by attending various programs at ISB (Hyderabad) & IIM, (Ahmedabad). Rajesh Chandan actively conducts leadership workshops for Start-Ups, mentoring them to upscale their business. He held the position of VICE CHAIRMAN at JITO INTERNATIONAL W ING and continues as an active member of the JAIN INTERNATIONAL TRADE ORGANISATION with more than 15000+ influential (Jains as) members. Rajesh is an avid social worker associated with various organizations & rehabilitation centres. His family has donated a day-care hospital in Ayanavaram (Chennai) which is run by RYA Cosmo Foundation.

India Shoppe Team

Mitesh Bhandari is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of India Shoppe.

Mitesh Bhandari is a young & dynamic commerce graduate from LOYOLA (Chennai) & MBA from NMIMS (Mumbai). He is a certified Chartered Financial Analyst with a decade of experience in several lines of business & off- late prominently in the Fin. Tech landscape. Mitesh Bhandari is an active investor on many alternative investment platforms, including Venture-Debt. He has more than 2 decades of experience in the business of Ferrous & Non-ferrous metals. Mitesh Bhandari also has a well-curated portfolio of leasing, and real estate assets.

He serves as the Charter President of RCC Magnum, an organization of 100+ youth members & has been an active member of Round-Table (India), a philanthropic organization.

Viresh Mehta is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of India Shoppe.

Viresh Mehta is an enthusiastic leader who heads Business-Development. He is a marketing & sales specialist who focuses on the smooth functioning of an organizational supply chain and related value addition processes for the company. He has an outstanding experience of 17 years in merchandising & sourcing various consumer goods. He developed various distribution channels across India, for different FMCG Products, ensuring business growth. His strong decision-making abilities have played a critical role in handling and strategic planning of the product launches of several esteemed brands like Coorg Filter Coffee in Tamil Nadu, Detergents like Shudh, Rakshak and Samundar crystal salt from the house of industrial-giant, Tata. Understanding and engaging in public relations is a primary reason for his success. Crisis and Disaster Management at various business houses is his forte.

Once Viresh Mehta organized a Dandiya Mela or a traditional folk-dance festival with over ten thousand participants from all ages & ethnicities, for raising student scholarships for the underprivileged.

India Shoppe – The Idea and Startup Story

Rajesh Chandan always wanted to start a brand, which would be more than just a business-house or a commercial- entity. He wanted it to be a part of people’s lives. That ‘want’ remained a distant dream until 2013, when he identified a dearth in a specific segment of the market & eventually, the spark grew into a flame.

After a series of brainstorming with his peers in business, about how the global giants were becoming market leaders, online & native brands were ruling on-ground with their branches & franchises, the market in Omni-channel retailing remained unexplored. Soon, the idea started taking shape.

India Shoppe was designed to be a lifestyle brand with a sincere focus on Tier II, and Tier III cities & towns targeting the “middle” & “upper-middle” income groups or the ‘active’ segment of society that is always aspiring for a better lifestyle.

Rajesh went to the original ‘Shark-Tank’ to bounce his idea: My friends! Not for lack of options but this wasn’t just about, Validation of his idea but also the Sustenance of a promise!

India Shoppe – Vision

India Shoppe Logo

India Shoppe has a vision to:
- Be a large customer value creator in the market, focusing on customer service, understanding the customers, their way-of-life & identifying their requirements to improve their lifestyle.
- Customize & develop products after market research & ensure they’re organic, healthy & easy to use.
- Invest in new product lines & implement the latest technology to ensure they are delivered on time.
India Shoppe – Products

India Shoppe Products

India Shoppe offers various daily-use products for individuals and the entire family. They are committed to building effective brand identity by aligning the consumers’ perception and expectations with the development of their products, with the highest standards in quality.

India Shoppe has developed its private labels, under the brand names of:
- “AAHAR” Food & Gourmet
- “ELEMENTS WELLNESS” Health-Care
- “NEUSTAR” Personal-Care
- “ON & ON” Wellness & Nutritional-Care
- “Mi HOME CARE” Adding a sparkle to your world
- “INDIAGRO” Reflecting their commitment to farmers, they have scientifically researched and developed, plant & soil-care products that: help in maximizing the yield (for farmers) & are packed with nutrition (for consumers) while ensuring the quality of soil is retained.
Their products do not contain (any) chemicals that are harmful to the body and are made of natural ingredients. They use raw materials which conform to API and in-house standards.

Their proprietary health & wellness products are made of various nutritional ingredients & herbs, after extensive study and research. India Shoppe has experts who remain in close proximity with scientific researchers & market analysts to stay updated on developing new products or enhancing existing ones. Beginning from the sourcing of ingredients to the final Eco-conscious packaging, they ensure that their products are of premium quality.

India Shoppe takes Conscious-Care for:
- The People: Propose and promote a healthy lifestyle for consumers, with their products.
- The Products: Prohibit the use of any ingredients which aren’t organic in their processes.
- The Planet: From Products to Packaging, it is all vegetarian and eco-friendly.
- The Past: Promoting Ayurvedic products which are preventive & also hail from this holy land.
The Future of D2C Industry | Data Analytics and Research

The online presence of D2C brands has given a huge growth to the industry. Here are some tips for entrepreneurs to expand their D2C business.

StartupTalkyPreeti Karna

India Shoppe – Business Model and Revenue Model

India Shoppe creates a demand for its products, through active social-media campaigns and its chain of small-format retail stores & websites. Additionally, to reach a wider market, we’ve designed Pick-up Centers (P.U.C’s), in several remote locations that are mapped to their nearest store. Such P.U.C.s only purchase merchandise from the stores, they’re mapped to. It can also be explained as – H.O.: Parent, Store: Child, Store: Parent, PUC: Child.
- Their stores maintain an online account of the respective PUCs mapped to them, based on the volumes of transactions or redemption of Pre-orders.
- To ensure easy flow of the stocks, they are replenished from multiple warehouses, online & offline.
- Their M.O.P is mostly through pre-orders having several types and denominations (Non-Transferable).
- Customers carrying such Pre-orders get the merchandise at a discounted price while other customers purchase at M.R.P.
- Customers can redeem/ purchase with dual-validation (Code & OTP) at the Store, PUC and Web-portal.
- Their product range is further classified under different sub-categories.
Strengths:
- They have well-established network of 16 Warehouses, 51 Stores & 649 P.U.C’s, spread across the country,
- They have tested & proven systems and ready-to-go processes for generating assured Sales growth.
- They undertake periodic market research with corresponding Product-innovations.
- They collaborate with scientific developers, manufacturers, designers, marketers & suppliers to ensure they come up with rich Ayurvedic products.
- They build on brand re-call & consumer loyalty through Digital Marketing posts and campaigns by regularly posting engaging content on various social media platforms.
- Their customers have been their biggest strength, as their testimonials are the hallmark of certification.
India Shoppe – Challenges Faced

Being an enterprise with most products based on Ayurveda, subscribing to their solutions would mean a shift into a better/healthier lifestyle. But this is the very reason most people today, resist choosing Ayurvedic medicine, which is more of preventive care, in contrast to the instant relief of western-medicine (Allopathy).

However, the Covid Pandemic has rightfully pointed out that, instead of choosing the (so-called) ready remedies and instant reliefs, it is advisable to have a healthy lifestyle. And, going Ayurvedic, not only aids to eliminate the chances of infection but also has them equipped to battle other infections/ microbes, known & unknown.

India Shoppe – Revenue Growth

India Shoppe operates PAN-India. Starting in 2013-’14 from less than INR 100 CRS. to almost INR 1300 CRS. in 2021-’22. With a CAGR of 22%, their growth has continued during the Covid pandemic, even. So far, they are a bootstrapped company, running & managing with their capital & operating revenues.

Top 7 Best Strategies for to Grow Your D2C Brand in 2022

If you’re a D2C brand trying to penetrate the market and grow your customer base, here are 7 strategies that will surely lead to your brand’s success.

StartupTalkyArbaz Sayed

India Shoppe – Tools Used in the Company

Their team of developers, designers, researchers, product managers and engineers of various disciplines, work together in building a user-friendly design & well-tested interface with every aspect of the organization.
- They have been using state-of-the-art ERP software for Finance and custom E-commerce.
- The capacity of supply chain and logistics operations can be scaled anytime with their automated stock replenishment during peak periods (festivals/ holidays) for consistency in their deliveries.
- With their in-house cloud-based mechanism and automation, Traffic is gracefully throttled if & when it goes beyond the given conditions.
- Having high-performance integrations, connecting to third-party applications like the State GST portal, Supply chain Vendors and up to Last-mile deliveries.
India Shoppe – Achievements & Recognitions

India Shoppe has achieved recognition from the Government of India and others.
- In the personal-care category, “Elements Wellness” was prestigiously awarded: BEST HEALTHCARE Brand by The Economic Times in 2019-‘20 & 2022-’23!
- 7 & 14 State Governments in the country, have recognized India Shoppe as a prompt Tax-payer for 2020-2021 & 2021-2022 respectively.
- At the peak of the Covid pandemic, when the health ministry of India advised everyone to take a spoon of Chavanprash (an Ayurvedic goo-ey preparation loaded with anti-oxidants & immunity boosters) a day, it hiked the consumption of their equivalent, On & On “Kavach Prash”.
India Shoppe – Future Plans

As a growing large-scale Value-Creator, they are eyeing expansion in the scale of operations, setting up more Distribution centres for easy reach & faster delivery, planning more stores & investing in new product lines & technology.

After finding a firm footing in the local market, India Shoppe team have been exploring the possibility of expansion, especially in our neighbouring countries.

FAQs

When was India Shoppe founded?

India Shoppe was founded in 2013 in Chennai.

Who is the founder of India Shoppe?

Rajesh Chandan is the founder of India Shoppe. Mitesh Bhandari and Viresh Mehta are the Co-Founders of India Shoppe.

What are the products of India Shoppe?

India Shoppe products list includes various daily household products:
- Food Products
- Health-Care Products
- Personal-Care Products
- Agro Care Products
- Home Care Products
August 1, 2022
List of Successful Startups in Chennai [Exhaustive List 2022]
The capital of Tamil Nadu has seen a considerable rise in respect to the startup culture in the last couple of years. The Tamil Nadu government continues to aggressively promote the blossoming of a startup ecosystem in the state. Hence, the sudden increase in the number of startups in Chennai and Chennai becoming India’s fourth most active startup ecosystem needs no justification. Here are some of the top startups in Chennai.

Here’s a list of the best startups in Chennai.

1. Sulekha
2. Netmeds
3. BankBazaar
4. Flintobox
5. Zoho
6. Chrysalis
7. Lawbot
8. Freshworks
9. Wandertrails
10. PipeCandy
11. BigFday
12. Perfint Healthcare
13. Avaza
14. Financial Software Systems (FSS)
15. Servion
16. Adjutas
17. SkillAngels
18. Waygum
19. Vue.ai
20. Kobzo
21. Chargebee
22. Galaxeye
23. Caratlane
24. ThoughtBit
25. Aquaconnect
26. Trivitron Healthcare
27. Vivriti Capital
28. CredAvenue
29. CreditMantri
30. TenderCuts

Flaunt your startup with StartupTalky

800+ stories, thousands of founders, and millions of visitors. Want to be the next?

StartupTalky is where founders, entrepreneurs, startups and businesses hang out and look up to for inspiration. If you have the means, we have the medium! Inviting founders and startups who are building sustainable solutions from ground zero! Startups who run the show, StartupTalky will let the world know!

Request Feature at StartupTalky

1. Sulekha

Founder: Satya Prabhakar

Year Founded: 1996

Industry: Service Directory

Sulekha Logo

Sulekha is a platform for consumers and businesses to connect with each other. Satya Prabhakar is the founder and CEO of Sulekha. Sulekha employs more than 1,300 people and has 14 offices around the globe in countries like the United States, Canada, the UK, and UAE.

Satya is originally from Machilipatnam, Andhra Pradesh. Satya did his undergraduate studies in B.E. from NIT, Trichy and has worked with Philips. A studious and academically proficient individual, he secured admission to all the top four IIMs (Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Calcutta, and Lucknow), but chose to pursue a Master’s degree in Computer Science from the University of Florida, Gainesville.

2. Netmeds

Founder: Pradeep Dadha

Year Founded: 2015

Industry: Online Pharmacy

Netmeds Logo

Netmeds is an online pharmacy that delivers pharmaceutical products at the customers’ door. Netmeds has a wide range of healthcare products on its website. With strong marketing strategies and Mahendra Singh Dhoni as the brand ambassador, the startup is swiftly moving towards success.

Netmeds was founded by Pradeep Dadha, one of the most successful entrepreneurs to emerge out of Chennai. He worked at Dadha & Co., his family business. Netmeds has acquired several health startups over time, including the recent acquisition of KiViHealth in 2019.

3. BankBazaar

Founder: Rati Shetty

Year Founded: 2008

Industry: FinTech

Bankbazaar Logo

BankBazaar is a Chennai-based fintech startup that has established a solid presence in India in just a few years. It allows customers to make payments and get loans online. BankBazaar essentially functions like a bank minus the fact that you don’t have to go to different counters. The work is done in a jiffy while sitting at home.

Rati Shetty is the founder and chief product officer at BankBazaar. She did her graduation from the University of Madras.

4. Flintobox

Founders: Arunprasad Durairaj, Vijaybabu Gandhi, and Shreenidhi Srirangam

Year Founded: 2013

Industry: Education

Flintobox Logo

Every child is special and is inherently engineered to learn something new everyday. When parents let their children use the internet, it puts a stop to the kid’s imagination and creativity. Childhood is the time when engaging in physical activities should be at its peak, and not with the computer or mobile screens. Flintobox is a startup working to solve this problem. Parents can order a Flintobox, which is a combination of different activity toys. The startup sends the box directly to your house every month. You can select the package which suits you the best.

Flintobox was founded by Arunprasad Durairaj, Vijaybabu Gandhi, and Shreenidhi Srirangam in 2013. They started the company to solve the problem of television addiction in children.

5. Zoho

Founders: Sridhar Vembu and Tony Thomas

Year Founded: 1996

Industry: Software Development

Zoho Logo

Zoho is among the top companies in Chennai. Zoho Corporation is a unicorn SaaS founded by Sridhar Vembu and Tony Thomas in 1996. Zoho provides a suite of products for all your business needs. It includes an email-sending client, a finance management tool, and a project management tool with over 40 million users across the globe. The Indian company also has offices in Singapore, Japan, China, Tenkasi, Pleasanton, and California.

6. Chrysalis

Founder: Chitra Ravi

Year Founded: 2001

Industry: Education

Chrysalis Logo

Chrysalis has innovated an academic program for the formative years (2-12) of a child’s education – “ThinkRoom”. ThinkRoom has been designed with the vision of awakening the dormant potential in every child. The curriculum (pedagogy) is created with a child-centric philosophy. It is an integrated academic program for maths, English, science, and social studies in schools.

ThinkRoom is the synthesis of a product (subject books called ‘studios’), service design (continuous professional development training for teachers), and technology (‘Mitra Tab’). In 2017, Chrysalis raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Manterra and Gray Matters Capital (GMC).

7. Lawbot

Founder: Manasvini Krishna

Year Founded: 2016

Industry: LegalTech

Lawbot Logo

Manasvini Krishna is a lawyer and a successful entrepreneur. He pursued his Bachelor of Legislative Law from National Law University, Bhopal. He then pursued his Master’s degree from the University of Oxford. Before starting his own venture, he co-founded Samvad Partners in 2012. In 2016, Manasvini started Lawbot.ai.

Lawbot.ai is a legal AI platform that analyzes contracts through machine learning and natural language processing.

8. Freshworks

Founder: Girish Mathrubootham
Year Founded: 2012
Industry: Cloud-Based Business Management Applications Provider

Freshworks Logo

Freshworks provides cloud-based business management applications to companies. The applications provided by Freshworks are:
- Freshdesk: Cloud-based customer support software.
- Freshservice: Online IT service management software.
- Freshcaller: Cloud-based call center software.
- Freshchat: Enterprise chat application.
- Freshsales: Sales CRM software.
- Freshmarketer: Marketing software for digital marketers.
- Freshconnect: Enterprise collaboration software.
- Freshping: Website monitoring tool.
- Freshteam: Recruit people, and manage employee data and time in one place.
- Freshrelease: Agile project management software for developing teams.
- Freshstatus: Setup your hosted public page with one click.
Freshworks offers a subscription-based pricing model. It has worked with companies such as Honda, Toshiba, Cisco, Lenskart, Zoom, Zomato, UNICEF, Team Viewer, Carat Lane, and Money Corp.

9. Wandertrails

Founders: Vishnu Menon, Pranav Kumar, Sruti Chander, Hari Nair, and Narayan Menon

Year Founded: 2016

Industry: Travel and Tourism

Wandertrails Logo

Wandertrails is a travel tech company. It offers an online platform that enables the on-demand booking of experiences indigenous to a particular location as well as related experiential accommodation to complement these experiences.

Wandertrails is operating through a curated marketplace model with a strong emphasis on integrity and depth of listings. The authenticity of every experience is ensured. Wandertrails does it through an on-ground audit and professional creative shoot. It raised 1 million US dollars in March 2020.

List of Top Travel Startups in India | Tourism Startups

> “The World Is A Book And Those Who Do Not Travel Read Only One Page.” – St. Augustine of Hippo, PhilosopherTravel and tourism industry is one of the largest industries in India. Accordingto government statistics in 2017, the annual growth rate of domestic travelersin India stood at 17.2%. It …

StartupTalkyAshwini

10. PipeCandy

Founders: Murali Vivekanandan, Ashwin Ramaswamy, and Shrikanth Jagannathan

Year Founded: 2016

Industry: E-commerce Analytics

PipeCandy Logo

PipeCandy is a Chennai-based e-commerce startup focused on a predictive insights platform. It tracks over 500,000 modern e-commerce companies and delivers insights to marketers, investors, and analysts. The founders of PipeCandy are Murali Vivekanandan, Ashwin Ramaswamy, and Shrikanth Jagannathan. The company also functions in San Francisco, California.

Pipecandy has raised around $1.1 million. It has attracted many investors who are curious about hunting down the nuances in the system to increase sales and therefore, a higher probability to seal the deal. ‘Emergent Ventures India’ is funding the startup; many other entities such as ‘IDG Ventures’, ‘Axilor Ventures’, and the ‘Indian Angel Network’ are also supporting PipeCandy.

11. BigFday

Founder: Utkarsh Singhania

Year Founded: 2014

Industry: Event Management

BigFDay Logo | Event Management Company in Chennai

BigFday is an online marketplace for event services, be it weddings, birthdays, corporate events, or just a night out with friends. BigFday helps occasional and professional planners with the services required to host the event. Presently serving in Chennai, it works with 500+ venues and hundreds of professionals in the event industry.

Utkarsh Singhania is the founder and CTO of BigFDay. He has an MBA from Sikkim Manipal University and is a graduate of Anna University.

12. Perfint Healthcare

Founder: S Nandakumar

Year Founded: 2005

Industry: Healthcare

Perfint Logo

Perfint Healthcare develops diagnostic equipment for the oncology space. Its image-guided equipment uses medical image processing and robotics to help clinicians plan and execute CT-guided cancer biopsies, drug delivery, and ablation of small tumours. The product catalogue includes:
- MAXIO: An image-guided, physician controlled stereotactic accessory to a computed tomography (CT) system.
- ROBIO EX: A CT & PET-CT guided robotic positioning system that assists with fast and accurate tumour location.
- NAVIOS: A computer-based workflow assistance solution for CT guided percutaneous ablation procedures.
Norwest Venture Partners, Accel, and Chiratae Ventures have invested $ 40 million in Perfint.

13. Avaza

Founder: Ajit Narayanan

Year Founded: 2014

Industry: Technology

Avaza Logo

Avaza is a tech startup. It works for children challenged with communication disorders, autism, cerebral palsy and down syndrome. Avaza boasts of providing India’s first augmentative and alternative communication device for children with disabilities.

Ajit Narayanan is the founder of Avaza. He is a graduate of IIT, Madras with a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering. Before starting Avaza, he was the CEO of Chongchong English in California. He was awarded the ‘National Award for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities by the President of India in 2010.

14. Financial Software Systems (FSS

Founder: Nagaraj Mylandla

Year Founded: 1991

Industry: Electronic payment

FSS Logo

Financial Software Systems (FSS) offers business value in the areas of electronic payments and financial transaction processing solutions & services. Headquartered in Chennai, FSS has established a global footprint in Africa, Australia, Canada, Europe, Middle East, Singapore, and the United States of America. FSS delivers a complete spectrum of offerings through its two business divisions:
- FSSTechnologies: Offers clients with a single-window view of solutions and services like systems integration, offshore development, product sustenance, project management and implementation, upgrade and migration services, product testing and certification, application testing, onsite technical support, and 24/7 global helpdesk support.
- FSSNeT: Offers hosted payment processing services across all delivery channels; these include ATMs, POS, internet, and mobile with authorization by bank hosts, interchanges, and co-networks. Premji Invest, Jacob Ballas Capital, and New Enterprise Associates have invested $127 Million in FSS.
15. Servion

Founders: Kavikkal Balakrishnan and N Raghunandan

Year Founded: 1991

Industry: Application Software

Servion Logo

Servion enables business transformation for enterprises in the area of customer experience management (CEM). Servion is a platform-led solutions provider focused on enhancing customer experience by automating and integrating customer interaction channels. Servion provides the following IP platforms:
- ServDesignSM: Knowledge-based consulting framework that enables you to deliver an on-brand customer experience.
- ServIntuitSM: Omni-channel customer experience platform that connects all enterprise channel applications such as chat, voice, website, mobile, email, video, and AR/VR.
- ServInsightsSM: Contact center analytics platform that enables multi-channel and enterprise integration.
- ServCloudTM: Adaptable cloud-based CX-platform that gives enterprises the power of optimal operations and omnichannel customer experience.
- ServCareSM: Offers the right support to contact centers through unified communication and collaboration solutions, enabling enterprises to deliver flawless customer experience.
These platforms enable enterprises to drive the true value of their CX investments and build their customer engagement hub. Over the past two decades, Servion has evolved from being a single channel (voice) interaction expert to becoming an industry pioneer in omnichannel customer experience.

16. Adjutas

Founder: Ani

Year Founded: 2016

Industry: IT Services

Adjutas Logo

The essence of Adjutas is to deliver the best IT experience. It is trusted by more than 200 companies. Adjutas offers an intelligent cloud-based helpdesk-cum-service desk and asset management software. The offerings help in all of the major management areas along with multi-channel support and reports. Adjutas offers a 14-day free trial to gauge its products.

17. SkillAngels

Founder: Saravanan Sundaramoorthy

Year Founded: 2013

Industry: E-Learning

SkillAngels Logo

SkillAngels is a Chennai-based startup. It aims at helping kids in their cognitive development through various games present on its website. SkillAngels was founded in the year 2013.

SkillAngels wants to transform classroom students into the workforce of the future. The company is working with a team of education visionaries, development experts, and clinical psychologists who came together to go that extra mile, alter the average educational experience, and create the champions of tomorrow.

18. Waygum

Founder: Sundar Krish

Year Founded: 2015

Industry: Industry Software

Waygum Logo

With the increase in the rate of smartphone usage, industries are also embracing technology for operations. Waygum.io provides a smart way for factories to manage operations on mobile. With the Waygum app, managers can easily keep a tab on everything that’s happening in the factory. Their employees can report to them easily on the same application. Sundar Krish, the founder of Waygum, is an IIT, Madras graduate. Krish is currently working on his new startup AppSecFlo in Silicon Valley.

19. Vue.ai

Founder: Ashwini Asokan

Year Founded: 2015

Industry: AI-Based Visual Search And Product Recommendation

Vue.ai Logo

Vue.ai is an image recognition platform by Mad Street Den, an artificial intelligence company. Vue.ai is an end-to-end retail automation platform that is redesigning the future of fashion retail through artificial intelligence. Using image recognition and data science, Vue.ai extracts catalog data, analyzes it for user behaviour, and helps companies improve customer experience, drive conversions, and reduce costs.

Vue.ai helps you digitally map your products’ DNA to create one-of-a-kind retail experiences for your customers and translates product information into a language your teams can understand and use to make business decisions. Vue.ai has received funding of $28 million from Falcon Edge Capital, Global Brain, and Sequoia Capital.

20. Kobzo

Founders: Vineet Neeraj, Mohan Gayam, and Karthik Ramaiah

Year Founded: 2012

Industry: Information Technology & Services

Kobzo Logo

Formerly known as Kobster, Kobzo is an ecommerce website that caters to small and medium enterprises, startups, and home businesses for their office supply needs. Kobzo helps corporate buyers, retailers, SMEs, home offices, hotels, hospitals, etc. to meet organizational goals seamlessly and efficiently. Today, Kobzo has 1 lakh+ business products in multiple categories namely manufacturing, construction, office supplies, hospital and lab, electronics, automobile, education, hotels, and restaurants.

21. Chargebee

Founder: Krish Subramanian

Year Founded: 2011

Industry: Financial services

Chargebee Logo

Chargebee is one of the leading SaaS companies in Chennai that provides subscription and recurring billing based systems for SaaS and e-commerce businesses so they can streamline their revenue operations. There has been a steady increase in subscription-based businesses worldwide and they need more options and flexibility for managing varied billing cases. The company has its headquarters in San Francisco, California but also has a head office in Chennai.

The platform integrates with Stripe, Braintree, and Paypal which are the top payment gateways to help your company automate recurring payment collection, including services like invoicing, taxes, SaaS metrics, accounting and customer management. It focuses on providing small businesses with flexible recurring experiences and managing their customer’s subscriptions.

22. Galaxeye

Founders: Satya Chakravarthy and Suyash Singh

Year founded: 2020

Industry: Defense and Space

Galaeye Logo

Galaxeye is a company that focuses on space technology, technology that monitors Earth and outer space. The company also helps in accelerating the growth of space infrastructure that enables planetary evolution. It also enables other tech businesses to make better decisions and perform operations efficiently through space technology.

Galaxeye specializes in Remote Sensing, Earth Observation, Artificial Intelligence, Space Technology, Image Processing, Geospatial Analytics, among others. Their image dataset will provide numerous opportunities and benefits to analysts and consumers. Galaxeye currently operates on a subscription-based data as a service model and is a B2B and B2G company.

23. Caratlane

Founders: Mithun Sacheti, and Srinivasa Gopalan

Year Founded: 2008

Industry: Jewelry E-commerce

Caratlane Logo

Caratlane is one of the top online jewelry retailers in India. As of 2020, the company has over 92 retail stores in over 36 cities across the country. The company was founded by Mithun Sacheti, and Srinivasa Gopalan in 2008 and has its headquarters based in Chennai, Tamilnadu. The company was purchased by Titan Jewelry in 2016 and is also marketed as a partnership with Tanishq.

The company also went on to launch its own app which included a feature of facial recognition and 3D imaging technology so that its customers can try the jewelry pieces virtually. According to a study done by Dataquest and JuxtConsult in 2011, Caratlane was among the top 20 e-commerce websites in India.

24. ThoughtBit

Founder: Sidharthan Panneerselvam

Year Founded: 2017

Industry: Information Technology and Services

ThoughBit Logo

ThoughtBit is an upcoming Information Technology firm that was started in 2017. The company focuses on Enterprise software and is known for its ThoughtAccess identity and Access management platform that help mid-market enterprises. ThoughtBit also specializes in the fields of GST, GST Compliance, cyber security, IAM, and SaaS.

One of the services that the company provides is ThoughtBit Access which is a Cognitive Identity and access management on a cloud platform designed especially for Mid-market enterprises. Whereas it also provides another intelligent solution called ThoughtGST, which ensures 100% GST compliance for small and medium businesses.

25. Aquaconnect

Founder: Rajamanohar Somasundaram

Year Founded: 2017

Industry: Aquaculture Technology

Aquaconnect Logo

Aquaconnect is one of the leading aquaculture technology firms. The company provides end-to-end solutions to shrimp and fish farmers through artificial intelligence and satellite remote sensing technologies. Aquaconnect also provides advice for data-driven farms throughout the country and specializes in the areas of AI, Farm Management, and Data Analytics for aquaculture.

Currently, the company works with more than 35,000 fish and shrimp farmers that are using AI-enabled tools to increase their productivity and connect their farming with players in the value chain. Besides providing farm advice, they also provide farm inputs marketplace, market linkage, and farm finance and insurance. Aquaconnect is considered to be the largest Aquaculture marketplace in Asia.

26. Trivitron Healthcare

Founder: Dr. GSK Velu

Year Founded: 1997

Industry: Healthcare and medical technology

Trivitron Logo

Trivitron Healthcare is a Healthcare and medical technology company that is known for providing healthcare solutions at affordable rates to numerous healthcare providers. The company sells its products to over 180 and has more than 55,000 customers. It also has 1,200 channel partners and holds the record for more than 50,000 installations across the world.

Trivitron designs and manufactures products of medical technology for hospitals, other healthcare providers, clinics, laboratories, and care facilities. The company specializes in Vitro Diagnostics Products, Imaging & Radiology Products, Newborn Screening, Radiation Protection products & Imaging Accessories, Operating Room Solutions, and Intensive Care Unit Solutions among many others.

27. Vivriti Capital

Founder: Vineet Sukumar

Year Founded: 2017

Industry: Financial services

Vivriti Capital Logo

Vivriti Capital is a platform designed especially for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that don’t have proper access to financial services. The company’s customer base includes financial institutions, corporates, and small enterprises. Vivriti uses data analytics to determine the customer’s needs and then designs products according to them.

When it comes to banks, insurance companies, NBFCs, pension funds and other Debt investors use Vivriti Capital as it helps them with an intelligent system that targets investors. It is a one-stop shop for all the debt requirements of its target clientele.

28. CredAvenue

Founder: Gaurav Kumar

Founded: 2017

Industry: Fintech, Financial Services, PaaS

CredAvenue Logo – Chennai-based startups of India

CredAvenue is a unified digital platform, which is fully integrated and built with an aim to help the investors discover, trade, execute and fulfill debt solutions. CredAvenue is hailed among the debt platform service providers for having the most comprehensive bouquet of debt products. CredAvenue is already a unicorn company, which joined the unicorn club of the Indian startups on March 6, 2022, after raising $137 mn in funding, and has huge potential for growth ahead!

29. CreditMantri

Founders: Gowri Thyagarajan Mukherjee, Ranjit Punja, Sudarshan Rajasundaram

Founded: 2012

Industry: Credit, Fintech, Financial Services

CreditMantri Logo – List of Startups from Chennai

CreditMantri is a Chennai-based digital credit services management platform that provides credit and financial reports to users based on their credit history. CreditMantri helps the users to understand the status of their credit health, and build their credit profile, all driven by data.

30. TenderCuts

Founders: Nishanth Chandran, Sasikumar Kallanai, Varun Prasad Chandran, Venkkatesan R.

Founded: 2016

Industry: D2C Meat, Food and Beverage

TenderCuts Logo – Chennai-based Startup

TenderCuts is an online meat ecommerce company that offers a wide range of meat including chicken, mutton, seafood, eggs, cold cuts, ready-to-eat products, and more. With headquarters in Chennai, TenderCuts provides 120 minutes doorstep delivery of its products for the persons living in Chennai and Hyderabad.

Conclusion

This was our list of prominent Chennai-based startups. If you know about any other startups in Chennai that are not covered in this list please contact us. We would love to include them in this post.

FAQs

What are the Top 10 companies in Chennai?

The top 10 companies in Chennai are:
- Sulekha
- Netmeds
- BankBazaar
- Zoho
- Freshworks
- CredAvenue
- TenderCuts
- Wandertrails
- PipeCandy
- Chrysalis
What are the product based companies in Chennai?

Zoho Corporation and Freshworks are the top product-based companies in Chennai.

How many startups are there in Chennai?

There are over 500 startups in Chennai.

What are some effective small business ideas in Chennai?

Some of the most powerful small business ideas in Chennai are:
- Event planning
- Electronics repair
- Printing/photocopying
- Hotel business
- Eateries
- Tour guide
- Gift shops
- Tatoo parlour
What are some of the best IT companies in Chennai?

Some of the most popular IT company names in Chennai include:
- TCS
- Capgemini
- Accenture
- Amazon
- Zoho
- Cognizant
- Wipro
- Infosys
What is the best software company in Chennai?

Zoho, the Chennai-based software suite provider is one of the best software company in Chennai. Some of the prominent software companies in Chennai are Cognizant, Advantix, Equiniti, Wipro, and more.
May 25, 2022

Startup Name	India Shoppe
Headquarters	Chennai
Industry	Ecommerce Retail
Founder	Rajesh Chandan
Founded	2013
Website	indiashoppe.com

PickYourTrail – A Success Story of How It is Making Vacation Planning a Breeze!

Till now what most of the travelers have been doing while booking international trips is to either book a pre-made package where one gets to see what the travel agents want to show, or go unplanned and explore things locally. However, there are drawbacks in both these ways. In pre-made packages, one has to rush through all or selected important tourist spots irrespective of one’s interest and do not get much time to experience and feel the destination. Again, going without a plan to a new destination can turn out to be a perfect disaster without proper knowledge and guidance. But thankfully now, there is a third way too, to plan your international trip. Pickyourtrail, a Chennai based travel startup is here to plan trips which are specially customized as per your interest, travel duration, etc. With these customized trips, one can explore a place at his own pace, while Pickyourtrail takes care of all the nuisances like hotel booking, activity booking and more.

Pickyourtrail Highlights

Startup Name	Pickyourtrail
Headquarter	Chennai
Founders	Hari Ganapathy & Srinath Shankarnarayanan
Sector	Travel and Tourism
Founded	2014
Website	PickYourTrail.com
Parent Organization	Travel Troops Global Pvt Ltd

About Pickyourtrail
Pickyourtrail – Industry
Pickyourtrail – Founders and Team
Pickyourtrail – Startup Story | How was Pickyourtrail Started?
Pickyourtrail – Name, Tagline and Logo
Pickyourtrail – Launching Startup
Pickyourtrail – Revenue Model
Pickyourtrail – Funding and Investors
Pickyourtrail – User Acquisition
Pickyourtrail – Startup Challenges
Pickyourtrail – Competitors
Pickyourtrail – Growth
Pickyourtrail – Awards
Pickyourtrail – Future Plans

About Pickyourtrail

Pickyourtrail helps travelers plan for their vacations without the pain involved in the planning. The platform uses deep-tech to let travelers create, customize and book international vacations in a jiffy. Pickyourtrail’s proprietary comfort score considers more than 40 factors like duration, travel time, ratings, etc to build personalized itineraries that travelers can further customize & book. After the trip is booked, travelers can use Pickyourtrail’s app to keep track of bookings and get real-time information on flight and weather updates, restaurant recommendations and on-trip chat support.

In February 2020, Pickyourtrail announced partnership with fintech company ZestMoney to provide consumers with flexible payment options for booking itineraries. Pickyourtrail customers will now be able to book travel packages at No Cost EMIs, along with options to ‘Travel now, pay later in 3 easy installments. Through this partnership, Pickyourtrail aims to build a wider customer base.

Some USPs of Pickyourtrail are–

• Trips are 100% customizable
• All-round support is provided to the traveler during the trip
• The travelers get to choose from unlimited traveling options based on one’s own requirements
• Trips are tailored in a pocket-friendly manner.

Our goal is to become one of the top travel brands globally when it comes to vacations. Given that we have the piping/infrastructure in place in terms of automated bookings, independent modules there are a lot of opportunities for us to tap into newer businesses – Hari Ganapathy

Pickyourtrail – Industry

As per various reports, the total outbound travel market will be valued at about $40Bn by 2020. As per a recent WTO Report, India will account for 50 million outbound tourists by 2020. Again, as per a report by a leading OTA in India, the total outbound “online” market is $3.3B. If you take in the global vacation market, that is a much larger number.

“We strongly believe that this is neither a winner takes it all market nor a shrinking pie; there is a large headroom for growth for us,” Hari says explaining the outbound travel market.

Pickyourtrail – Founders and Team

Hari Ganapathy and Srinath Shankarnarayanan are the founders of Pickyourtrail. Hari and Shankar are friends since college days. Both the founders are passionate travelers and it is their love for travel that motivated them to start Pickyourtrail.

Hari Ganapathy

Hari Ganapathy is an alumnus of IIM Bangalore. Prior to founding Pickyourtrail, Hari worked with prestigious companies like Cognizant Technology Solution, Macquarie Bank, Britannia Industries Limited, Reckitt Benckiser and InMobi.

Srinath Shankarnarayanan

Srinath Shankarnarayanan is the calm that every organisation needs. His ability to break down the everyday chaos into digestible smaller units is priceless. Srinath enjoys both math and aeroplane modeling! He is the brain behind the routing, pricing and personalization algorithm at Pickyourtrail. He holds a Bachelors in Mathematics and an MBA from NMIMS Bombay. His ability to talk across subjects right from Sitcoms, bikes, wartime books, plane building to complex algorithms make him a great person to hang out with!

Pickyourtrail – Startup Story | How was Pickyourtrail Started?

Pickyourtrail began as an attempt to break how vacations are currently been planned and booked by travelers. The seed to all this began in August 2012 when co-founders – Hari & Srinath went on a Europe trip.

Ardent travelers themselves, the duo had put in more than 2 months to fully craft their vacation. This included planning end-end, bookings, and visa processing. It was during their trip they stumbled upon fellow travelers who were all on packaged tours. Interacting with them, Hari & Srinath understood they were literally rushed between destinations and their urge to discover new experiences wasn’t fulfilled. The travelers, on the other hand, were amazed to see the flexibility Hari and Srinath had in their itinerary and that piqued their interest.

Once back home, the duo was bombarded with pings asking for details on how they went about planning the entire trip. These interactions slowly multiplied and this lead to an idea that changed their career roadmaps forever!

Pickyourtrail – Name, Tagline and Logo

Pickyourtrail was a name that embodied choice and travel.

“In fact we got early customers calling it Pickmytrail and luckily we got that domain as well :)” Hari says.

Initially, Pickyourtrail’s tagline was, Stop Touring, Start Travelling, this was easily relatable to the new age travelers who didn’t want to be tourists. That was also in sync with the company’s early goals of getting more folks to travel at their own pace and style. The company’s current tagline is ‘Unwrap the World’.

“As we matured and built a brand, we now have moved to Unwrap the World. We believe this helps us position the brand globally and has a lot more emotional layers than the earlier one” – Hari says explaining the thought behind the tagline

Pickyourtrail’s first logo was aimed around a play on infinite options that were possible if we traveled.

Pickyourtrail’s first logo

The current logo was re-built with the need that the old logo could not easily fit into various shapes and color backgrounds. Pickyourtrail wanted to move to a logo which could scale across collaterals and use cases. The new logo symbolizes a flag and P and a baggage tag as well. The ideation behind this was – a flag is generally used to symbolize a group of people united by a cause or value system.

Pickyourtrail’s current logo

Pickyourtrail – Launching Startup

Pickyourtrail was launched initially as an activity market place – the positioning was – “when was the last time you did something for the first time?” While there was a lot of traffic on the product, the traffic to conversion was quite low. Interacting with the customers, the team realized the biggest problem was no hook to book. With hotels and flights, pricing and availability were strong hooks. With an activity, there was no real hook. In this process, they realized that planning an end to end vacation was a huge hassle.
This time around the team decided to just build a minimum viable product for end-to-end travel planning, and had a simple landing page. This got Pickyourtrail almost 10000 sign-ups in the first few weeks and there was no looking back!

Pickyourtrail’s initial landing page which attracted 10000+ signups within a few weeks

Looking at the great interest that people showed towards end to end travel planning, Pickyourtrail launched VEHO in 2016 –this was its first attempt at building a product where travelers can create, customize, and book vacations online.

“We were quite skeptical about market response and hence launched it under a new name VEHO. We scaled Bali on the back of VEHO and then brought it back under the mother brand in 2017” – said the Pickyourtrail founders.

Pickyourtrail – Revenue Model

Pickyourtrail earns revenue from affiliate commissions or partner commissions that come in from the partners with whom the bookings are done.

Pickyourtrail – Funding and Investors

Pickyourtrail raised series A funding worth $3 Million in February 2019. The company further raised an undisclosed sum on March 22, 2022, from a clutch of investors including CRED founder and CEO Kunal Shah, Adit Parekh, Vina Ahuja and other existing investors. The total amount raised by Pickyourtral is more than $3 mn.

Funding Date	Funding Stage	Funding Amount	Investors
March 22, 2022	Venture Round	Kunal Shah, Adit Parekh, Vina Ahuja and other existing investors
February 18, 2019	Series A	$3 Million	Kumar Vembu and Shyam Sekhar and j joined by Rajagopal Subramanian and Girish Mathrubootham

Pickyourtrail – User Acquisition

Pickyourtrail acquired its first set of customers from referrals and word of mouth.
“When a product or service solves long-standing pain points of customers, it accrues good karma. I still remember how our first landing page (personalized vacations, crafted by travelers) was a huge hit! We got 1000 sign-ups within a week. Our emails kept buzzing. And we actually had to start charging folks to start sending itineraries cos there was so much demand”Hari recalls

Speaking about Pickyourtail’s approach to customers Hari says,“I think like most good products or services, there is always a latent demand and we seem to have hit that wall with our clear positioning. The challenge has been to continue the same amount of quality even as we scale. Every customer whom we brought on board was not a transaction but a longer LTV(Lifetime Value) view. That view has helped us build trust and build the ever-increasing repeat and referral cohort!”

Pickyourtrail also used social media extensively to reach out to customers

“The first step was to ensure that we had enough followers on the Facebook page. This was around 2013 and Facebook still let you bulk invite friends to like pages. We ensured that every single friend of ours helped us gain more followers by inviting folks”.Pickyourtrail concentrated on posting original travel content that was inspirational. This helped the company gain a lot of engagement on the page without having to actually spend.

In between, Pickyourtrail also dabbled some ideas in Twitter where it would automatically be alerted for any tweet with vacation/itinerary. The team would jump in and answer those questions and plug Pickyourtrail.

The next hack that worked for Pickyourtrail was sending interesting offers to its subscriber base. Over the first 6 months, the company managed to get up to 5000 email user base and that short tactical campaign helped them garner more monies.

Hari shared another interesting technique that the Pickyourtrail team employed to get customers on board “At one point we went into competitor Facebook pages and pulled out numbers of folks who were requesting for an itinerary and called them. You would be surprised that almost 8/10 folks were unhappy with the competitor cos nobody would have responded. So we tweaked our strategy a bit and started calling folks only after a couple of days :)”

The Pickyourtrail team also used groups in FB wisely.

Rather than promoting itself, the Pickyourtrail team used its travel knowledge to answer questions in those groups and at the same time spoke about Pickyourtrail.

Besides, answering on Quora also worked for the company. Pickyourtrail answered about everything under the sun with respect to outbound vacations which helped it attract more customers.

Currently, Pickyourtrail is actively running campaigns (paid/organic) to grow its customer base and deliver happiness.

If we had to reflect on the initial strategy – it was around building good content and distributing it. Be it FB, Twitter, Quora. And this when combined with some tactical strategies like Twitter lead alerts, or FB groups it worked quite well. Once we had a flow of customers our execution capabilities ensured that the cycle of repeat and referral kicked in as well.

Pickyourtrail – Startup Challenges

Hiring and scaling the tech team was one of the main challenges Pickyourtrail faced early on. Another issue that existed was that many supply partners did not have an online presence, making things tough for the Pickyourtrail team.

As Hari explains, “Once the tech hiring happened, we realized that a lot of supply partnerships was still offline. This meant that customers still had to wait to get their customized quotes. We weren’t happy that the CX was poor because of industry constraints. For a large part of our supply, we took huge risks and had static pricing. While there could have been potential losses, thanks to our learning algorithms we could revisit these static prices periodically to ensure we minimize exposure. Our focus on “speed as a habit” has helped us come up with quite a few of these hacks and put customer experience at the forefront of all our efforts”

Pickyourtrail – Competitors

While Pickyourtrail claims that it has no competition in terms of tech or business model, from a customer’s point of view, competition comes right from Thomas Cook, Cox and Kings, MakeMyTrip to even self-bookers.

What differentiates the Pickyourtrail from its competitors is broadly two things:
a) Itineraries that are executable – There are the host of tech companies trying to solve the trip planning problem. Given they don’t take responsibility for the end experience, the itinerary is not necessarily well thought out. At Pickyourtrail, thanks to the combination of routing, personalization and pricing algorithms – the company is able to own the entire end to end consumer experience and ensure that each and every itinerary is bookable!

b) Touch + Tech Model – A vacation is an emotional purchase and needs consultative selling given that the average ticket size is around 2.5lakhs. Pickyourtrail uses tech to manage critical components like routing, pricing, etc. Parts of the vacation that need high emotional quotient like choosing cities or visa, we bring in a human touch to ensure the overall experience is seamless. This unique approach has also helped Pickyourtrail win recognition from Google and BCG.

We are extremely cautious as we try and balance the scale and standardization game. We cannot ever put our customer happiness on the back burner. In fact, one of the key levers for our growth is unprecedented leaps in customer delight.

Pickyourtrail – Growth

● In 2018, Pickyourtrail’s revenue run rate stood at around $9.5 Million
● Number of travelers who picked their trail has grown by ~115% ( 2018-2019 data)
● Peak concurrent traveler stood at 100 people in a day
● Over 300,000 personalized itineraries was created in the first half of 2019
● NPS score of 72 is a testimony of the unrelenting focus on customer happiness.

Pickyourtrail – Awards

Pickyourtrail has been recognized for its efforts and services. Some rewards and recognition, that the startup has in its kitty are-

Awarded the ‘Startup of the Year’ at the Tiecon Awards in October 2018.
Won the ‘Most Innovative Travel Startup’ award at the Travel Tech Launchpad Summit organized by FICCI in March 2018.
The Google-BCG Travel Trends Report June 2017, called Pickyourtrail the benchmark in the industry for its comprehensive customer experience.
In October 2016, Pickyourtrail was recognized as the Aussie Specialist, mate!
In May 2016, Pickyourtrail got into the Top 10 travel innovators at the Phocuswright Asia-Pacific Travel Innovation Summit.

Pickyourtrail – Future Plans

For the next 2-3 years, the Pickyourtrail team will be broadly concentrating on

Acquiring more customers on the digital medium, and try and build its own digital acquisition channel.
Capturing the digital-first audience of tier 2 and tier 3 towns and become their first choice.
Beefing up the tech team and overall tech capabilities, to ensure that its product innovation efforts continue to be one of the best in the industry.
There is also a larger focus on taking the product global. End of the day there is a European going to the US or an Australian going to Bali and the product is suitable even for them, and the Pickyourtrail team wants to tap this huge global customer base.

“At our very heart, we want to create happiness and not sell packages. We aspire Pickyourtrail to be the go to platform for do it yourself vacations and unite like minded travelers” – Hari Ganapathy.

FAQs

What is the Pickyourtrail company?

Pickyourtrail is a platform founded in 2014, which enables the users to create, customise and book their vacations. The startup aims to remove all the pains associated with the planning of vacations for travelling enthusiasts and other individuals.

Who is the Pickyourtrail founder?

Hari Ganapathy, and Srinath Shankarnarayanan are the founders of Pickyourtrail.

What is the name of the Pickyourtrail CEO?

The Pickyourtrail CEO is not yet confirmed by the company but Pickyourtrail has many CEOs among its investors, including Girish Matrubootham, Kumar Vembu, Kunal Shah, Shyam Sekhar and others.

Where is the Pickyourtrail headquarters?

The Pickyourtrail headquarters are located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

April 16, 2022

Top 4 Best Cities for Emerging Startups in India 2022 | Startup Hubs in India
A nascent stage startup is no different from a toddler—it needs to be nurtured with utmost care and conditioned for tackling the challenges that lie ahead. To provide this grooming, several cities in India are preparing themselves for incubating and bolstering entrepreneurial ventures.

The global buzz surrounding the startup mentality has made it more important than ever to create a breeding ground for innovation and creativity, and it’s great to see that India is also taking this seriously. This has given rise to a number of startup hubs across the country, with the quantity increasing continuously.

There has been a paradigm shift when it comes to the importance of 9 to 5 day jobs. Although many Indians still prefer such jobs over conceiving new ventures, some studies report that the number of startups in India has grown over 7 times in the recent decade. Are Indian’s ditching the traditional conception of employment? Quite likely a yes.

According to the reports, the number of Indian startups in 2008 lingered at around 7000. A 2018 study estimated approximately 50,000 startups in existence across India. The startup culture in India has seen tremendous growth. According to a 2021 Global Startup Ecosystem Index by Startup Blink, three cities in India, Bengaluru, Delhi and Mumbai ranked among the top 20 cities globally.

If one was to single out a specific brand or entity that paved way for entrepreneurship in India, it would be Zoho. Then known as AdventNet.inc, Zoho offers productive tools (Document processing, etc.). It began in 1996 and amplified the “startup” trend in India.

Here is a list of some of the best cities for startups in India that are providing startups and initiatives to the pedestal to grow and make name for themselves. With the penetration of more international tech giants, most of these cities are changing into the IT hubs of India.

Top 4 Startup Cities in India
Emerging Startup Cities in India

Flaunt your startup with StartupTalky

800+ stories, thousands of founders, and millions of visitors. Want to be the next?

StartupTalky is where founders, entrepreneurs, startups and businesses hang out and look up to for inspiration. If you have the means, we have the medium! Inviting founders and startups who are building sustainable solutions from ground zero! Startups who run the show, StartupTalky will let the world know!

Request Feature at StartupTalky

Top 4 Startup Cities in India

Bangalore

Bangalore City

Bengaluru, once known as the startup capital of India before it was dethroned by Delhi which added 5000 startups against 4,514 in Bengaluru from 2019 to 2021.

Bengaluru has been the womb to big shots like Ola and Flipkart. The city houses various technical and analytical firms, an enticement for budding and established entrepreneurs.

Rightly christened as the Silicon Valley of India, Bangalore is the perfect amalgamation of the corporate lifestyle and vibrant social life. Home to the country’s top technical and managerial institutions (IIM, Bangalore and IISC) and a strong industry connection, there’s no shortage of opportunities in this city. It is known as the best city for startups in India.

Even freelancers across the country have an inclination towards working out of Bangalore; such is the lure of the city. Other countries are becoming cognizant of the strategic significance of this south Indian city—large organizations are adamant about having at least one of their offices in Bangalore. This creates an extensive network highly beneficial to ventures and initiatives seeking support and guidance.

On the other hand, startups based out of Bangalore are expanding their operations and services beyond India. With the city in dire need of renovation and re-modelling (lack of space and water issues being some reasons for worry), the inevitable transformation of Bengaluru will open up new avenues for entrepreneurs. The city is also among the top IT startups in India.

Delhi

Delhi City

Delhi, the startup capital of India is the center of India that commands the respect of its own, Delhi is the seat of political power and this lends a greater hand to the startup ecosystem flourishing there. Having a stronghold in telecommunication and media, Delhi has been a destination for various entrepreneurship-related meetups and conferences, with the Government of India promoting and publicizing a majority of these events.

The close vicinity to Delhi has enabled both Noida and Gurugram to establish themselves as startup hubs. A trade and commerce place historically, Delhi has seen the rise of tech startups such as Hike and Paytm, food tech startups like Zomato, and Shopclues belonging to the e-commerce segment.

With booming infrastructure and ease of business, Delhi is counted among the top cities for startups in India where foreign behemoths like Samsung are exploiting Noida and Gurugram to the fallest; Samsung recently opened the “world’s largest mobile factory” in Noida. These regions entail a huge potential for growth along with a thriving network of investors and entrepreneurs. The presence of centres of excellence like IIT, DU and IIFT (to name a few) means there’s no shortage of expertise.

Hyderabad

Hyderabad City

Traditionally known as the city of pearls, this city in Southern India is witnessing a rise in foreign investments and the number of successful startups blossoming on its land. Hyderabad can be called the second IT hub of India after Bangalore.

With many international giants like Microsoft, Google, and Uber setting up their offices in Hyderabad, the city is slowly yet steadily catching up with Bengaluru as a startup hub. Top institutes like ISB, IIIT, and BITS being located in Hyderabad is icing on the cake—alumni from these places are directly incubating their ventures in Hyderabad.

The support from the State Government has encouraged entrepreneurs to make the best out of unrealized opportunities Hyderabad has on offer. The State Government is vesting time and money in organizing and setting up conferences, hackathons, state initiatives, and development centres—everything geared towards making Hyderabad synonymous with entrepreneurship. It is even slackening on policies and procedures to showcase the city as a favourable incubator!

Mumbai

Mumbai City

The city of dreams, also the home to some of the world’s wealthiest businessmen, has only recently been dethroned by Bangalore when it comes to India’s favourite startup destination. Mumbai is still the first choice for anyone who is into non-technical startups as it is India’s financial capital.

One of India’s most recognized institutions, IIT Bombay has been instrumental in cultivating the startup ecosystem across the nation, being the birthplace of many wildly successful startups. Moreover, alumni from this esteemed college have gone on to make name for themselves across countries through their initiatives. It’s a proud feeling to say that many globally recognized brands are the outcomes of the toil put in by IIT Bombay grads and post-grads. It is among the best cities for startups in India.

BookMyShow, JustDial, and Cleartrip are only scratch the surface of the plethora of startups to have emanated from this sea-facing city. With conglomerates like L&T and Tata group setting up their offices in Mumbai, the financial hub has seen a steep growth in the economy, employment, and business. But the rising cost of living and real estate in Mumbai has caused a few unicorn enterprises such as Ola to shift base. In spite of such issues, Mumbai will continue to dominate the entrepreneurship segment, come hell or high water.

Emerging Startup Cities in India

With big cities gradually losing their shine and attraction, many emerging startups are focusing on tier 2 cities for growth and sustenance. Some cities have seen a surge in entrepreneurial activities and have made it big in the last 3-4 years. Some of the emerging startup cities in India are:
- Ahmedabad
- Gurugram
- Pune
- Chennai
- Kolkata
- Nagpur
- Chandigarh
- Indore
- Goa
- Bhubaneswar
- Lucknow
- Surat
The Government setting up a tech park called GIFT City in Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar, Pune becoming a smart city, and Chennai emerging as a host to entrepreneurial discussions and events—smaller cities are gaining traction. Cheap land rates, low cost of living, remarkable talent yet to be utilized, and lucrative government policies have made these cities the future of the Indian startup ecosystem.

FAQ

Which city has the most startups in India?

Delhi has dethroned Bengaluru and now ranks in the first position for the most number of startups in India.

Which city is known as the startup capital of india?

Delhi is known as the startup capital of India.

Which is the best city for startups in India?

Some best cities for startups in India are Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Noida, and Pune.

What is the best city to start a business in India?

Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru are some of the best cities to start a business in India.
February 21, 2022

Yap – Transforming Every Business Into a Fintech

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 Yap.

Technology has transformed the way financial transactions and operations happen. Today making and accepting payments, receiving loans, everything has become simpler than ever before. All thanks to tech startups, that are coming up with amazing products that have made financial operations much easier for financial institutions, business owners, and consumers. Chennai-based ‘Yap’ is one such startup that this revolutionizing the way banks and other financial institutions offer services to their customers. Yap provides tools that let banks and financial institutions design customized and convenient solutions for their customers. Here is more about Yap.

Yap – Company Highlights

Startup Name	Yap
Also Known As	M2P Solutions
Headquarters	Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Industry	Fintech
Founders	Madhusudanan R, Prabhu R
Founded	Nov 14, 2014
CEO	Madhusudanan R.
Website	www.m2pfintech.com

Yap – About
Yap – Latest News
Yap – Founders and Team
Yap – Startup Story
Yap – Mission and Vision
Yap – Logo
Yap – Business Model and Revenue Model
Yap – Employees
Yap – Funding and Investors
Yap – Growth
Yap – Competitors
Yap – Future Plans
Yap – FAQs

Yap – About

Yap offers a payments-as-a-service infrastructure that can handle all types of retail payment assets. Yap’s Application Programming Interface (API) platform allows digital platforms, fintech companies, and offline businesses to offer personalized solutions to their end customers, by linking them with other fintech platforms and banking and non-banking financial firms.

Yap’s functional APIs, let its clients receive and transfer funds through Wallet & Cards, Cross Border Payments, Gift Cards, Fleet Spends, Just-In-Time Funding, UPI as well as other payment methods. Consumer, corporate, small business, and credit card loans are among the products it offers.

Yap’s modular platform ‘bank in a box’ enables its clients to offer products such as opening bank account, credit, online payment, toll payment, foreign exchange solutions, etc.

Many companies in Nepal, India, New Zealand, the UAE, Australia, and the Philippines are served by YAP. Around 20 Indian banks, including ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, and RBL Bank, as well as numerous consumer internet companies like Ola, Cred, Swiggy, and also large NBFCs like Muthoot, TVS Credit, Bharat pe, Razorpay, Finin, etc use YAP’s services on the lending space.

Yap – Latest News

In March 2021, Yap raised $10 Million in funding from investors like Flourish Ventures and Omidyar Network India. The fundraising round included participation from YAP’s current investors, including Beenext, 8i Ventures, and Better Capital.

“We are uniquely poised to cater to new cohorts of distributors as more firms embed financial services into their digital platforms. This investment allows us to strengthen our technology teams, build new capabilities as well as reach new markets across Asia,” Madhusudanan R, co-founder at Yap, said.

Yap – Founders and Team

Yap was founded by Madhusudanan R and Prabhu R.

Madhusudanan R

Madhusudanan R is the Chief Executive Officer & Founder at YAP. He is a fintech entrepreneur with deep-rooted experience in building and scaling Payments businesses across Asia.

Prabhu R

Prabhu R is the Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer at YAP.

Yap – Startup Story

Madhusudanan R. and Muthukumar A and came up with the Yap idea during the office tea breaks. The founders who worked at Visa Inc in Mumbai from 2010 to 2012, often realized how big banks were lagging behind in digitizing their services. The focus of these conversations was always on how the financial industry might fix this problem. Finally, Madhusudanan and Muthukumar, came up with a solution themselves and founded Yap in 2014.

The Yap founders observed how banks work in India, through their combined expertise of over a decade working for Visa, Citibank, and Paypal. They understood that due to their aversion to developing new digital products, banks were unable to reach a whole new set of clients. Yap is a solution to these problems, Yap’s is empowering many banks, financial institutions, and businesses to offer various customized solutions to its customers.

YAP’s unique API (application programming interface) gives banks and fintech businesses the tools they need to create new payment systems. This shortens the time it takes for these businesses to acquire consumers who want simple and quick electronic payment options.

“When we started, banks in India didn’t use any APIs. In other markets, like the US, this phenomenon started ten years ago. In India, it started around 2014–15, when a few digital payment companies started to grow,” Madhusudanan, co-founder of YAP, told.

The firm claims to deal with 15 banks in India at the moment. Apart from providing an API for payment integration, including UPI payments, YAP also assists them in acquiring corporate clients, which are often digital financial institutions such as neobanks or the fintech divisions of big corporations.

“They don’t have to spend any money on this, and they can reach a lot larger audience without having to spend money on client acquisition,” Madhusudanan explained.

Yap – Mission and Vision

Yap’s mission statement says, “We are focused on user experience and customer retention. We are constantly thinking of new use cases and ways to serve our customers across all their financial needs as seamlessly woven into their daily routine life as possible.”

YAP is on a mission to transform every business into a fintech.

Yap – Name & Logo

Company Logo of Yap

Yap – Business Model and Revenue Model

Yap provides B2B tech solutions to financial institutions and businesses. The YAP platform connects companies to licensed banks, financial institutions, and financial infrastructure such as UPI/card networks through its extensive Application Programming Interface (API) libraries. Within a few weeks, a company may connect to YAP’s platform, choose goods and banking partners, and roll out financial products to its consumers or vendors. In addition, YAP oversees essential continuing activities like reconciliations and compliance monitoring. YAP now serves over 200 fintech with an API platform.

Yap – Employees

Rajesh Wadhwa – Chief Business Officer
Prabhu R – Co-Founder & Chief Operating Officer
Muthukumar A – Chief Technology Officer
Madhusudanan R – Chief Executive Officer & Founder

Yap – Funding and Investors

Date	Round	Amount	Lead Investors
Mar 16, 2021	Series B	₹732M	Flourish Ventures, Omidyar Network India
Apr 21, 2020	Series A	$4.5M	BEENEXT
Feb 13, 2020	Seed Round	₹100M	Amrish Rau

Yap – Growth

Around 20 Indian businesses, including ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, and RBL Bank, as well as numerous prominent consumer internet companies like Ola and PaisaBazaar, use the service.

“We are uniquely poised to cater to new cohorts of distributors as more firms embed financial services into their digital platforms. This investment allows us to strengthen our technology teams, build new capabilities as well as reach new markets across Asia,” Madhusudanan said.

The 6-year-old firm offers comprehensive Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to banks, startups, and consumer online businesses. The new funds (raised in March 2021) will be utilized to expand into foreign markets and bolster the team with new hires.

Yap – Competitors

The top competitors of Yap are

Open Bank Project
Decentro
TrueLayer
Teller, Inc.
Plaid
Konsentus
Figo
Quovo
Instantor.

Lendingkart – Meeting the Working Capital Needs of MSMEs

An ex-ISRO scientist and a CA came forward to build a startup that is helping MSMEs acquire working capital. Read the full story of Lendingkart here

StartupTalkyChayanika Goswami

Yap – Future Plans

Yap’s major plans include expansion to new geographies and expanding the team. According to Madhusudanan R, co-founder of YAP, the company intends to grow to Bangladesh, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt, Vietnam, and Indonesia.

India’s rapidly digitizing financial environment, according to Amol Warange, head of Omidyar Network India, would provide chances for YAP to expand.

“We think that digital enablers like YAP can catalyze financial inclusion and promote adoption of financial products among the next 500 million Indians who are projected to access the internet for the first time via their mobile phones” Warange added.

Yap – FAQs

What does Yap do?

Yap offers a payments-as-a-service infrastructure that can handle all types of retail payment assets. The company’s platform links banks, financial institutions, enterprises, payment networks, and merchants to build an interoperable payment platform that allows businesses to quickly design and carry out their own customized payment solutions.

Which country is Yap based in?

Yap is a Chennai-based, Indian fintech company.

Who founded Yap?

Yap was founded by Madhusudanan R and Prabhu R.

Which companies do Yap compete with?

Open Bank Project, Decentro, TrueLayer, Teller, Inc., Plaid, Konsentus, Figo, Quovo, and Instantor are the top ten competitors of YAP.

November 4, 2021

FreightBro – For a Smooth Freight Forwarding Experience

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 FreightBro.

In a world, where everything is accessible on the screen touch of the smartphones, it wouldn’t be a surprise if we had a technology that made the logistics process swift and easy as a fiddle. One such initiative is FreightBro founded by Raghavendran Viswanathan, Mohammed Zakkiria, and V Anand Babu in the year 2016. FreightBro is an intuitive digital platform that enables forwarders to procure rates faster, reduce inefficiencies, boost sales, make data-driven decisions and provide a seamless customer experience.

Read the full article to know more about FreightBro, Founders & Team, Funding & Investors, Future Plans, Awards & Recognition, and its Business Model and many more.

FreightBro Highlights

Startup Name	FreightBro
Headquarter	Chennai
Co-founders	Raghavendran Viswanathan, Mohammed Zakkiria & V Anand Babu
CEO	Raghavendran Viswanathan
Sector	Freight Technology
Founded	October, 2016
Parent Organization	FreightBro Logistics Pvt. Ltd
Website	freightbro.com

FreightBro – Recent News
FreightBro – About & How It Works?
FreightBro – USP
FreightBro – Target Market
FreightBro – Founders & Team
FreightBro – How It All Started?
FreightBro – Name, Tagline & Logo
FreightBro – Business & Revenue Model
FreightBro – Funding & Investors
FreightBro – Partenrships
FreightBro – Startup Challenges
FreightBro – Competitors
FreightBro – Awards & Recognitons
FreightBro – Future Plans
FreightBro – FAQ’s

FreightBro – Recent News

Jan 2020 – FreightBro Becomes the First Indian Company to Integrate Maersk Spot on its Digital Platform. FreightBro now allows to book container space online with Maersk Spot APIs

Oct 2019 – FreightBro becomes first Indian startup to join Digital Hub Logistics Hamburg

Jun 2019 – FreightBro started to digitize UAE’s freight and logistics industry. FreightBro Signs MoU With The National Association of Freight and Logistics, Dubai

FreightBro – About & How It Works?

FreightBro is an online freight marketplace where we provide end-to-end digital solutions to shippers and freight forwarders. We aim to equip the forwarders with latest freight rate automation tool which not only enables them to generate instant freight rates but also allows them to get competitive freight quotes, online.

The idea behind FreightBro is to democratize technology for freight forwarders and enable them to digitize their services to deliver an exceptional user experience. The mission here is to enable the digitization of global trade. Digitization of global trade can be attained by making technology accessible to freight forwarders. FreightBro helps tackle shipment inefficiencies and uplift the freight forwarding experience with solutions such as rate management, price discovery, instant quote creation, quote management, shipment management, shipment tracking all on a single platform.

As SaaS (Software as a Service) based company, FreightBro offers web and mobile-based applications to forwarders & 3PLs which can digitize their key processes like sales, procurement, operations and give an end to end visibility to their customers. Digitization here refers to the automation of the manual and repetitive tasks that increase overall efficiencies and reduce logistics costs considerably. FreightBro platform impacts an approximate reduction of 50% of sales costs and 70% of operations costs.

FreightBro – Target Market

The entire logistics market is estimated at 4.3 Trillion which includes 700+ billion 3rd party logistics service providers & 150+ billion freight forwarders. Top 50 players hold major market share. Freight Forwarding is a 150 billion dollar industry globally. The Indian logistics Market size is 17 million TEU. There has been an approximate 10 percent growth year on year for the SME Market and a steady introduction of small and medium-sized players in the industry. Therefore, the demand for digitization is increasing and thus poses a promising potential for growth.

FreightBro – USP

FreightBro is trying to solve issues regarding inefficiencies & speed in the logistics and freight forwarding industry that have never been addressed before. The time taken from inquiry to quote to book to actual cargo movement to visibility & data insights isn’t smooth and comes with major inefficiencies. Multiple communication channels are involved and activity as basic as procuring rates essentially comprises of multiple emails, phone calls or complex spreadsheets. Workflow automation is very much required in everyday operations and here is where FreightBro steps in. This provides real-time visibility and information, data standards and predictive analytics for businesses. FreightBro’s solutions help save 70% time, 50% cost that further increases sales by 30%.

The fact that the FreightBro platform is built to be an enabler is the biggest differentiator as a product in the industry. We built the product around the whole belief that the for the digital revolution to thrive in the industry, it needs more enablers than disruptors – Raghavendran quotes explaining FreightBro’s USP

The FreightBro team believes in enabling the forwarders to grow and stride the digitization wave in the industry rather than disrupting the ecosystem or wiping freight forwarders off. Therefore FreightBro aims to emerge as an enabler of change and not a disruptor in the ecosystem.

FreightBro – Founders & Team

Raghavendran Viswanathan, V Anand Babu, and Mohammed Zakkiria. A. are the co-founders of FreightBro.

Raghavendran Viswanathan | CEO, FreightBro

FreightBro CEO Raghavendran Viswanathan, is responsible for strategizing and managing the team at FreightBro. With his expertise in technology and logistics, he aims to solve the freight forwarding industries’ complex challenges. Before FreightBro, Raghavendran was the Business Development Manager at Panalpina, a Swiss company and one of the world’s leading providers of supply chain solutions. Before Panalpina, he was the Territory Manager at DHL handling diverse responsibilities. He has earlier worked at Vodafone and HCL Technologies in technical roles.

Raghavendran is an MBA in Sales, Distribution, and Marketing from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies, where he was also part of the entrepreneurship cell. He studied engineering from Anna University, Chennai in Electrical and Electronics.

V Anand Babu, Director & Co-founder, FreightBro heads the Partnerships vertical while mentoring and nurturing organizational growth. His primary aim is to research and enable synergies between various partners and vendors enabling organizational growth through the creation of global opportunities.

A veteran in the logistics industry, Anand was associated with AP Moller Maersk Group, a leading logistics company, for over 25 years. Anand has also been a part-time faculty at the Indian Institute of Logistics and was actively involved in social causes as the President of the Rotary Club of Chennai for a significant period.

Mohammed Zakkiria is responsible for strategizing the company’s growth and heads marketing functions. Mohammed quit his well-paying job to realize the dream of solving real-world freight forwarding problems using technology and innovation. He has been involved right from the ideation stage and along with like-minded industry, veterans have built a core team that is rich in extensive industry knowledge and expertise. With over 14 years of experience in international freight forwarding, he has held a broad range of leadership positions across sales, marketing, and global customer management has generated 20+ million sales deals and managed logistics operations of many Fortune 500 companies for their India movements.

Before FreightBro, Mohammed held the position of Sales Head of Cargo Partner, responsible for top-line growth including direct sales and strategic initiatives. He has also been associated with leading organizations such as Panalpina, DHL, and Damco in the past.

Mohammed was born in Pollachi and graduated in Computer science, he also holds a Masters in International Business from Bharathiar University, Coimbatore. Mohammed lives in Chennai with his wife and a daughter and is a startup enthusiast. He is also a keen photographer and loves trekking. He aims to make FreightBro a global brand in logistics technology space and build a solid ecosystem in India.

Mr. Viswanathan worked with Mohammed Zakkiria at Panalpina and they used to brainstorm about how all other industries leveraged technology to improve user experience to drive business and growth. They drew parallels to the logistics industry and intended to do the same for the industry that had overlooked delivering an excellent end-user experience for quite some time. After careful understanding of the business and weighing in the risks of industry adaptation, they met Mohammed’s ex-colleague Anand Babu. The discussion between the trio assured that they were in the right space and time and further led three of them to start FreightBro to simplify freight forwarding processes for hundreds of enterprises globally.

Currently, FreightBro’s employee strength is 70+ between Mumbai and Chennai offices.

FreightBro – How It All Started?

Mr. Viswanathan always wanted to have a business of his own. His career in the logistics sector was an unplanned one and happened by chance post his MBA. Working with DHL and Panalpina gave him an understanding of the logistics and freight forwarding industry and the nuances of the business. His ex-colleague, Mohammed whom he met at Panalpina and now the current partner of FreightBro, played a major role in its inception. After analyzing the business implications and a meeting with Anand Babu (also a current Co-founder at FreightBro), this magnanimous entrepreneurial journey began.

The trio designed an initial MVP (Minimum Viable Product) and regularly did feedback visits with possible customers. About the product validation stage, Raghavendran says-

Feedback visit is when you visit a possible client with the Minimum Viable Product which is still in ideation/ conception and seek their feedback about what they think of the product and will it be a good one. So on one such visit we met our first client, he listened to us and was excited about our product and was kind enough to give suggestions to improve as per the industry

Ideation and prototyping happened together. In B2B SME space, the customers would like to see the product rather than listening to an idea. Hence they went with the first cut of working product to their first customer and the willingness to pay for the skeleton or just the concept was the proof of the pudding.

The FreightBro founders also spoke to one or two representatives from all domains of the supply chain apart from speaking with their potential customers. They wanted to get feedback from the supply chain ecosystem as logistics is just a network-driven play. The team kept correcting their product based on the feedback and strengthened their value proposition.

FreightBro pivoted twice from the initial product. Both times, the pivot was market-driven and to cater to customer needs. The pivot is specific to the Indian market and as a startup, they intend to keep their ears on the ground and pivot if necessary for other markets as well.

FreightBro – Name, Tagline & Logo

Freight forwarders were called FreightBrokers / FreightBrokerage firms in the past. FreightBro is a short form of Freight Broker that just stuck with all the key members as a catchy and relevant title.

FreightBro Logo

The logo is a representation of the digital elements of 1 and 0 as i and o connected by a curve which can also be interpreted as a connection between input and output in a digital context. The colors used are Blue, Orange, and Black each of them representing the ocean, air, and surface respectively.

FreightBro – Business & Revenue Model

FreightBro is a cloud-based SaaS platform and has a pay per user model. It can also work on a per-bill value model.

FreightBro – Funding & Investors

FreightBro raised seed funding in May 2018.

Date	Stage	Amount	Investors
May 2018	Seed	Undisclosed	Suresh Kumar (former global CIO of Bank of New York Mellon)

FreightBro – Partnerships

FreightBro partnered with Port Of Wilhelmshaven, Germany’s only deep-water port situated between the river Ems and Western, as their official digital partner to facilitate trade and digital transformation of shipping. Port Of Wilhelmshaven is the first port to be a part of FreightBro’s official partner ecosystem that consists of all major shipping lines, transporters, insurance companies, trade, and finance entities. It is a significant central transshipment location for bulk commodities. The partnership promises both of them access to each other’s market and connection with stakeholders in respective countries.

FreightBro, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with The National Association of Freight and Logistics, (NAFL), Dubai, to help their 400+ members to digitize their services. With this partnership, the forwarders in the Middle East region can now access import rates of China and India on the go and book shipments instantly. The platform enables them to manage quotations, shipments, communication, and visibility on the go.

Also, they have recently joined the Digital Hub Logistics, Hamburg as the first Indian Startup to join the network of German startups and corporates.

FreightBro – Startup Challenges

Since they do not have direct competition and the product isn’t a regular ERP convincing the industry the need or rather creating a need for it as a solution for logistics way forward was an evident challenge. To convince that this product would be imperative for the survival of a Freight Forwarder without using it in the first go was a challenge. The benefits of the platform can only be understood after a freight forwarder has used it firsthand which was evident from the fact that after one Freight forwarder started using it, the word of mouth marketing worked.

FreightBro – Competitors

There’s no direct competition to FreightBro in the market but that doesn’t mean that it operates in a monopolistic market. There are players like iContainers solutions SL, COGO Freight Pvt Ltd, Cargomatic to only name a few that provide similar and other kinds of services.

FreightBro – Awards & Recognitons

FreightBro has been listed in NASSCOM 10000 Startup-2016 and CIBA- Centre for Incubation and Business Acceleration and Startup India-2017.
Won E-commerce Startup Award at 10th South-East India Cargo & Logistics Awards 2018 (Chennai)
Digital Transformation Award – Finalist at by Lloyd’s Loading List Global Freight Awards 2018 (London)
Best SaaS Solution of the year- 4th Indian ISV Awards under Startup category

FreightBro – Future Plans

They started with bootstrapping mainly. The initial capital came from promoters, friends and family. FreightBro has grown 100 percent quarterly to date. From a bootstrapped startup to a million-dollar revenue in two and a half years, they have come a long way. And they plan to continue working on their IP to ease the workload for freight forwarders and save their time.

FreightBro – FAQ’s

What is FreightBro?

FreightBro is an intuitive digital platform that enables forwarders to procure rates faster, reduce inefficiencies, boost sales, make data-driven decisions and provide a seamless customer experience.

Who is the founder of FreightBro?

Raghavendran Viswanathan, V Anand Babu, and Mohammed Zakkiria. A. are the co-founders of FreightBro.

What services does FreightBro provide?

FreightBro offers web and mobile-based applications to forwarders & 3PLs which can digitize their key processes like sales, procurement, operations and give an end to end visibility to their customers.

Who is the CEO of FreightBro?

Raghavendran Viswanathan is the CEO of FreightBro. He is responsible for strategizing and managing the team at FreightBro.

Which is the targeted market of FreightBro?

The entire logistics market is estimated at 4.3 Trillion which includes 700+ billion 3rd party logistics service providers & 150+ billion freight forwarders.

May 24, 2021

AirOk—One Stop Solution for Air Quality Problems

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.

AirOk is an IIT Madras incubated startup incorporated on April 23, 2015. AirOk was launched with a vision to provide a one-stop solution for any air quality related problems. The company designs and develops cost-effective and efficient green technologies for ambient and indoor air quality management in small/medium scale industrial environment, urban built environment and waste management facilities.

Read this article to know more about AirOk Company Profile, its founder, revenue, funding, wiki, competitors, business model, products, and startup challenges.

AirOk – Company Highlights

Startup Name	AirOk Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Headquarter	Delhi, India
Sector	Clean Tech Startup
Founders	V Deekshith Vara Prasad (Director & CEO), Yasa Pavan Reddy (Director & CTO), V S Krishna (Director & COO)
Founded	2015
Website	airoktech.com

AirOk – About & How It Works?
AirOk – Founders & Team
AirOk – Product
AirOk – How It All Started?
AirOk – Business Model & Revenue Model
AirOk – Startup Challenges
AirOk – Funding & Investors
AirOk – Competitors
AirOk – Growth
AirOk – FAQs
AirOk – Conclusion

AirOk – About & How It Works?

AirOk Logo

AirOk Technologies Pvt. Ltd. is focused on addressing the issue of rising levels of air pollution with innovative solutions in air purifiers, filters, face masks, purifying bags etc. The company specializes in providing customized solutions for both residential as well as commercial set ups, including data centers. AirOk is Headquartered in Delhi, India.

Their flagship solution is EGAPA, a patented filter technology that efficiently reduces high levels of CO2, VOCs and other toxic chemicals, thereby providing a comprehensive indoor air quality solution. Besides providing innovative solutions, the company is also focused on unique designs of the products to enhance user experience and align with today’s design sense of homes and offices.

AirOk – Founders & Team

V Deekshith Vara Prasad, Yasa Pavan Reddy and V S Krishna are the co-founders of AirOk Tech. Pvt. Ltd. that manufactures smart air purifier and the company is focused on addressing the issue of rising levels of air pollution.

V Deekshith Vara Prasad, Director & CEO

Deekshith is a BTech graduate in Civil Engineering at IIT Madras. Deekshith Vara Prasad has worked on air pollution since he undertook the project at his college. Deekshith worked as a project associate at IIT Madras for about a year after his graduation, during which he worked with different companies like Hyundai to assess indoor air quality. He also worked in various Indo-German projects at IIT Madras.

Yasa Pavan Reddy, Director & CTO

Pavan is a MS graduate of IIT Madras who has done his M.S by research in environmental engineering with his thesis on the application of low-cost sensors for air quality monitoring. He also has experience in various air quality, water quality and waste management projects. Yasa Pavan Reddy has 4 research publications in different international conferences.

V S Krishna, Director & COO

Krishna is a MTech graduate from the Civil Engineering at IIT Madras, V S Krishna has worked on the design of Control technologies for Industrial emissions. He has experience in Product Designing and fluid Modelling with Computational Fluid Dynamics. He has done various projects on Indoor and Ambient Air Quality testing.

AirOk – Product

AirOk has designed and developed a revolutionary combination of Air purifiers with high efficiency and performance, equipped with unique design and patented filter technology.

EGAPA Microbes
Suitable for hospitals and other healthcare units, this does not just trap harmful bacteria, but kills them. Available in an affordable range, it is a good alternative for tier 2 hospitals.
EGAPA Fumes
The filter is designed to remove contaminants and other sources of air pollution. It further eliminates the downtime by removing corrosive gases through the process of adsorption and chemisorption.
AirOk Breathe Safe Face mask N 99 + ANBC (Anti Nicotine Bacterial Control)
AirOk Breathe safe face masks come with 5-layered fabric, which includes a charcoal layer, protecting from gaseous and other toxic pollutants. This mask not only captures the particulate matter but can also protect from pollutants, including PM 2.5, automobile gases and dust.
The fabric of the mask comprises two components – spun bond polypropylene and melt blown polypropylene, thereby providing a non-woven web. Due to smaller fibers and larger surface area taken up by them, it has excellent wicking and barrier properties. So together, they can create a strong product that can also offer a barrier to fluids and particles.
AirOk Natural
These are 0dour removal bags for your small indoor spaces, helping you maintain a fresh environment. AirOk Natural odour removal bags go well with your washrooms, car cabins, shoe racks and closets, maintaining an odour-free environment. They are fragrance free, non-toxic and can be used for up to three years.

AirOk – How It All Started?

While undertaking a project at IIT Madras, AirOk founder Deekshith Vara Prasad did a survey on different Indoor air quality solutions. He identified gaps in terms of existing filter technologies (HEPA) and solutions it could not provide in terms of air purification.

When he pursued his tryst for further developing the technology for a comprehensive Indoor air quality solution, he came up with EGAPA (trademark registered to AirOk) filter technology. After seeing the results of the first prototype, he was confident that he had developed something unique, which the market actually requires.

AirOk – Business Model & Revenue Model

The company does direct sales as well as sales through partners and distributors. Ensuring clean air is a service for them. It collaborates with corporate clients as clean air partner for a period of 5 years and provide solution in the form of service. AirOk has done this already with several Fortune500 companies.

One thing that clearly sets them apart from competition is their technical background. Their strength has been technology since inception and they have partnered with their customers more as a clean air consultant rather than sales company.

AirOk – Startup Challenges

AirOk was started with the vision to become a one-stop solution for any air quality related problems. The issue that they have identified is that the incumbent indoor air quality solutions are able to solve the problems just partially, by eliminating few parameters in the indoor air.

The target was to develop a comprehensive indoor air quality solution and they went on to develop unique patented filter technology for the same. During this process, they have faced challenges such as validating the technology by a third-party organization, considering that it is a first of its kind in the league. Finally, they have identified a standard test protocol to validate to the technology that has helped them get into the market.

AirOk – Funding & Investors

The company raised 2 million USD from SAR group in 2017 and used the funds in product manufacturing, launching the same in various markets and future product development. Within two years after their first round of investment, they have grown multi-fold and become profitable. They are now planning to go for second round of funding in next 12 months.

AirOk – Competitors

The USP of the company is its patented filter technology EGAPA – Efficient Granular Adsorbent Particulate Arrestor. Indoor Air quality problem can’t be generalized always to PM2.5. EGAPA was developed to solve the specific problems in various indoor spaces. Each Indoor environment requires its own solution after scientifically assessing the air quality and analyzing the data.

Indoor air quality problem can’t be generalized as it’s not uniform at all places. What differentiates AirOk from competition is that they work closely with their clients as clean air consultants, by addressing their specific air quality needs rather than being a knocking salesman.

AirOk – Growth

First 1.5 years of their journey was dedicated to product development and validation, till early 2017. Once the product got third-party validation from NABL accredited lab, they started raising funds for manufacturing and initial market entry. By the end of 2017, they successfully raised 2-million-dollars funding, enabling the company launch its product in July 2018.

During the initial three months after launch, the co-founders personally conducted product demos at various office spaces in Chennai, in a bid to understand the customer needs. Based on the valuable inputs, they entered the Delhi market and there was no looking back after that.

They are near to touching one-million dollar in revenue this financial year (2020) with a 10x growth rate. The best part of their growth is that they have established themselves as a profitable entity despite launching product in a segment that already comprises almost 300 brands in India.

AirOk – FAQs

What is AirOk?

AirOk Technologies Pvt. Ltd. is focused on addressing the issue of rising levels of air pollution with innovative solutions in air purifiers, filters, face masks, purifying bags etc. The company specializes in providing customized solutions for both residential as well as commercial set ups, including data centers.

Who is the Founder of AirOk?

V Deekshith Vara Prasad, Yasa Pavan Reddy and V S Krishna are the co-founders of AirOk Tech. Pvt. Ltd. that manufactures smart air purifier and the company is focused on addressing the issue of rising levels of air pollution.

How does AirOk make money?

The company does direct sales as well as sales through partners and distributors. Ensuring clean air is a service for them. They collaborate with corporate clients as clean air partner for a period of 5 years and provide solution in the form of service.

How much funding has AirOk raised?

The company raised 2 million USD from SAR group in 2017 and used the funds in product manufacturing, launching the same in various markets and future product development.

AirOk – Conclusion

AirOk has developed the country’s first novel, indigenous air purifier – Vistar. Powered by an EGAPA (Efficient Granular Adsorbent Particulate Arrester), Vistar can filter a variety of pollutants such as particulate matter, microbes, fungus and gaseous substances. The product’s superior technology has been validated by lab and field tests. The positive results of the lab tests done by Shriram Institute for Industrial Research, Bengaluru and field trials conducted by Sri Kanchi Kamakoti Child Trust Hospital, Chennai are a testimony to the team’s ability to develop first-in-class solutions. AirOk launched Vistar air-purifier which will have a coverage area of 550 square feet.

April 11, 2021

VakilSearch- Ease in availing Legal Services like never before!

When it comes to legal matters, we Indians always get a little scared because of the perceived complexities. To kill this preconceived notion and also to make the legal process easier for the common man, Hrishikesh Datar in 2011 came up with this brilliant concept of VakilSearch. Conceived with the mission to provide an one-click access to individuals and businesses for all their legal and professional needs across India, this startup is making legal simple for one and all in the country

VakilSearch – Company Highlights

Startup Name	VakilSearch
Headquarter	Chennai
Founder	Hrishikesh Datar
Sector	Legal Services
Founded	2011
Parent Organization	Uber9 Business Process Services Pvt.Ltd
Website	vakilsearch.com

VakilSearch – About and How it Works
VakilSearch – USP
VakilSearch – Target Market
VakilSearch – Founders and Team
How was VakilSearch Started
VakilSearch – Name, Tagline and Logo
VakilSearch – User Acquisition
VakilSearch – Business Model and Revenue Model
VakilSearch – Revenue
VakilSearch – Startup Challenges
VakilSearch – Competitors
VakilSearch – Advisors and Mentors
VakilSearch – Funding and Investors
VakilSearch – Awards & Recognitions
VakilSearch – Future Plans
VakilSearch – FAQs

VakilSearch – About and How it Works

VakilSearch provides legal services that cover over 300+ services such as Company Registration, Trademark Registration, Property Verification, just to name a few. Additionally, it also has two apps, Libra-The Advocates’ App (a one-stop case management tool) and MySteno – The Virtual Stenographer (helps lawyers draft legal documents in minutes)

As legalities for different sectors and services in India play a crucial role in acquiring registrations for businesses, VakilSearch is addressing the huge need for legal in the country to be made simple. VakilSearch also developed solutions for lawyers and litigators to effectively track cases and manage their cases and clients in one place. Thereby, bridging the gap and simplifying the legal problems and offering a unique solution through technology. Vakilsearch.com is emerging as India’s biggest legal-tech pioneer.

VakilSearch – USP

The unique selling proposition of VakilSearch is that all services are offered 100% online and with quick turnaround time. And the consultation charges for all the services are free of cost.

VakilSearch – Target Market

The online legal market has grown considerably in the last 5 years. There is a growing online market for legal services. It emerges out as a viable opportunity. Day by day, there is an increase in demand.

However, the global legal services market size is anticipated to reach USD 1,045.24 billion by 2025, exhibiting a CAGR of 4.1% over the forecast period, according to a new report by Radiant Insights, Inc. The growing use of latest technologies in offering legal services is expected to drive the market growth. A strong emphasis on ensuring transparency in the relationship with clients is also expected to drive the growth of the market.

VakilSearch – Founders and Team

Hrishikesh Datar is the founder of VakilSearch.

Being an Alumnus of the National Law School of India University, Bangalore, Hrishikesh is a keen Debater and Mooter. With increase of interest towards debating, he was always on a quest to find new approaches about a career in Law.

He realized that “Entrepreneurship as a way of Life”, while starting a T-Shirt business in college. As far as the family is concerned, Law runs in the veins. Hrishikesh’s father is a reputed lawyer in the Madras High Court and Supreme Court, Great-Grand father was a lawyer in Pune and also some of his grand-uncles were lawyers and judges in different courts in Maharashtra.

VakilSearch currently has a team size of 300+ employees.

How was VakilSearch Started

While Hrishikesh Datar, the Founder of Vakilsearch was at LawWeb (a portal to provide quality content for lawyers) showcasing an idea, at IIM, Bangalore, a question from the audience ignited the idea of launching something to ease and simplify the legal industry in India. This planted the initial seed. From there on, it grew into being a provider of every kind of legal solution, online.

VakilSearch- Name, Tagline and Logo

VakilSearch’s naming is plain and simple. People who are looking for legal help can reach out to VakilSearch where the word “Vakil” means lawyer representing legal & legalities and “Search” denotes customers who are seeking.

The tagline of VakilSearch is “Legal is now simple” keeping the message straight and clear.

VakilSearch Logo

VakilSearch – User Acquisition

The very first day the VakilSearch website was launched, it garnered its first customer. After the launch, it’s strategy was obviously like any other startup to acquire more customers through developing its websites and creating a strong presence on all Social Media forums.

Vakilsearch’s primary growth hack has always been focused on rendering good customer service. Additionally, Vakilsearch garners most of its customers through its gateway services. As in, when customers come for Company Registration, they also end up coming for other Mandatory registrations such as Compliance, business license, Tax Registration and so on.

VakilSearch – Business Model and Revenue Model

The VakilSearch business model is Direct Online Marketing. The services are offered at economical pricing in comparison to others in the same field. One of the main reasons customers love VakilSearch is because of the quality it offers at extremely affordable pricing. VakilSearch is the only legal company in India to offer a Subscription-based revenue model for its customers.

VakilSearch- Startup Challenges

Finding the right product mix was VakilSearch’s biggest challenge when it initially began. However, a few months down the line, VakilSearch started helping entrepreneurs set up businesses, aiding them with the documentation, copyright, VAT and service tax registration, and income tax filings. Today it has 300+ services in its product & service range.

VakilSearch- Competitors

Some of the Top VakilSearch competitors are India Fillings, MyOnlineCA, QuickCompany, MeetUrPro, Taxmantra.com, Venture Easy, DoBiz, Filingmantra, Bishnoi Advocats and HiGrit. Besides, there are some amazing apps like Willstar, which can be downloaded for free and takes the pain out of making a will. A similar kit is available on the Amazon marketplace, which costs Rs 399. The kit is self-explanatory and makes it possible to make a will within 15 minutes.

VakilSearch – Revenue

The VakilSearch revenue stood at $2.17M as on Dec 31, 2018 from 1.3M in the Calendar Year 2017

VakilSearch – Advisors and Mentors

Rajiv Luthra has joined hands with VakilSearch as one of its key advisors.

VakilSearch – Funding and Investors

As of Recent Funding, VakilSeacrh raised an undisclosed sum from technology growth investor and the Co-founder of B2B ecommerce platform Udaan, Sujeet Kumar.

Date	Stage	Amount	Investors
2015-2016	Series A over two rounds of Funding	2.5 million	Kalaari Capital
May 2020	–	Undisclosed	Sujeet Kumar

VakilSearch – Awards & Recognitions

VakilSearch has been awarded the Ritz Entrepreneur Summit, 2016. It’s founder Hrishikesh Datar has been recognized as Forbes 30 under 30.

VakilSearch – Future Plans

Besides its headquarter in Chennai, VakilSearch is operating from co-working spaces in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, and Hyderabad.

As per the last fiscal year (2018-19) , the Company’s average annual turn over has been around 30 Crores. VakilSearch is further looking to upscale its business and achieve 3-4 times more than the usual. Its average website traffic month-on-month is 3.5+ lakhs. So far, VakilSearch has catered around 400,000+ customers.

VakilSearch – FAQs

Who is the Founder of VakilSearch?

Hrishikesh Datar is the VakilSearch Founder.

What is VakilSearch?

It is a technology-driven platform, who provides services that cover the legal needs of startups and established businesses. Services include incorporation, government registrations & filings, documentation etc., In addition, it also offers services to individuals, such as property agreements and tax filings.

How much is the revenue of VakilSearch?

VakilSearch’s revenue stood at $2.17M as on Dec 31, 2018 from 1.3M in the Calendar Year 2017.

Who are the Top competitors of VakilSearch?

Online legal platforms that are posing a competition for VakilSearch are India Fillings, MyOnlineCA, QuickCompany, MeetUrPro, Taxmantra.com, Venture Easy, DoBiz, Filingmantra, Bishnoi Advocats and HiGrit.

How does VakilSearch make money?

VakilSearch is the only legal company in India to offer a Subscription-based revenue model for its customers.

What is the tagline of VakilSearch?

The tagline of VakilSearch is “Legal is now simple” keeping the message straight and clear.

March 27, 2021

Boonbox- Taking Online Shopping to Rural India

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 Boonbox.

The advent of e-commerce in India in the past decade has been unprecedented. While a huge chunk of the population in Indian cities are reaping the benefits of e-commerce, the rural areas still remain untouched by the effects of digitization.

With the masterly vision of taking e-commerce to rural India, the co-founders-Ramachandran Ramanathan, Karthik Natarajan, Narayanan launched Boonbox in 2013.

Boonbox – Company Highlights

Startup Name	Boonbox
Headquarter	Chennai
Founder	Ramachandran Ramanthan, Karthik Natarajan & Narayanan
Sector	E-commerce
Founded	2013
Parent Organization	Inthree Access Services Private Limited
Website	inthreeaccess.com

About Boonbox and How it Works
Boonbox – USP
Boonbox – Target Market
Boonbox – Founders and team
How was Boonbox Started
Boonbox – Name, Tagline and Logo
Boonbox – Business Model and Revenue Model
Boonbox – User Acquisition
Boonbox – Startup Challenges
Boonbox – Competitors
Boonbox – Funding and Investors
Boonbox – Advisors and Mentors
Boonbox – Growth
Boonbox – Future Plans

About Boonbox and How it Works

Given the great idea and insight on which this startup is based, this is how the business functions. Boonbox has a local affiliate in each of the towns/villages that they are located in. These local affiliates assist the consumers with the products available in the application. These affiliates place the orders on the consumer’s behalf and collect the money. These products are delivered by Boonbox through their hub & spoke fulfillment model.

In rural areas, there can’t be a platform to start a business as the ecosystem does not exist. Boonbox is an integrated player in this ecosystem. It owns the ecosystem and this is difficult to replicate. Creating connectivity takes time and requires a deep understanding of rural purchase patterns and consumer behavior. And Boonbox team has decades of experience in building rural networks.

The rural ecosystem has a lot of human elements associated with it. There is touch and feel of human connectivity. To be a successful startup in rural India, the required building blocks are human touch, credibility & trust, accompanied by an integrated ecosystem. As Boonbox has been able to selectively identify the relevant trust elements within rural communities and has built them over the years, this platform is viewed as a trusted element in the rural ecosystems. Boonbox pivoted from being a single product seller to a multi-category catalog that empowers the rural customers with choice and convenience. The venture was pivoted in the year 2015.

Boonbox is a technology platform for providing products and services to consumers who live in tier-4 towns and villages and are deprived of access to these products. Through the company’s “Rural Last Mile” logistics network, products are delivered at the doorstep of the consumers in remote villages. Boonbox also ensures that regular follow-up takes place with the customers, and promises them after-sale service to provide a top-class purchase experience.

Boonbox – USP

Boonbox chennai based startup, is an unique venture that aggregates the demand of rural customers and fulfills them by placing an order with the merchant. In simple words, it’s a vehicle to enter the rural markets. The main idea of the startup is to be a desired brand for every rural household and be a part of their everyday lives. Also, Boonbox is of the ideology that every rural customer craves and deserves a top-class customer experience. With Boonbox online shopping has never been easier for the rural population!

Boonbox – Target Market

Boonbox was selling solar lamps in Rural Tamil Nadu and Karnataka during the peak power crisis in 2012-13. While seeking customer feedback, the Boonbox team received responses that indicated demand for Mobile Phones, White Goods (TV, Fridge, Washing Machine) and also Induction Stoves and Mixer Grinders. All these products were wanted by rural consumers during the peak power crisis. Thus, throughout the entrepreneurial journey, seeking customer feedback helped them deduce that Rural Customers are ASPIRATIONAL and CONSUMPTION is driving the Rural Economy.

70 % of India which is close to a billion people live in Rural India. Rural India contributes to 47% of the country’s GDP. And these statistics were sufficient enough to indicate a massive market in a less than 30,000 population towns. These people in those towns were the target market of Boonbox.

” We foresee a consumption explosion in Rural India and expect Rural India to lead India’s economy in the next 5 years.” said the Co-founders of Boonbox positively.

Boonbox – Founders and team

Ramachandran Ramanthan, Karthik Natarajan and Narayanan are the Co-founders of Boonbox.

Co-Founders Boonbox — **Ramachandran Ramanthan, Karthik Natarajan and Narayanan**

The trio has an exciting story about how all of it began! While Ramachandran Ramanathan and Karthik Natarajan were colleagues, they met Narayanan through a common friend. Narayanan had created the rural network in Tamil Nadu for Tata Teleservices and immediately caught on to the potential of the idea. The co-founders then went on to build the team by selling a dream, which made many people leave their lucrative jobs in the corporate world to join in the Boonbox adventure. The fact that they were working in an exotic area, a white space, building for Bharat and also generating cash in the business, attracted many people to the Boonbox team.

Ramachandran Ramanathan is a Chartered Accountant by qualification. He has also held senior management positions in the RPG, ICICI and TVS groups. Boonbox adventure is a great opportunity for him to follow his passion i.e., to create business strategies in uncharted markets and build a great team for scaling the business.

Boonbox co-founder Ramachandran Ramanthan

Karthik Natarajan is a management graduate from a financial services background with stints at Citigroup and Fullerton. Karthik is the ‘Zero to One’ man in the co-founder circle and his strength is his excellent ability to smell business opportunities and develop concepts into businesses.

Narayanan is also a management graduate who worked extensively in the telecom world straddling all the major brands including Airtel and Tata Teleservices. A meticulous planner, he works on business excellence and takes the Boonbox businesses to scale.

How was Boonbox Started

The idea to take on the rural markets with a technology platform struck to the co-founders Ramachandran Ramanathan and Karthik Natarajan when they were working on the TVS group. TVS’s consumer strategy was architected by the late Dr.C.K.Prahalad and focused entirely on capturing the rural markets. These two co-founders were working on creating alternate networks in rural markets and while doing that, the massive potential of this white space dawned upon them.

Boonbox was built based on these two co-founder’s experiences in the rural market. In fact, they did not do any formal market research. Instead, they focused on using customer feedback as a mechanism to drive Boonbox to success.

Boonbox – Name, Tagline and Logo

Specialists were consulted to come up with the name Boonbox. The co-founders finally zoomed in on Inthree which is a Coined Name – coined from the ethos of the business which is the Inner India Initiative. Inthree is the registered name and BoonBox is its customer-facing platform. So Ideally the Boonbox company is a sister concern of Inthree and is launched in select districts of TamilNadu and Karnataka. Which is why the Boonbox website can be accessed from inthreeaccess.com.

Boonbox Logo

Boonbox – Business Model and Revenue Model

The Boonbox business model is simple, it takes orders from rural customers and delivers products to their households. Considering that the rural market has a broken ecosystem and a virtually non-existent distribution network, this venture gets both the distributor and retailer’s margins which makes Boonbox’s Unit Economics very strong.

Boonbox – User Acquisition

Rural India is characterized by a huge trust deficit. Boonbox has sold products to 2.5 million customers to date. Their focus is mainly on customer experience and to ensure that every single customer complaint is addressed on time and they now have 2.5 million happy customers. The rural market works on word of mouth marketing and Boonbox is a formidable brand now. Hence the key strategy for Boonbox has been to focus on customer experience since the initial days.

Boonbox – Startup Challenges

Rural is a white space, the founders had no benchmarks to follow. The company’s business model was formulated after multiple iterations and is not more than three years old. The model is based on continuous learning and building on the co-founder’s experiences. Also, It is not something that others can replicate over a short period. Boonbox is consistently working towards solving two major challenges :

Gaining the trust of consumers living in towns and villages with a population of 30,000 and below
Catering to customers who live in locations without a proper address or pin code. In such areas, it’s important to ensure that products reach customers on time.

This venture is the pioneer in this field and the co-founders are continuously trying their experiments and learning from them. There have been as many failed experiments as successful ones, as the business itself is one huge hack!

Boonbox – Competitors

Though Boonbox does not have any direct competition in the market. But unicorns like Flipkart, Snapdeal and Amazon have been trying to get inroads in rural markets, some e-commerce startups like iPay and StoreKing solely focus on rural markets.

Boonbox – Funding and Investors

Boonbox has raised a total funding worth INR 34 Crores in two rounds till date.

Date	Stage	Amount	Investors
August, 2014	Angel	9 Crores	IAN, Keiretsu Forum Chennai
August, 2018	Series A	25 crores	Ventureast, Orios & IAN Fund

Boonbox – Advisors and Mentors

Boonbox does have mentors who have contributed their ideas in Business Strategy, Customer Experience and HR throughout the entrepreneurial journey.

Boonbox – Growth

Boonbox operates in 16 States. This includes acquiring customers and delivering products to 3,00,000 villages which accounts for 47% of India’s universe of villages. Since inception and till date, Boonbox has sold products in rural markets totaling to INR 450 Crores.

Boonbox is the largest rural partner for Samsung mobiles and has been the largest partner for them for the last three consecutive years. Some of the other products and brands include:

Consumer durable: Samsung, Panasonic, LG, Whirlpool
Kitchen appliances: Prestige, Preethi, Premier, Jaipan, Hawkins, Butterfly

Boonbox – Future Plans

The Co-founders are expecting to close 2019 with a turnover of INR 300 Crores, and with a Gross Profit of INR 75 Crores. They are expecting to reach a turnover of INR 1,000 Crores by 2022.

The long-term plan of the venture is to be a pan India player, providing products at customer’s doorstep in remote villages and that too backed by top-notch customer experience. Given that the following are the goals for the coming decade:

Become a multi-service offering for the rural consumer
Building a robust direct channel for selling to the consumer with a fintech offering
Adding categories like FMCG, fashion, apparel to the product mix in addition to mobile phones, consumer durables, kitchen appliances, and cookware
Designing subscription models that can be relevant for the rural consumer
Creating loyalty and membership programs to build long term value for customers

There’s ideally nothing better than growing together. Boonbox’s initiative of empowering rural India with the services that they deserve is a marvelous concept. After all, great businesses are always built out of satisfying needs rather than creating wants.

Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs

Who are the Founders of Boonbox?

The Co-founders of Boonbox are Ramachandran Ramanthan, Karthik Natarajan and Narayanan.

What is Boonbox?

Boonbox is an unique venture that aggregates the demand of rural customers and fulfills them by placing an order with the merchant on their behalf and delivers it to the individuals.

Is Boonbox only available in Chennai?

No, Boonbox operates in 16 States including Chennai and are planning on expanding further.

March 16, 2021

All You Need to Know About BankBazaar – The Pioneer Indian Fintech Company

Selecting suitable financial instruments is a must for growing your money. Your choice of financial instruments play a decisive role in achieving your financial goals. However, with a host of options available, it is tough to find the best deal. BankBazaar came into being to solve this very problem. BankBazaar lets you easily compare the various saving and investment options available in the market, so that you can find the best one that suits you.

Headquartered in Chennai, BankBazaar is a dynamic online marketplace with a conscious initiative to inculcate financial awareness among the Indian consumers by giving them instant and customized rates on the wide array of financial instruments present in the Indian Financial market.

Bankbazaar was Founded in 2008 by Adhil Shetty, Arjun Shetty, and Rati Shetty, BankBazaar is an initiative to provide a long-awaited solution to the rigged Indian banking system. In the industry of fintech startups, BankBazaar has set a different stratum for itself over the years.Here we have curated some vital and interesting facts and figures about BankBazaar, that will let you get an insight of this esteemed company.

BankBazaar Highlights

Startup Name	BankBazaar
Headquarter	Chennai
Sector	Fintech
Founders	Adhil Shetty, Arjun Shetty & Rati Shetty
Founded	2008
Parent Organization	A&A Dukaan Financial Services
Website	www.bankbazaar.com

About BankBazaar and How it Works
BankBazaar – Founder
How was BankBazaar Started
BankBazaar – Business Model and Revenue Model
BankBazaar – Funding and Investors
BankBazaar – Competitors
BankBazaar – Growth

About BankBazaar and How it Works

BankBazaar is all about aiding the consumers with better rates and more awareness as to what goes into the financial markets. BankBazaar.com is the world’s first neutral online marketplace that gives customers instant customized quotes on loans, credit cards, mutual funds & insurance products.

One can instantly search for, compare and apply for loans, credit cards, mutual funds, and insurance products on the site. Having partnered with India’s leading financial institutions & insurance firms, BankBazaar provides great deals aptly.

BankBazaar – Founder

Adhil Shetty, Arjun Shetty, and Rati Shetty are the founders of BankBazaar.

Adhil Shetty is the CEO of BankBazaar. Adhil graduated from the well renowned Columbia University of New York in International finance and Business after taking an engineering degree from College of Engineering, Guindy, this man has had a fair share of versatility required in the field. Before co-founding BankBazaar, he was a senior consultant at Deloitte.

BankBazaar COO Arjun Shetty, has a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the College of Engineering, Guindy and a master’s degree in Operations Research from the Georgia Institute of Technology. Before co-founding BankBazaar, Arjun was working as a Senior Product Manager at Amazon.

Rati Shetty is the CPO of BankBazaar, Born into a family of entrepreneurs she was always naturally inclined to be an entrepreneur. She backed a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from MOP Vaishnav College in Chennai. After completing her higher education, she spent a couple of years working in Taipei and Miami.

How was BankBazaar Started

All of this dates back to 2007 when one of the co-founders – Rati Shetty was trying to avail a home loan with her husband Arjun Shetty. And the couple realized that getting a home loan in India was not at all easy. They approached several banks and soon were very frustrated as the whole process was both cumbersome and time-consuming.

As a result, Rati wanted to crack a quick solution to the home loan application process. She did this by turning an entrepreneur who would make the entire process easy. And that’s how the idea of BankBazaar germinated in her mind which she started with Arjun and his brother Adhil Shetty in 2008.

BankBazaar – Business Model and Revenue Model

The whole business model of BankBazaar revolves around the fact that they need to manufacture a totally paperless loaning stage and alter the way customer credits are passed out.

BankBazaar offers its clients the choice to apply for all types of loans namely Personal Loans, Car Loans, Home Loans, Credit Cards, Fixed Deposits, Health Insurance, Life Insurance, and Car Insurance. And these are some of the revenue yielding sources for this Fintech platform BankBazaar.

According to a report by Inc 42, in FY16-17, the operational revenue of BankBazaar stood at INR 53.92 Crore, with total revenues of INR 71.16 Crore. And in FY 17-18, BankBazaar closed a revenue of INR 240 Crores. In October the same year, one of the founders, Adhil stated that the BankBazaar platform got close to 23 million visitors, marking a 100% growth from October 2016 which only saw close to 11.5 million visitors.

BankBazaar – Funding and Investors

In 2017, this fintech platform BankBazaar made quite a few headlines for raising a massive $30 Million from the credit reporting agency, Experian. BankBazaar has also raised INR 375 Crore Series C funding.

Further, to put higher stakes on their international aspirations and increase the profit margins, the company had committed to invest close to $3 Million for expansion in countries like Singapore and Malaysia each.

To date, it has raised $110 Million through funding from marquee investors such as Sequoia Capital, Amazon, Fidelity Growth Partners, , Experian among others. Here is a detailed table of the funding raised by BankBazaar till date-

Date	Stage	Amount	Lead Investors
March, 2011	Series A	$6Million	Walden International
January, 2014	Series B	$13Million	Sequoia Capital India
July, 2015	Series C	$60 Million	Amazon
October, 2017	Series D	$30 Million	Experian Ventures

BankBazaar – Competitors

BankBazaar compititors are some companies like Policy Bazaar, Easypolicy, My Insurance Club to name a few. Though BankBazaar is one of the first fintech startups that simplified the complex task of choosing saving and investment tools for the Indian customers, these competitors are growing to acquire a fair share in the market.

BankBazaar – Growth

With a team strength of over 1000, today BankBazaar is a trusted marketplace for many who are seeking profitable financial instruments for investment. The company claims that in the year 2018, 169 million unique visitors visited BankBazaar’s website to buy financial products.

BankBazaar started with a few products on its website back in 2008, has now grown to offer a versatile range of financial products that include loans, credit cards, insurance and mutual funds from around 85 partners across the website and mobile application.

Moreover, with 85 financial institutions on board, BankBazaar added close to 15 to 20 new financial institutions in 2017. Also, BankBazaar added new products to its portfolio including two-wheeler insurance and free consumer credit score in association with Experian. Bank Bazaar also moved on to add completely paperless mutual funds in its versatile product mix.

According to certain reports, the CEO and co-founder of BankBazaar, Adhil attributes this growth to the company’s significant push towards ‘paperless’ deployment of financial products. At present, close to 60% of their total products on the platform are offered in a paperless digital manner thus not requiring customers to submit any physical documents.

Frequently Asked Questions About BankBazaar

When was BankBazaar founded?

BankBazaar was founded in 2008.

Who are BankBazaar’s competitors?

BankBazaar’s top competitors are Coverfox, Easypolicy, PolicyBazaar.

What is the bankbazaar business model?

BankBazaar’s revenue comes from applications-based commission from banks. There is no commission or charge to customers.

How many employees does BankBazaar have?

BankBazaar has a team of 1050 employees at 5 offices.

Where is BankBazaar’s headquarters?

BankBazaar’s headquarters is in Chennai Tamil Nadu, IN

Who is BankBazaar’s CEO?

BankBazaar’s CEO is Adhil Shetty.

How much revenue does BankBazaar generate?

BankBazaar’s operating revenue grew to INR. 103 Crore.

What is BankBazaar?

BankBazaar.com is the world’s first neutral online marketplace that gives customers instant customized quotes on loans, credit cards, mutual funds & insurance products.

What is BankBazaar credit score?

A credit score is a 3-digit number between 300 and 900 that describes the credit merit of a credit card holder or of an individual who has taken a loan. Same works for Bankbazaar credit score. In order to grant a loan in India, the potential lenders use the credit scores calculated by CIBIL TransUnion, Experian, Equifax or CRIF High Mark.

March 5, 2021

Tag: Chennai Startups

Ayurveda at the Click of Your Smartphone: The Success Story of India Shoppe

India Shoppe – Company Highlights

India Shoppe – About

India Shoppe – Founders and Team

India Shoppe – The Idea and Startup Story

India Shoppe – Vision

India Shoppe – Products

India Shoppe – Business Model and Revenue Model

India Shoppe – Challenges Faced

India Shoppe – Revenue Growth

India Shoppe – Tools Used in the Company

India Shoppe – Achievements & Recognitions

India Shoppe – Future Plans

FAQs

When was India Shoppe founded?

Who is the founder of India Shoppe?

What are the products of India Shoppe?

List of Successful Startups in Chennai [Exhaustive List 2022]

Flaunt your startup with StartupTalky

1. Sulekha

Founder: Satya Prabhakar

Year Founded: 1996

Industry: Service Directory

2. Netmeds

Founder: Pradeep Dadha

Year Founded: 2015

Industry: Online Pharmacy

3. BankBazaar

Founder: Rati Shetty

Year Founded: 2008

Industry: FinTech

4. Flintobox

Founders: Arunprasad Durairaj, Vijaybabu Gandhi, and Shreenidhi Srirangam

Year Founded: 2013

Industry: Education

5. Zoho

Founders: Sridhar Vembu and Tony Thomas

Year Founded: 1996

Industry: Software Development

6. Chrysalis

Founder: Chitra Ravi

Year Founded: 2001

Industry: Education

7. Lawbot

Founder: Manasvini Krishna

Year Founded: 2016

Industry: LegalTech

8. Freshworks

Founder: Girish MathruboothamYear Founded: 2012Industry: Cloud-Based Business Management Applications Provider

9. Wandertrails

Founders: Vishnu Menon, Pranav Kumar, Sruti Chander, Hari Nair, and Narayan Menon

Year Founded: 2016

Industry: Travel and Tourism

10. PipeCandy

Founders: Murali Vivekanandan, Ashwin Ramaswamy, and Shrikanth Jagannathan

Year Founded: 2016

Industry: E-commerce Analytics

11. BigFday

Founder: Utkarsh Singhania

Year Founded: 2014

Industry: Event Management

12. Perfint Healthcare

Founder: S Nandakumar

Year Founded: 2005

Industry: Healthcare

13. Avaza

Founder: Ajit Narayanan

Year Founded: 2014

Industry: Technology

14. Financial Software Systems (FSS

Founder: Nagaraj Mylandla

Year Founded: 1991

Industry: Electronic payment

15. Servion

Founders: Kavikkal Balakrishnan and N Raghunandan

Year Founded: 1991

Industry: Application Software

16. Adjutas

Founder: Ani

Founder: Girish Mathrubootham
Year Founded: 2012
Industry: Cloud-Based Business Management Applications Provider