Tag: Delhi startups

WinZO: Revolutionizing Social Gaming with Innovation and Growth

Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations.

The Indian online gaming industry is flourishing with a wide variety of games that are letting young and old indulge in them. Among all other outdoor games including cricket, football, kabaddi, and basketball, India is also witnessing a rise in the popularity of several indoor games like ludo, pool, carrom, free fire, and more, which are also letting the gamers of India rewarded with real cash prizes among a list of other rewards.

The large youth population and the rapid penetration of the internet have made the country really witness a gaming revolution that includes fantasy sports and social gaming platforms over the past decade or so. To name one of the most popular gaming hubs in India is to talk about WinZO. The New Delhi-based social gaming platform is well-known for offering monetary benefits and prizes to players from around the country.

Founded by Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore in 2018, WinZO has been ingeniously developed as a vernacular gaming platform to tap into the Indian audiences hailing from Tier 2, 3, and 4 cities.

WinZO offers an array of popular games from PubG to cricket, rummy, and more, which make up an enviable collection of 100+ games that reward users online. Read about WinZO Games, Founders and Team, Business model, Revenue Model, Growth, Funding and Investors, Name, Tagline, Logo, Awards, Challenges, Future Plans, and more.

WinZO – Company Highlights

Startup Name	WinZO
Founders	Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore
Founded	2018
Headquarters	New Delhi, Delhi, India
Industry	ESports, Gaming
Website	www.winzogames.com

About WinZO and How it Works?
WinZO – Industry | Target Market Size
WinZO – Founders and team
WinZO – Startup Story | How was WinZO Started?
WinZO – Mission and Vision
WinZO – USP and Innovation
WinZO – Name, Tagline, and Logo
WinZO – Business Model and Revenue Model
WinZO Financials
WinZO – Startup Challenges
WinZO – Funding and Investors
WinZO – Acquisitions
WinZO – Advertisements and Campaigns
WinZO – Advisors and Mentors
WinZO – Recognition and Achievements
WinZO – Future Plans

About WinZO and How it Works?

WinZO is a microtransactions-powered vernacular entertainment platform, which has 100+ games served in 5 formats to users in 10+ regional languages. The diverse game offerings include hyper-casual games such as Candy Crush, Metro Surfer, Carrom, Chess, Ludo, and Pool to Mid-core flagship esports IPs like Free Fire.

WinZO is a member of the All India Gaming Federation (AIGF) and FICCI. It is also known as the proud sponsor of Patna Pirates, Gujarat Giants, and Bengal Warriors.

WinZO is built with the idea of emerging as the ‘Netflix of Gaming’- one platform with games to play with your friends. To boost the gaming infrastructure in the country, WinZO partners with individual, mid-size, and large global studios to bring a variety of games to its users on a single platform.

The social gaming startup also helps the developers improve their revenue by providing them with an alternative and a far more efficient model of monetization led by microtransactions rather than conventional in-app purchases and advertisements. The partner developers of WinZO have clocked 100 more revenues from their games on WinZO in India as compared to their distribution channels such as Google Play Store, Apple Store, etc.

In the short term, WinZO aspires to be the preferred platform of choice for both its stakeholders- gamers in Bharat (Tier 2 – Tier 5) and game developers. The company is always innovating and bringing products and features to empower its users and game developers.

Also, their decentralized language management portal has empowered housewives and college-going students by helping them earn up to Rs 30,000 per month, thereby letting them become financially independent. Here, they only needed to help localize their product and add languages, remotely from their homes. For game developers, WinZO has come up with the Developers’ consoles to facilitate their outreach to the company and become more entrepreneurial in game development in light of assured revenue streams of up to 100x.

In the long term, WinZO envisions serving as a one-stop platform for all mobile-first entertainment media in India and other developing markets driven by the power of communities and microtransactions.

The company is empowering all its stakeholders on multiple fronts. The primary problem that WinZO started to solve was the efficient monetization of games in developing economies where in-app purchases and advertisements do not work. Through their microtransaction model, where 200 million+ microtransactions are clocked per month, their partner studios have witnessed growth up to 100X in their revenues. Hence, the model definitely has proved to be effective.

WinZO Products/Services

WinZO is an off-Play Store app, which hosts 70+ casual to mid-core games in 5 formats and 10 Indian regional languages. The games range from rummy, pool, carrom, ludo, call break, bingo, chess, 29 card games, archery game, bubble shooter, and more.

Users here get the thrill of competition and instant gratification. It also ensures the personalization of content to serve users with relevant games based on their engagement patterns on the platform. The company is developing a community of gamers who can engage and compete with each other via features such as WinZO Versus.

To make outreach easier for the developers, they have also launched WinZO Developer Console where any developer can sign up and submit content for integration on the app. The console has garnered massive traction, with over 1,000 games being submitted from across the globe. It also provides real-time analytics related to the game for efficient monitoring of the performance and ensuring transparency. WinZO also offers WinZO store, which brings gaming coupons, Gaana coupons, Nykaa coupons, and more.

WinZO – Industry | Target Market Size

WinZO is in the Indian online gaming industry, which was projected to reach a market size of $60 billion by 2034 in a 2025 report by WinZO and IEIC. WinZO targets a user base of over 250 million registered users in India, with a focus on the “Tier 2-Tier 5” audience in smaller towns and rural areas, alongside its recent expansion into the US and other international markets. The company relied mainly on the Tier 2 cities and beyond to achieve the estimated growth.

This is because when the company scrutinized the market, they were surprised to discover that around 80% of active gamers in India are from non-metro locations. Yes, it was found out that somewhere between 40% and 60% of the overall gamer population of India are from Tier II towns and beyond. All of this helped WinZO scale fast and grow large enough to be one of the most popular gaming companies of today. The company targets the small cities of India, where the gamers’ ages range between 18 and 35 years.

WinZO – Founders and team

WinZO was co-founded by Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore.

Paavan Nanda

Paavan is an engineer from NSIT, who later went to IIM-Calcutta and to the Copenhagen Business School. He worked with Bain & Company, Abbott Labs, and Merrill Lynch before co-founding Zostel Hospitality Pvt. Ltd., which emerged with ZO Rooms, an affordable and technology-driven hostel chain. However, ZO Rooms, after a failed merger with OYO, shut down, but it failed to put a halt to the rising entrepreneurial instinct of Nanda, who then co-founded WinZO with Saumya Singh Rathore in 2018.

Saumya Singh Rathore

Saumya is the co-founder of the vernacular social gaming platform, WinZO. She has a Master’s in Psychology from The University of Manchester and eventually obtained a degree in Chartered Psychologist with the British Psychological Society. Saumya had already worked with Paavan Nanda in Zo Rooms before the duo decided to found WinZO.

WinZO, currently, is a tight-knit team of around 40 young, enthusiastic, passionate, and talented people who believe in the company’s vision and hustle together to work on the most advanced cutting-edge technologies and provide the best value to the users. When the team closed its Series A and had 5 Million+ users, it was only a 9-member team.

The work culture at WinZO is as vibrant, customer-focused, and fun as it might be imagined in a gaming venture. The team works hard at exemplary execution speed to push great new exciting features for the users and each small achievement is appreciated and celebrated. Weekly office parties and milestone celebrations also bring extra motivation and energy to the team.

“We at WinZO believe that hiring right is more effective than hiring fast – peer interviews is how you get on with the mission. It is always a great support to have a team which is self-motivated, target driven, accountable and committed to the vision. Hence, we hire the best talent with the right value alignment with the company’s core values.”, said Paavan Nanda, co-founder of WinZO.

Most of our relatively new colleagues have joined us through the recommendations from their friends already working with us as they wanted to be a part of our journey to build the Netflix of Gaming and solve some of the most challenging tech problems of the country – Saumya Singh Rathore, co-founder of WinZO.

WinZO – Startup Story | How was WinZO Started?

WinZO was conceptualized after studying the revolution that affordable smartphones and Reliance Jio had created in India in 2015-16, by providing users from even the remotest corners of the country, with powerful devices and affordable high-speed internet connections. Thanks to this revolution, India became the global leader in in-game downloads.

However, there was clearly a problem of efficient monetization for games in high-potential developing markets that needed to be solved. This marked the journey of WinZO. To validate the concept, WinZO was launched as a subscription-based trivia app to monitor the user acceptance of the model.

Based on the encouraging results of this POC, they launched a micro-transaction powered vernacular hyper-casual gaming platform where users pay small sums of INR 2 – INR 25 to participate in real-time multiplayer games and win prizes from the pool of rewards set aside for them. This model had the elements of regional language, real-time competition, and affordability in consuming content yet paying for it. Together, these made WinZO an instant hit among the users of vernacular Bharat.

WinZO – Mission and Vision

WinZO focuses on competitive multiplayer gaming experiences and is charged with the mission to create a culturally relevant mobile games platform with a broad rate of adoption.

WinZO aims to lead the Indian online gaming ecosystem with an expansive influencer network that is capable of catering to 50+ million registered users of the platform.

WinZO – USP and Innovation

WinZO’s USP has always been its innovative and inclusive approach to solving real-life problems. While the intuitive approach for any gaming company would be to tap the easier metro and tier-1 audience first, WinZO saw and successfully tapped the potential of the real Bharat (Tier 2-Tier 5 towns, rural India) through its deep-down distribution strategy.

To facilitate this, they offer the support of 10+ regional Indian languages on the app. Their vision is to democratize entrepreneurship: They have decentralized language management through their portal to engage women who work from home to get a truly vernacular experience for players in Bharat.

For game developers, WinZO has helped them become more entrepreneurial in game development in light of assured and sustainable revenue streams. As many developers aren’t aware of the intricacies of this complex market, their 80% paying active user base ensures that the games are generating revenue from day 1 at no user acquisition expenses for the developers.

WinZO – Name, Tagline, and Logo

The team took ‘ZO’ from their previous venture ZO Rooms/Zostel. ZO stands for speed & energy – so it’s winning fast! Plus, when they Googled the word, they didn’t find anything, so that solved the SEO hassles with no money spent!

WinZO Logo

WinZO – Business Model and Revenue Model

As per App Annie 2018 Gaming Report, India stood highest in terms of Game downloads – at the same time in the bottom 10 for in-app purchases. The problem that WinZO is addressing is fairly simple: Bharat is in love with Gaming, but the Quality Studios/Independent developers do not see much potential in Bharat.

The WinZO Business Model is simple – Build the Gaming Ecosystem in Bharat. It aims to do that in three ways:

Provide a one-stop Game Developer Console to the Gaming Studios – where it can publish the games and earn revenues out of it.
Charge platform commission fees from all the games and share the revenue with the Game Developers via its Console.
Offer employment opportunities to students and housewives across Bharat to provide content for quizzes via its indigenous portal.

WinZO Financials

WinZO Financials	2024	2023
Operating Revenue	INR 1055 crore	INR 674 crore
Total Expenses	INR 693 crore	INR 564 crore
Profit/Loss	INR 315 crore	INR 126 crore

WinZO – Startup Challenges

The most challenging part that WinZO faced was generating the feeling of trust in the minds of the users, who were seated in the remote areas of Bharat.

“What has worked well for us is – the entire product was on beta for at least six months and we were on stealth mode. We generated lots of insights around how to build trust and the product is designed for the users of Bharat who are from tier 2/3/4 towns. We also decided to be vernacular and be transparent to our users so that it’s easy for them to build trust on the platform.”, said Paavan Nanda.

As a result, they are now available in around 12 Regional Languages and nearly 90% of their audience is from the tier 2/3/4 towns of Bharat.

A significant other challenge is profitability, which the company is yet to gain, as reported last in FY20.

WinZO Copyright Infringement

WinZO has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against gaming giant Mobile Premier League (MPL) because it thinks that the latter has copied its gaming format “World War”. World War is a game launched by WinZO in April 2020, which currently boasts around 80 million registered users. As far as reports, WinZO has already applied for a patent for the invention and copyright registration with regards to the expression of the format and trademark of World War.

It all started when WinZO discovered that MPL has allegedly copied the format and the name of the game. However, it took down the format from its platform as soon as it was informed of the same but the latter again started with “Team Clash”, which allegedly used the same format that was identical to “World War”. Besides, the notifications/popups and more that were sent to the users were also similar. Following the discovery of this new game, WinZO has already sent a legal notice to MPL, who doesn’t want to take down the format this time, as of June 4th 2022 reports.

WinZO – Funding and Investors

The company raised its seed money, an undisclosed amount from K-Start. WinZO has also set up a fund of $1.5 Million to support Game Developers in India. On July 2, 2021, WinZO announced raising an amount of $65 million on a Series C funding round led by California-based Griffin Gaming Partners. The company has raised a total of $110.5 million in its fundraising to date.

Here is the list of WinZO funding rounds:

Date	Stage	Amount	Investor
July 2, 2021	Series C	$65 million	Griffin Gaming Partners
May 3, 2021	Series B	$13 Million	–
April 9, 2021	Debt Financing	$9.5 Million	–
September 3, 2020	Series B	$18 Million	Courtside Ventures, Makers Fund
April 17, 2020	Seed Round	–	–
February 22, 2019	Series A	$5 Million	Hike, Kalaari Capital

WinZO – Acquisitions

WinZO acquired Upskillz Games in its maiden acquisition on June 21, 2022. The deal was an all-cash deal with which a majority stake in Upskillz was acquired by WinZO. Mannit Sidhu founded Upskillz Games in December 2020, which already boasts of having a month-on-month (MoM) growth rate of 75% since it started. Besides, it also had a captive user base of 1.3 mn users, along with blockchain and Web3 offerings, all of which will be added by WinZO now.

Company Name	Date	Deal Value
Upskillz Games	June 21, 2022	–

WinZO – Advertisements and Campaigns

MS Dhoni – Brand Ambassador of WinZO

In 2022, WinZO brought on MS Dhoni as its brand ambassador. Since then, the legendary cricketer has appeared in several of the brand’s ads. According to the company, having MS Dhoni as the face of the brand will boost awareness and engagement within India’s social gaming community, helping to establish social and interactive gaming. Paavan Nanda, co-founder of WinZO, said, “With MS Dhoni, we aim to bring social gaming to people across all ages and genders in this country.”

WinZO has partnered with popular YouTuber Ajey Nagar, commonly referred to as CarryMinati, to serve as its brand ambassador on January 19, 2022. After CarryMinati, WinZO trumps by choosing “BB ki vines” feat, Filmfare recipient digital sensation Bhuvan Bam as its brand ambassador, as the company PR goes dated February 15, 2022. The Vernacular Online Gaming Giant announced that this collaboration with BB will help the company create culturally relevant content that would be relatable even for the persons belonging to the remoter sections of the country.

The Indian content creator from Faridabad, who boasts of having over 34 million subscribers will now be coming up with interesting game-related content that will unique, engaging, and relatable on his streaming channel ‘Carryislive’. Furthermore, he also signed up for another solo integration on his major YouTube channel ‘CarryMinati‘ as part of this relationship. Here’s what WinZO Co-founder Saumya Singh Rathore remarked on this development,

“We are thrilled to have him on board. We collectively hope to further our vision of promoting the spirit of winning and culturally relevant content across Bharat.”

The New Delhi-based interactive social gaming company declared that it will be the official sports brand partner of the Ranveer Singh film ’83’ in December 2021.

India’s largest social gaming and entertainment platform has partnered with the Ogilvy Chairman of Global Creative and Executive Chairman Piyush Pandey to launch its multilingual brand campaign to deliver ‘winning moments’ through a relatable social platform in December 2021.

The campaign that was launched with the tagline and hashtag “Jeetne mein Kick hai” by Leo Burnett Orchard has won a creative mandate for the same, as per reports dated December 2020.

WinZO – Advisors and Mentors

Kalaari is not only an investor but a great partner who is guiding the company all along the way as they are building this for Bharat. It is very important to note that WinZO is Kalaari’s second-largest bet in gaming, second only to Dream11. The team gets to learn a lot from how Harsh managed to build a profitable venture in the Indian Startup ecosystem.

WinZO is fortunate to have had Revant Bhate & Rahul Garg come in very early to push them to build this product with a sharp focus on unit economics. A fund like Kalaari has vast exposure to what works and what doesn’t in the long term. This early understanding would help them to build sustainably.

“We also have received a huge support from Kavin Bharti Mittal who has also backed the venture. Kavin is one of the finest product experts and his insights are always critical in building WinZO as the entertainment destination for Bharat. He has tremendous experience in building and distributing Hike – a home grown tech unicorn.”, said Pavaan Nanda.

WinZO – Recognition and Achievements

WinZO received the following awards and recognitions in the past couple of years since they started their journey:

Startup of the Year – Technology by Entrepreneur India in 2019.
Inc42 Startup Watchlist: Indian Media & Entertainment Startups To Watch Out For In 2020.
SutraHR – “100” Top Startups in India in 2020.
Businessworld Techtors 2020.

WinZO – Future Plans

Digital entertainment platform WinZO has announced its official launch in the US, expanding its international footprint.

“The launch of WinZO in the US is a proud milestone for us and for India’s digital entertainment ecosystem. Our vision has always been to empower Indian game developers to reach global audiences. Entering the US, the world’s largest and most influential gaming market, is a decisive step towards that mission,” said Saumya Singh Rathore and Paavan Nanda, cofounders of WinZO.

The company also announced the launch of ZO TV, a short-video platform. “This further diversifies our content offerings and strengthens WinZO’s position as a global hub and one-stop destination for interactive entertainment,” Rathore added. WinZO’s expansion into the US is a critical part of its strategy to become the global go-to consumer technology platform for all new-age content consumption, the company said. After diversifying its formats and monetisation strategies, WinZO is now leapfrogging into geographical expansion.

FAQs

What is WinZO?

WinZO can be described as one of India’s largest social gaming and entertainment platform that was launched in 2018. WinZO offers its platform to third-party game developers who can host their games and earn up to 100X in revenue.

Is WinZO a Chinese app?

No, WinZO App is an Indian App headquartered in New Delhi, India.

What is WinZO launch date?

WinZO was launched in 2018.

Is WinZO App legal?

Yes, WinZO was founded in 2018 and is a 100% legal and genuine gaming platform that operates in most of the states in India. It is in fact counted to be one of India’s best gaming apps in the social category.

Who is the owner of WinZO?

Paavan Nanda and Saumya Singh Rathore are the Founders of WinZO.

Who is the CEO of WinZO?

Paavan Nanda is the Co-founder and CEO of WinZO.

How does WinZO make money?

WinZO makes money through in-app purchases, advertising, and partnerships with game developers and brands. Players spend money on virtual goods, while ads and brand collaborations generate additional revenue.

Is WinZO app safe?

Yes, the WinZO app is generally considered safe. The platform collaborates with the security community to ensure its services and data are protected. However, as with any app, it’s important to download it from trusted sources like Google Play or the App Store and follow security best practices.

Is WinZO gold real or fake?

WinZO is certified for Real Money Gaming, meaning it meets strict regulatory standards for financial transactions. This certification guarantees that all monetary activities on the platform, such as deposits and withdrawals, are secure and transparent.

August 28, 2025

Bombay Shaving Company Story: Answering All Your Grooming Needs

Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations.

Men, today, comprehend the significance of appearance; that appearing one’s best instills self-confidence, which is essential in today’s highly competitive environment. Furthermore, media affairs, publicity, front-office professions, sales and marketing, employment in restaurants, television, tourism, modeling, and the fashion sector are all industries where appearance is essential. Other variables that have led to the popularity of male grooming products include exposure and accessibility to television commercials and worldwide patterns or trends.

A man’s skin is exactly as vulnerable as a female’s and requires the same amount of attention and care. Men, in general, on the other hand, devote more time outside in the sunlight. Exposure to sunlight, air pollution, air conditioning, chlorinated water, and stress, all have an impact on the skin, causing skin issues and accelerating the process of aging. Male skin is also more prone to disorders such as acne. Men require their personal space as well as professional grooming attention and care.

Bombay Shaving Company is a consumer goods company that specialises in the development of men’s beard and shave care and skincare range of products. Bombay Shaving Company was founded in 2016 as a D2C business for men’s grooming and shaving goods. Since then, the company has grown into a variety of hair removal and hair care categories, including a women’s hair removal line on which it is placing its bets.

Here’s the success story of Bombay Shaving Company that covers all about the company, the Startup Story and Growth, its history, its Competitors, Revenue, Business and Revenue Model, and more, you can check ahead!

Bombay Shaving Company – Company Highlights

Startup Name	Bombay Shaving Company
Headquarters	New Delhi, India
Industry	Personal Care Product Manufacturing
Founders	Shantanu Deshpande, Raunak Munot, Deepu Panicker, and Rohit Jaiswal
Founded	2015

About Bombay Shaving Company and How It Works?

Men’s grooming is sometimes viewed as a pointless activity done “for the sake of it.” The Bombay Shaving Company is a company that has sparked progressive changes in the industry. They have changed the way that men’s grooming is done, turning it into an enjoyable pastime. Bombay Shaving Company is a high-end personal care and grooming products firm dedicated to providing exceptional client experiences. The firm gets its blades from the Japanese manufacturer Feather, but everything else is created in-house.

It began as a firm that provided various products for men’s grooming and skincare but has expanded its product line to include women’s grooming. The firm markets itself as a premium brand, charging Rs 2,995 for a six-piece razor set that consists of a brush, pre-shave cleanse, shaving cream, post-shave balm, and blades. The firm has generally been able to contact suppliers of big FMCG companies by using its investor connections.

After purchasing a product, customers may subscribe to the blades and creams. The subscription is quite flexible as subscribers may select their items, frequency of replenishment, and pause/restart/cancel at any time. Their product range now consists of eight market segments: Shave, Trimmers, Hair, Beard, Perfumes, Skin, Bath, and Women.

The beard kit routines seek to increase the development and style of facial hair while the selected shaving product collection concentrates on ultimate precision and softness. With its comprehensive bath collection, the brand has also taken care of one’s bathing needs, and its skincare products aid in creating a positive and healthy regimen.

The business is committed to giving customers the best possible grooming experience, which is supported by superfoods. Their wide variety of products addresses common grooming issues and assists users in always looking their best.

A comprehensive, nutritious experience from head to toe is guaranteed by the company, with the recently introduced hair care line, which is led by four hair oil mixes enhanced with superfoods. Superfoods including avocado, honey, turmeric, and coconut extracts are used by Bombay Shaving Company in its personal care and grooming products. These appeal to the increased levels of health concern among customers and are abundant in vitamins and antioxidants.

Bombay Shaving Company – Industry

The fourth-largest industry in India is fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG), with 50% of revenues in this industry coming from domestic and personal care products. Along with packaged foods and drinks, toiletries, electronics, home appliances, and domestic cleaning supplies, consumer goods also include cosmetics and skin care products.

India’s Beauty and Personal Care market is expected to make $32.53 billion in 2025. It will grow by 2.84% (CAGR 2025-2029) each year from 2025 to 2029. The biggest part of this market is Personal Care, which will be worth $14.74 billion in 2025.

The primary growth factors for the industry have been more awareness, better access, and shifting lifestyles. The greatest contributor to the entire income produced by the FMCG industry in India (which accounts for a revenue share of around 55%) is the urban segment. However, compared to urban India, the FMCG market has risen more quickly in rural India during the past few years. The semi-urban and rural populations are expanding quickly, and 50% of all rural expenditure is on FMCG items.

Bombay Shaving Company – Products

The brand has made every effort to improve Indian men’s grooming experiences with goods and ideas that speak to their contemporary worldview. It carefully develops every product, from the quality razors to its extensive selection of men’s face wash, to provide a healthy self-care experience.

Shaving – Precision Safety Razor, Preshave Scrub, Shaving foams, and After/Post Shave
Beard Grooming – Beard Trimmers, Beard oils, Beard Care Kits, Beard Styling Kits, Beard Growth Kits, and Beard Straightening Kits.
Haircare – Hair Oil, Onion and Bhringraj Hair Oil, Avocado Oil, Curry Leaves oil, Advanced Castor oil, Hair styling wax, and Onion or Egg Hair Mask.
Skincare – Face wash, face scrubs, and face masks.
Bath Care – Soap, Body wash, and Moisturizers.
Fragrances – Perfumes, Deos, Body Sprays.
Trimmers – Beard, Body, Head, Groin.

Bombay Shaving Company – Name, Logo, and Tagline

Bombay Shaving Company Logo

Bombay Shaving Company’s logo comprises a razor, that depicts what the company is established for, to remove the stigma based on men’s grooming. The logo also consists of wings around the razor.

The Bombay Shaving Company tagline says, “REDEFINING GROOMING FOR EVERY INDIAN MAN.”

Bombay Shaving Company – Founders and Team

The Bombay Shaving Company was founded by Shantanu Deshpande, Raunak Munot, Deepu Panicker, and Rohit Jaiswal in the year 2015.

Shantanu Deshpande

Bombay Shaving Company’s founder and CEO, Shantanu, was previously the Engagement Manager of McKinsey & Co. in the USA. He graduated from the Indian Institute of Management in Lucknow with a Master’s in Business Administration(MBA).

Raunak Munot

Raunak Munot served as the Chief Marketing Officer of the Bombay Shaving Company till 2019. Currently, he is employed with Trove Experiences as a Co-Founder. He has held positions at GroupM as director of social strategy and at Audi of America as a brand consultant. He graduated with a Bachelor of Engineering from the University of Mumbai’s Institute of Chemical Technology and a Master of Science from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Deepu Panicker

At Bombay Shaving Company, Deepu served as both co-founder and Head of Product Operations. At Times Internet, he is a Product Development and Sourcing employee. He has held positions as Senior Analyst at McKinsey & Company and Senior Manager of Business Operations at Freecultr. He graduated from the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay with a Master’s degree.

Rohit Jaiswal

At Bombay Shaving Company, Rohit serves as Head of Products. He has had positions with Emel Group as the Sales and Distribution Manager, UAE Exchange as an MBA Summer Intern, and Crompton Greaves as an Executive. He graduated from Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Karnataka, with a Bachelor of Engineering (EEE) degree and the Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur, with a Master of Business Administration degree.

Bombay Shaving Company – Startup Story

In 2015, Shantanu Deshpande, Rohit Jaswal, Deepu Panicker, and Raunak Munot established the Bombay Shaving Company. Shantanu came up with the concept after discussing the expanding men’s grooming market in the USA with a friend and seeing its opportunity for growth in India. When everything began, Shantanu worked as a software engineer for McKinsey in the USA. After a casual encounter with a buddy who was an intern at Harry’s, a New York-based grooming brand, Shantanu’s interest was aroused. After his acquaintance noted how American shaving companies are competing with the likes of Gillette and PRO, Shantanu concluded that India may benefit from a breakthrough in the grooming and shaving industry.

After several conversations with family members and friends, it became very evident that shaving was perceived as a necessary but unappealing aspect of going to the hair salon and not as anything to look forward to. As a disruptor business, the foursome aimed to target the neglected and nearly monopolized market by concentrating on delivering a pleasant consumer experience.

The business’s initial 500 customers, according to the proprietors, came exclusively through word-of-mouth recommendations. It is mostly because of their emphasis on the client interface. As a startup, The Bombay Shaving Company had little to say about its origin. They wanted to provide a terrific unwrapping experience for their customers since they understood that they were paying top money for a brand-new product. Buyers’ strategy worked when they began sharing their opinions on social media and other channels, and sales rose as a consequence.

The quartet simultaneously promoted their businesses by utilizing their connections with the editorial staff at newspapers like India Today. They even made an appearance on the cover of India Today, which gave them much-needed visibility. The business began in 2016 with roughly six goods and has since grown to 32 products in the areas of shaving, bath and body, skin, and beard care. About 20% of its revenue comes from its offline channel, which has over 700 retail contact points across four cities.

In the upcoming year, the firm hopes to add six more cities. Men’s grooming items are produced by the start-up, including shaving brushes, towels, face cleansers, travel packs, shaving cream, post-shave balms, and razors. Shower gels and single-use razors have been added to the repertoire.

Bombay Shaving Company – Mission and Vision Statement

Bombay Shaving Company’s mission statement states, “At Bombay Shaving Company, we are always dedicated to providing you the ultimate grooming experience, powered by superfoods, without any compromises.”

Bombay Shaving Company – Business Model

Raunak has always desired to create a brand from nothing. Rohit was eager to launch an FMCG business and produce top-notch goods. Deepu also has a strong interest in technology and construction. They matched each other well. The Delhi-based firm was established following several calls, Skype sessions, and talks about the mission, business model, and go-to-market strategy.

Some brand elements are popular worldwide, particularly among the Indian diaspora. First, the spirit behind giving a personalized gift on special occasions, and next, the background of their products’ components. Both superfoods and conventional ingredients are included in their offerings. Thirdly, the business incorporates fascinating micro innovations into its goods to provide clients with a unique experience, particularly in the hair management sector. On these three levers, advertising and brand development have been successful for the company.

The mission of Bombay Shaving Company has always been to make shaving a fun and luxurious experience. To carve themselves a position in the industry, they have steadily expanded into other areas including hair and skincare. Some of the branding techniques that have helped them become well-known are discussed further.

Bombay Shaving Company – Marketing Tactics

Bombay Shaving Company – #Dadlogic series

Shaving is a delightful experience because of the shaving kits’ superior packaging, which exudes a sense of elegance.
When people shared their unpacking experiences on social media, the premium packaging idea was a huge success. This generated a lot of favorable word-of-mouth for the brand.
Indian customers are observed for having a pattern to have a soft corner for customization or personalization. Customers might choose to have their names free of charge etched on the metal blades. The high-end shaving kits made lovely presents for their loved ones.
When interacting with people, the company kept in mind that they were not engaging with beings of intellect, but rather with beings of feelings. To portray its products as the ideal present for dads and brothers, Bombay Shaving Company took advantage of holidays like Father’s Day and Rakshabandhan. In the #DadLogic series of short films, they urged viewers to give their fathers a razor that was sharper than his wit.

Bombay Shaving Company – Funding and Investors

Bombay Shaving Company has raised funding of $48.8 million over 9 rounds to date.

Date	Round	Amount	Lead Investors
April 1, 2024	Debt Financing	₹240M	Alteria Capital
Feb 3, 2022	Series C	₹500M	Gulf Islamic Investments LLC (GII)
Jan 5, 2022	Series C	₹1.6B	Malabar Investment Advisors
Mar 25, 2021	Venture Round	₹150M	Sixth Sense Ventures
Jan 28, 2021	Venture Round	₹450M	Reckitt
Dec 26, 2019	Series B	₹450M	Sixth Sense Ventures
Aug 23, 2018	Series A	—	Colgate Palmolive
Aug 23, 2017	Seed Round	$2.5M	Fireside Ventures
Aug 17, 2016	Seed Round	$650K	Noshir Kaka, Subramanian Ramadorai

Bombay Shaving Company – Growth

Bombay Shaving Company Financials	2023	2024
Operating Revenue	INR 177.3 crore	INR 225.9 crore
Total Expenses	INR 262.7 crore	INR 295.6 crore
Profit/Loss	INR -80.25 crore	INR -62.15 crore

Bombay Shaving Company’s operating revenue grew by 27.4%, from INR 177.3 crore in 2023 to INR 225.9 crore in 2024. Total expenses increased by 12.5%, from INR 262.7 crore to INR 295.6 crore. Despite this, the company reduced its losses by 22.6%, from INR 80.25 crore in 2023 to INR 62.15 crore in 2024.

The team worked together on aromas, raw ingredients, production advances, and packaging innovations with well-known specialists and suppliers from around the world. All 500 of the initial customers came via word-of-mouth. The bulk of their products are always being enhanced in response to customer input. For instance, the team created a new razor component and mailed it to consumers for free after they repeatedly asked for a closer and more intense shave.

Secondly, the Bombay Shaving Company team worked hard to provide its customers with a terrific unwrapping experience, and they delivered. Customers started sharing photographs and videos of their unpacking experiences on social media, which enhanced their image and boosted sales. To give the shaving blades a more personalized touch, the team also gave customers the option of getting their names engraved on them for free. Bombay Shaving Company has garnered $9 million in investment since its founding and today provides over 40 items across eight categories (Shave, Trimmers, Hair, Beard, Perfumes, Skin, Bath, and Women.)

Bombay Shaving Company – Competitors

Beardo, The Man Company, Happily Unmarried, LetsShave, Mancaveinc, Marico, Rituels, Harry’s, Beard Band, and Beard Lab are the top 10 rivals in Bombay Shaving Company’s competitive group.

Bombay Shaving Company – Challenges Faced

Breaking Norms – Habit is the sixth sense that rules the other five senses. It was challenging to persuade Indian consumers who were accustomed to shaving as a daily duty to view grooming as a luxury pastime. The Indian market is driven by the price-value equation, and selling shaving kits for up to Rs 3,000 was unheard of.
Logistics – When the company first started, the outer packaging’s inability to support the load of the contents presented an operational and transportation difficulty. The outside boxes were solidified to fix this. Although the goods are produced in India, they are outsourced to best-in-class local producers. The brand controls every step of the supply chain from sourcing to delivery to assure quality.
Finding the right product – To produce the final finished product, the company had to work with specialists from a variety of industries, including perfumes, chemical engineering, inventive packaging, and raw materials. Instead of merely selling a product, they were more interested in providing customers with an experience. Since the brand operated under the tenet that “our harshest consumers help enhance our products,” customer input was granted the highest priority.

Bombay Shaving Company – Future Plans

Bombay Shaving Company plans to expand its product range with trimmers and shavers for men and women, aiming for 20% of its revenue to come from the women’s grooming segment. The razor market, which the company is entering, is valued at INR 2,000 crore and is growing at a 10% annual rate.

Shantanu Deshpande, Founder and CEO of Bombay Shaving Company said, “We are delighted to have GII join our cap table. We are singularly focused on building a brand that owns hair removal and personal care. As we scale from Rs 150 crore to 500 crore and 1000 crore, we needed an investor group that could guide us on building an IPO-able company.”

FAQs

Is Bombay Shaving Company Indian?

Bombay Shaving Company is an Indian company founded in New Delhi, in the year 2015.

Who are Bombay Shaving Company founders?

The Bombay Shaving Company was founded by Shantanu Deshpande, Raunak Munot, Deepu Panicker, and Rohit Jaiswal in the year 2015.

Where is Bombay Shaving Company headquarters?

Bombay Shaving Company is headquartered in New Delhi.

Who is the CEO of Bombay Shaving Company?

Shantanu Deshpande is the current CEO of Bombay Shaving Company.

How much funding has Bombay Shaving Company raised to date?

Bombay Shaving Company has raised funding of $52 million over 13 rounds to date.

What is Bombay Shaving Company revenue?

Bombay Shaving Company reported an operating revenue of INR 177.3 crore in 2023, which grew to INR 225.9 crore in 2024.

What is Bombay Shaving Company profit?

What are shaving company names?

Some shaving companies include:

Bombay Shaving Company
Gillette
Harry’s
Joas
Rolls Razor
Schick
Manscaped

January 22, 2025

ARATA – D2C Personal Care Brand for Healthy Skin and Hair
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 ARATA.

People around the globe are switching to chemical-free & non-toxic personal care products. The new trends in personal care brands show that over 40% of consumers are inclined to the products and brands that fit into their healthy lifestyle and contain wellness benefits without any chemicals.

ARATA is an honest personal care brand that offers chemical-free, plant-based skincare products for healthy skin and hair. Read to know about its founder, products, and the startup story of ARATA.

ARATA – Company Highlights

Startup Name ARATA

Headquarters New Delhi

Industry D2C Personal Care

Founder Dhruv Bhasin and Dhruv Madhok

Founded 2018

Website arata.in

ARATA – About
ARATA – Industry
ARATA – Founders
ARATA – The Idea and Startup Story
ARATA – Name, Tagline, and Logo
ARATA – Products
ARATA – Business Model
ARATA – Customer Acquisition
ARATA – Challenges Faced
ARATA – Most Successful Marketing Campaign
ARATA – Growth
ARATA – Funding
ARATA – Competitors
ARATA – Tools Used in the Company
ARATA – Recognition and Achievements
ARATA – Future Plans

ARATA – About

ARATA is a personal care startup that offers trustworthy and credible skin care and hair care products. The vision and mission of the Company are to make clean labels, high-performing, safe, and effective hair care solutions. Arata is an environment-friendly startup that uses not only non-toxic ingredients, for their products but its packaging is also 100% recyclable.

ARATA – Industry

The market and industry size is about INR 25,000 crores, which is a total addressable opportunity for hair care.

ARATA – Founders

The founders of Arata are Dhruv Madhok & Dhruv Bhasin.

Dhruv Madhok

Dhruv Madhok – Co-founder of ARATA

He has completed his graduation from the University of Southern California – Marshall School of Business. Earlier he has worked with KPMG and PVR limited. He is the Director of ARATA.

Dhruv Bhasin

Dhruv Bhasin – Co-founder of ARATA

Dhruv Bhasin completed his Master’s in Management from the University of Surrey, and B.Sc in Business Studies from Lancaster University.

ARATA – The Idea and Startup Story

The idea for starting up came when (Dhruv) Bhasin’s mother was boiling flaxseeds to make a natural hair gel for him to use. He sent Dhruv Madhok a sample, and he loved it. And that’s how they realized there is an opportunity for safe styling products. They also discovered that the opportunity is significantly larger, not only limited to styling but in general hair care and other categories.

Arata products belong in the beauty, personal care or FMCG CPG, and consumer packaged categories.

ARATA – Name, Tagline, and Logo

ARATA Logo

ARATA means fresh and new in Japanese. The founders thought this was very apt for their brand personality.

ARATA – Products

ARATA Products

The innovation and USPs are that the products are plant-based, non-toxic, vegan, cruelty-free, naturally derived, sustainable and inclusive, with a premium choice of ingredients and fragrances, product packaging, branding and design.

ARATA – Business Model

The business model is essentially selling the products online to the customer, directly to the consumers, on its website, and through different marketplaces.

ARATA – Customer Acquisition

The first hundred customers were all acquired from Google, Facebook, Instagram, and through advertising. And then, they scaled up through different marketplaces and through multiple online and digital campaigns.

The most important thing that has worked for them to attract and retain customers is focusing on niches and having a set target audience and not being all over the place in terms of the product offering.

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ARATA – Challenges Faced

The biggest challenges they face can be divided into two parts.
- One challenge was raising capital during the pandemic as it was very hard.
- And two, essentially trying to break through the clutter of being a digital-only brand.
So the challenge was how to look beyond performance marketing?

And now, they are doing that by creating engaging content, having an engaging social channel, and focusing on customer retention, CRM, content creation and the likes.

ARATA – Most Successful Marketing Campaign

The most successful marketing campaign till now has been the launch of the Arata Advanced Curl Care range with Taapsee Pannu.

ARATA Marketing Campaign with Tapsee Pannu

ARATA – Growth

ARATA revenue exceeds INR 2.5 crores per month. Its estimated annual revenue is INR 30 crores.

And the repeats are looking strong, with more than 50% of customers coming back every year to buy for the second time and more.

ARATA – Funding

They have received multiple rounds of funding. They received funding of INR3.5 crores in December, 2018. They raised INR 7 crores in 2021.

Date Stage Amount Investors

2021 – INR 7 Crores –

December 2018 Seed INR 3.5 Crores –

ARATA – Competitors

Some of the top competitors of ARATA are:
- Plum Goodness
- The Body Shop
- MamaEarth
- mCaffeine
- Kama Ayurveda
- Forest Essentials
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ARATA – Tools Used in the Company

They use multiple software, including marketing automation, Shopify for website, and MailChimp for marketing among some.

ARATA – Recognition and Achievements

They have got a few awards.
- ARATA was awarded for being the eight fastest-growing startups in the country as a DTC brand.
- One of their bestsellers, the Super Shampoo, received the Vogue Beauty Award for the best daily use shampoo.
ARATA – Future Plans

Their future plans include scaling up the startup across different products & categories and building a bigger team.

FAQs

When was ARATA founded?

ARATA is a D2C brand founded in 2018.

Who is the founder of ARATA?

Dhruv Bhasin and Dhruv Madhok are the founders of ARATA.

Has ARATA raised funding?

Yes, ARATA has raised a funding of INR 105 million in two funding rounds.

Who are the competitors of ARATA?

Some of the top competitors of ARATA are:
- Plum Goodness
- The Body Shop
- MamaEarth
- mCaffeine
- Kama Ayurveda
- Forest Essentials
July 8, 2022
Vowelor – An App that Connects Readers, Writers, and Publishers With an Interactive Platform

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.

Back in time, when reading books and gaining knowledge was a combination of hobbies and interests, a library was the place where all could gather and read in the vibe.

Nowadays where reading is more of a necessity, there are ecosystems that you can access virtually to read books, share reviews and ask questions from right where you are to almost around the world. One such app is Vowelor!

Founded by Mr. Lalit Sharma and Mr. Manik Ghawri in the year 2017, Vowelor is a platform where you can meet like-minded readers and interested people and share your interest in book reading in an innovative way.

Available on the website and mobile applications, Vowelor brings innovation into this industry by gathering readers, writers, and publishers all under one roof and engaging them with one another as well as sharing their experiences on reading, writing and books. Thus solving problems that were faced by each of them.

Vowelor – Company Highlights

Startup Name Vowelor

Headquarter New Delhi

Founders Mr. Lalit Sharma and Mr. Manik Ghawri

Founded November 2018

Website vowelor.com

Vowelor – About and How it Works
Vowelor – Industry
Vowelor – Startup Story
Vowelor – Founders and Team
Vowelor – Name, Tagline and Logo
Vowelor – Business Model and Revenue Model
Vowelor – Challenges Faced
Vowelor – Competitors
Vowelor – Funding and Investors
Vowelor – Growth
Vowelor – Future Plans

Vowelor – About and How it Works

“What Should I Read Next” is the most common problem that readers have since the day they finished reading their first book. Vowelor is all about problems and solutions like these.

With the Vowelor app, you can now find the book that you should read next in a whole new way! Vowelor app’s Find Next Read feature recommends your books according to your current mood.

On the Vowelor application, readers can also create a library of books that they are currently reading, have already read, and want to read in the future. Based on these libraries or lists, users get to interact with others and discuss books with them in real-time using live chat. Vowelor does this using its AI-based algorithm.

Solving the problem of ‘Why read alone?’, Vowelor provides readers and writers with a platform to connect and solve their problem of finding the next read. Vowelor has more than 90,000 readers and more than 10,000 writers on its platform currently. Most users are between the ages of 18 and 30 years, and 56 percent of them are women.

Vowelor – Industry

India is the world’s 6th largest book publishing nation and 2nd largest in the English language. And, the Indian publishing industry is set to be worth INR 730 billion. But, no platform focused on reducing the bottlenecks that authors and readers face. India’s publishing industry is in dire need of this evolution and Vowelor has the potential to do it.

Vowelor – Startup Story

This brilliant idea struck the founders after they wrote a book and soon realized that there was no platform for readers where the book could be showcased. That’s exactly when they got the idea of starting a Facebook group where readers and writers can interact with each other.

As the book community grew, the co-founders analyzed that users were facing several problems that were quite common like readers’ struggling to find the next book to read while authors facing hurdles in book promotion.

Vowelor – Founders and Team

Manik Ghawri and Lalit Sharma, Founders of Vowelor

Manik Ghawri and Lalit Sharma, founders of Vowelor were school friends and shared the same enthusiasm for innovation and creativity.

Manik is an engineer and a tech geek. He has previously worked as a Java developer at CSC.

Lalit’s forte, on the other hand, is digital and content marketing. He has been an Associate Editor with the student guidance portal Aglasem, and a content developer at the career resource platform JagranJosh. In the past, he has worked closely with authors and was also working as a digital and content marketing professional before starting Vowelor.

Their love for reading and forming a community around the hobby pushed Manik and Lalit to start Vowelor as a Facebook page, and a Facebook community in 2016. A year later, the two platforms combined had more than 80,000 members from across the world. Overwhelmed by the numbers, the two of them quit their jobs and founded Vowelor Books & Media in 2017.

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Vowelor – Name, Tagline and Logo

Vowelor Logo

The name “Vowelor” is derived from the word ‘VOWELS’ which are the building blocks of English literature. No book will ever be written without VOWELS. And similarly, they aimed to complete the bookish world; hence they named it – VOWELOR.”

Vowelor – Business Model and Revenue Model

The primary revenue comes from helping and promoting authors to reach the maximum number of readers. This is done by utilizing the community and organic reach from the website. And in the coming days, they are planning to automate the entire process via Vowelor App.

Moreover, in the near future, Vowelor intends to collaborate with publishers and book stores opening new revenue streams as well as bringing the much-needed change in the books industry in India which is estimated to be worth Rs 739 Billion by 2020.

Vowelor – Challenges Faced

There are no doubt startups face the most challenges in the initial days. With Vowelor, the biggest challenge is to keep the platforms (App as well as a website) working effortlessly at all times so that users do not face any challenges. And, the founders succeed in doing so because of the continuous efforts in development.

Also, with constant improvements in technology, it is difficult to keep users glued and fulfill what they require on the platform. That’s why Vowelor has put a major chunk of its budget on development and research.

Another challenge for the company was securing funds at an early stage but the guidance of the fellow co-founder Mr. Himanshu Gandhi helped them achieve their first funding.

Vowelor – Competitors

In the market so dynamic and versatile, other players also have come up with applications and concepts like this. Some of the major ones are Goodreads, We Read Too, Scribd. However, all of these apps have different and unique USPs but they still cater to the same book-loving audience.

Vowelor – Funding and Investors

Voweler has raised Rs 1 crore ($140,000) in the Pre-Series A round from Dr. Sanjeev Juneja in June of 2019. The company would use the funding to develop and market an automated tool in the form of a mobile application that will help authors with limited budgets promote their books and engage with readers in India and abroad.

Juneja is an entrepreneur in the fast-moving consumer goods sector and is known mainly for selling the Kesh King hair oil brand to Emami Ltd in 2015 at an enterprise valuation of 1651 crores. He is also behind brands such as Dr. Ortho, Roop Mantra and Pet Saffa.

Vowelor – Growth

Starting as just a website, today, Vowelor is a growing community of 90,000+ readers. These readers & authors interact regularly with Vowelor on various platforms including Facebook Group, Page, Twitter, Instagram and the Vowelor’s website itself.

Since the release of the app, the response has been overwhelming and the app has crossed 5000+ downloads on the play store. Also, users have created close to 150 book clubs and have added more than 12000+ books in their Vowelor libraries.

The users are engaging with the app and have created book clubs, as specific as ‘Potterhead’ and as broad as ‘Readathon: one book per week’. On the other hand, Vowelor Website traffic has increased by 135% in the last 2 months. And the company have launched the Vowelor Author Program on the website.

Vowelor – Future Plans

In the coming years, the founders plan to turn Vowelor into one of its kind platform for authors, readers, publishers, and bookstores and remove the bottlenecks that they currently face. The company is targeting over 1.50 lakh downloads and two lakh monthly website hits by 2019.

While other startups in this domain are into buying and selling books and subscriptions, Vowelor is entirely focusing on the community aspect where users can have meaningful conversations around books in real-time. The company’s short-term goals include launching the iOS version of the Vowelor books app and expanding its reader community. Soon, they will also partner with Bookstores and Publishers to take the Vowelor app to the next level.

FAQs

What is Vowelor

Vowelor is an app that connects book readers, writers, and publishers.

Who is the founder of Vowelor

Manik Ghawri and Lalit Sharma are the founders of Vowelor.

June 22, 2022
Top 19 Delhi Based Startups | List of Successful Startups in Delhi
Delhi is making great strides in its journey to become the hottest startup destination in India with more than 1500 startups. The list given below discusses some of the most successful startups in Delhi that are in the process of leaving a lasting impact.

Before proceeding, if you know about any other startup in Delhi that can or is making a difference, please let us know in the comments below. We would love to cover them in this post.

You can also go through the list of startups in Lucknow, Gurgaon, and Goa.

Also read – Funding & Investors for your startup.
1. Zomato
2. Inshorts
3. Snapdeal
4. MobiKwik
5. Green Cure Wellness
6. Hike
7. Collegedunia
8. Zostel
9. GoldSeat
10. Chaayos
11. Revfin
12. Dogspot
13. TrulyMadly
14. Flyrobe
15. 3Hcare
16. Ikka Dukka
17. Imperial Knots
18. Wingify
19. LimeTray
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Startups in Delhi

Zomato

Founders: Deepinder Goyal, Pankaj Chaddah, and Gaurav Gupta
Founded in: 2008
Industry: Food Delivery

Zomato – Startups in Delhi

Zomato was initially launched as Foodiebay, an online marketplace to search for and review restaurants. As of now, Zomato is the biggest food delivery business in India and is counted among the best organizations across the globe in this domain. If you’re a hardcore foodie, chances are you would have already used Zomato’s services. Zomato is operational in over 20 countries and is adding new destinations to its list with passing time. It has also ventured into events and grocery sourcing for restaurants. With over millions of dollars in funding, the company stood at a valuation of approximately $3.6 billion in 2019 as per HSBC.

Zomato (Foodiebay) was founded by Pankaj Chaddah, Gaurav Gupta, and Deepinder Goyal in 2008. Deepinder came up with the idea of Foodie bay seeing his colleagues consistently ask for paper menu leaflets of different restaurants for ordering food. The solution was an app which digitized these paper menus and leaflets, making it easier to browse through the menus of different restaurants from the comfort of one’s phone.

Inshorts

Founders: Azhar Iqubal, Anunay Arunav, and Deepit Puryakshatha
Founded in: 2013
Industry: Media

Inshorts – Top Startups in Delhi

Inshorts aggregates trending news from different sites such as the Economic Times, TOI, The Hindu, etc. into crisp 60-words pieces for readers who can’t spare time for detailed news content. Inshorts also provides personalized news based on an individual’s preferences. Its AI engine intuitively understands what you like reading and delivers more of that in a single feed. Inshorts, in short (pun intended), is the perfect solution for a quick dose of the events happening around you. It has received over $20 million in funding from Sachin and Binny Bansal, the founders of Flipkart.

The trio of Azhar Iqubal, Anunay Arunav, and Deepit Puryakshatha started Inshorts in 2013. Anunay did his M.Tech from IIT Delhi and Deepit did his Master’s from IIT Kharagpur. Azhar, on the other hand, is an IIT Delhi dropout.

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Snapdeal

Founder: Kunal Bahl
Founded in: 2010
Industry: Ecommerce

Snapedeal – Top Startups in Delhi

Snapedeal is one of the biggest startups to have emerged out of Delhi. It was founded by Kunal Bahl in 2010 as a platform for daily deals and coupons. After tasting success, the founder thought of expanding the company further as an online e-commerce store in 2011. Snapdeal received its first round funding in 2011; it was $12 million from Nexus Venture Partners and Indo-US Venture Partners. The company is facing a downfall in sales at the moment. However, it is still counted among the top 10 e-commerce ventures in India.

MobiKwik

Founders: Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku
Founded in: 2009
Industry: Fintech

MobiKwik – Top Startups in Delhi

MobiKwik is one of the most prominent Indian SaaS startups. MobiKwik is a virtual mobile wallet usable at more than 2,50,000 online and offline avenues. It was founded by the husband-wife duo of Bipin Preet Singh and Upasana Taku. MobiKwik sees an average transaction size of INR 700. The company claims to be growing at a steady rate of 20 percent MoM, which is a tad lower than the growth rate observed during demonetization. The company was bootstrapped with Bipin investing $250,000 of his own. Since then, MobiKwik has received a total of over $115 million through 6 rounds of funding.

Green Cure Wellness

Founder: Sanchit Garg
Founded in: 2015
Industry: Herbal/Ayurveda

Green Cure – Top Startups in Delhi

Green Cure Wellness manufactures herbal personal care items and health care products of international quality. Green Cure has a team of scientists in Germany who develop high-quality formulations which are as per European norms. It has another team of Ayurvedic specialists in India who make sure that these products are in line with Indian needs.

Green Cure Wellness is a bootstrapped startup. The raw materials are sourced from Germany and Australia from companies with proprietary technology. These ingredients also have international certifications like NPA, Cosmos Ecocert, ISO, WHO-GMP, Kosher, NOP, and HACCP.

Hike

Founder: Kevin Mittal
Founded in: 2008
Industry: Social Media

Hike – Top Startups in Delhi

Hike is a messaging app-cum-social network. Hike messenger was one of the top social media startups in India. The company was the idea of Kavin Mittal. Kavin Mittal did his master’s from Imperial College, London. He is the son of Bharti Enterprises’ founder and chairman, Sunil Mittal. Hike raised its first funding of $7 million from Bharti and Softbank. It received another $14 million from the same investors. Since then, Hike has raised more than $200 million, mainly from Tiger Global, Tencent, and Foxconn.

Collegedunia

Founder: Sahil Chalana
Founded in: 2014
Industry: Edtech

Collegedunia – Top Startups in Delhi

Collegedunia is a college search engine helping students find the perfect institution. Collegedunia gathers and maintains information on higher education both in India and abroad. It claims to feature more than 20,000 colleges, institutes, and universities, along with data on one million fees structures on its platform.

Sahil Chalana started Collegedunia in 2014. Sahil graduated from BITS Pilani. He bootsrapped Collegedunia as a lead generation platform for educational institutes. He then received a funding of INR 1 crore from Umang Kumar.

Zostel

Founders: Akhil Malik, Dharmveer Singh Chouhan, Paavan Nanda, Varun Tiwari, Chethan Singh Chouhan, and Abhishek Bhutra
Founded in: 2013
Industry: Travel

Zostel – Top Startups in Delhi

Zostel is a Delhi-based startup and India’s first chain of backpackers’ hostels offering secure, hygienic, and pocket-friendly accommodation. It’s the go-to place for wanderlust backpackers on a pocket-friendly budget. Since its inception in 2013, Zostel has expanded its network to cover 20+ Indian cities.

GoldSeat

Founders: Gaurav Kapahi and Nishchal Khetarpal
Founded in: 2016
Industry: Tech-Entertainment

GoldSeat – Top Startups in Delhi

GoldSeat provides bus travel facilities and WiFi-connectivity on buses. It offers two great ways to access seamless offline entertainment. First, it offers free WiFi to passengers inside the bus. The second way is through a wide collection of movies that travellers can access either on the GoldSeat screens installed in the bus, or on one’s mobile by downloading the GoldSeat app.

In June 2018, GoldSeat raised $ 3 million in funding. GoldSeat recently collaborated with Railyatri.in for the latter’s ‘Intercity Smart Buses’. It currently offers services to private players across Northern and Western regions, including Lucknow, Ahmedabad, Delhi, and cities in Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan, and Karnataka.

Chaayos

Founders: Nitin Saluja and Raghav Varma
Founded in: 2012
Industry: Food delivery

Chaayos – Top Startups in Delhi

Chaayos is an online tea delivery and cafe chain launched out of Delhi. The company focuses on providing authentic beverages at economical prices. Chaayos is for all those ‘Chaifreaks’ (not forgetting the coffee lovers) wanting the best sip out of their cup.

With Starbucks and Cafe Coffee Day seen as “ameer laundo ki jagah” (Hindi phrase for “place for the rich”), Chaayos ensures that the Indian middle-class population doesn’t feel left out. The company has established its chain of cafes in 6 Indian cities since starting out in 2012.

Revfin

Founder: Sameer Aggarwal
Founded in: 2018
Industry: Fintech

Revfin – Top Startups in Delhi

Revfin is a financial technology (Fintech) startup. Revfin is building the world’s most advanced digital lending platform. The platform will be used to underwrite and manage consumer loans to finance clean technologies through its NBFC.

Revfin provides two types of loan:
1. Regular personal loan: This loan can be taken for a variety of purposes and is paid back in equal monthly installments.
2. RevLoan: An unsecured credit limit that you can use as and when needed. You can withdraw any amount in denominations of INR 1000 up to your credit limit.

Investors in Revfin are Harash Jain (CEO, Litejoy International and UK-based businessperson), Anil K Goyal (Founder, Anil K Goyal and Associates), Anil Lanba (Senior Technology Executive, EVP Pyramid Consulting), and Krishan B Singh (Investor based in New York).

Dogspot

Founder: Rana Atheya
Founded in: 2007
Industry: Ecommerce

Dogspot | Top startups in Delhi

Online food delivery for people sounds too mainstream, right? Dogspot has disrupted this segment by making it possible for dog owners to have food for their pets ordered online. Dogspot is India’s largest online store for pet supplies. This Delhi-based startup has redefined pet care, making pet ownership as easy as cracking an egg.

Funded by business tycoons such as Ratan Tata and Ronnie Screwvala, the company has made progress by leaps and bounds.

TrulyMadly

Founders: Sachin Bhatia, Hitesh Dhingra, and Rahul Kumar
Founded in: 2013
Industry: Dating App

TrulyMadly | Top startups in Delhi

The Indian version of Tinder, Trulymadly is considered the best dating and matchmaking app in India. Unlike Tinder and other dating apps where the results are overwhelmed with hundreds of useless matches, TrulyMadly showcases only up to 10 results. The app requires you to fill up your profile through a series of questionnaires and based on the results, it links you to the ideal partner.

Flyrobe

Founders: Shreya Mishra, Pranay Surana, and Tushar Saxena
Founded in: 2015
Industry: Fashion

Flyrobe | Top startups in Delhi

The startup wanted to do something different. It wanted to explore a niche that wasn’t over-exploited. Flyrobe chose to offer rental of clothes for weddings and other occasions. It has an excellent range on offer, one that’s full of high-quality, reliable material. Flyrobe has also partnered with the big labels like Ritu Kumar, Masaba Gupta, and others. It has achieved a milestone of more than 5,00,000 app downloads.

3Hcare

Founders: Ruchi Gupta, Dr. Ravinder Pal Singh Malhotra, and Dr. Gurdeep Singh Ratra
Founded in: 2016
Industry: Healthcare

3Hcare | Top startups in Delhi

3Hcare is an online marketplace for healthcare services. It provides detailed information on the healthcare services available PAN India. User can simply log on to 3Hcare’s website and find diagnostics clinics and hospitals.

3Hcare provides two services:
Diagnostics – Over 1500 labs and test centers (NABL accredited) from 50+ locations throughout India.
Plan My Surgery – An innovation by which patients can plan their surgeries with the best of surgeons at viable costs and schedule. Moreover, a price comparison feature is available, and the patient is also able to seek time- availability and appointment with the best-in-class doctors and hospitals.

3Hcare received an angel funding of INR 65 lakhs within 11 months of its inception. The funds were used to develop the IT infrastructure and enhance other services. 3Hcare also raised $1 million in its second round of funding.

Ikka Dukka

Founders: Enda Noone and Nilisha Kholi
Industry: Handicrafts

IkkaDukka | Top startups in Delhi

The duo started the company in Delhi with a goal to curate a brand of artistic handicraft to prevent this cultural and heritage skill from fading into oblivion. The two took a sabbatical from work and began working on Ikka Dukka in 2013. Launched in 2014, Ikka Dukka sells exquisite, affordable collection of jewellery starting from INR 1,800. Ikka Dukka also sells home décor and bags. The Delhi startup is up-scaling the popularity of handicrafts.

Imperial Knots

Founder: Karan Kholi
Industry: Textile

Imperia Knots | Top startups in Delhi

Imperial Knots is an e-commerce website selling rugs and carpets. All Imperial Knots products are representative of artistic designs, aesthetic colors, and comfort while offering high standard floor coverings for your homes. The brand offers over 5,000 exclusive designs and is relentlessly creating new designs in line with changing market trends. Its flat weave rugs and hand-tufted modern carpets have attained immense popularity in recent years. The company has tie-ups with various websites such as Pepperfry, Amazon, Urban Ladder, and Ikka Dukka for showcasing its products.

Wingify

Founder: Paras Chopra
Founded in: 2010
Industry: Software Development

Wingify | Top startups in Delhi

Wingify provides a ‘visual website optimizer’ to assist marketing professionals and increase sales and conversions on their websites using techniques such as A/B testing. Wingify is offering a multivariate testing tool to deal with behavioural targeting, tracking visitors, usability testing, etc.

LimeTray

Founder: Akhilesh Bali and Piyush Jain
Founded in: 2013
Industry: Information Technology & Services

Limetray | Top startups in Delhi

LimeTray is complete restaurant management platform. It a one-stop shop for everything a restaurant needs to grow, right from the technology to data-driven consulting services. LimeTray makes it easier for restaurants to tap into the customer base that lives online. The startup’s founding team consists of ISB and NSIT alumni with strong-domain knowledge; they built one of the largest online food-ordering portals prior to this venture.

So this was our list of some successful startups in Delhi. Do share it on your social media profiles and tag us and your favorite startup from this list!

FAQs

What are the most successful startups in Delhi?

Most successful startups in Delhi are listed below:
- Zomato
- Inshorts
- Snapdeal
- MobiKwik
- Green Cure Wellness
- Hike
- Collegedunia
- Zostel
- GoldSeat
- Chaayos
- Revfin
- Dogspot
- TrulyMadly
- Flyrobe
- 3Hcare
- Ikka Dukka
- Imperial Knots
- Wingify
- LimeTray
How many startups are there in Delhi?

There are more than 1500 Startups in Delhi.

What are the best startups in India?

Top startups in India are:
- AirBnB
- Dunzo
- Udaan
- Byju’s
- Zest Money
- Cure. Fit
- Razorpay
- PharmEasy
- Nykaa
What is the best business to start in Delhi?

Some of the best business to start in Delhi are:
- Printing Business
- E- commerce Business
- Website designing
- Interior Designing
- Tutoring
Which are Delhi based startups that became Unicorn?

Delhi based startup that joined Unicorn club are:
- Lenskart
- BharatPe
- GlobalBees
May 24, 2022

Startup Name	ARATA
Headquarters	New Delhi
Industry	D2C Personal Care
Founder	Dhruv Bhasin and Dhruv Madhok
Founded	2018
Website	arata.in

Date	Stage	Amount	Investors
2021	–	INR 7 Crores	–
December 2018	Seed	INR 3.5 Crores	–

Hike – The Journey of the Indian Messaging App and How it is Building a Web3 Gaming Platform?

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 Hike.

Development in the communication sector has been fast and amazing. From letters to landline phones; from pagers to smartphones, we have come a long way. And now, one of the most loved ways of communicating is messaging apps, which are making communication not just easy but fun too!

Speaking of the most trending messaging apps, one name that we won’t afford to miss is the Hike Messenger app owned by Kavin Bharti Mittal. With over 100 million users, this homegrown messaging app of India has given fair competition to WhatsApp, the world’s most preferred messenger app. Founded by Kavin Bharti Mittal in 2012, Hike Messenger was once a billion-dollar startup. However, it failed to capitalise on the headstart it received, and slackened down through the years ultimately to be shut down.

Hike Messenger is Officially Shut down and has been removed from Google Play Store and Apple App Store. However, the company still exists. Yes, though Hike has been shutdown as a messenger, the company has not stopped altogether. It is currently aiming to build a web3 gaming platform (Rush Gaming Universe), and might also successfully pivot. Of its messaging platform, the Hike Stickers can still be used though on other platforms like Signal, Whatsapp, and Telegram by downloading “Stickers by Hike”.

The company has constantly looked for monetisation plans through which it would be benefitted and had also pivoted on numerous occasions, but it failed on most occasions. The Hike messenger app certainly failed with the tough competition it got from Whatsapp. However, there was one occasion where it tried to create a super app, it focused on Hike Sticker Chat, it turned the way of gateway for microtransactions with HikeLand, and has finally decided to launch Vibe and Rush in 2021, with a complete focus on multiplying the app revenues.

Read on to know more about this successful Indian startup, its founder, startup story, business and revenue model, its current revenues, competitors, funding and investors, growth, acquisitions, future plans and more.

Hike Messenger – Company Highlights

Startup Name	Hike Messenger
Headquarter	New Delhi
Founder/Owner	Kavin Bharti Mittal
Sector	Messaging App
Founded	2012
Funding	$261 Million
Revenue	$1.5 mn (Rs 11.9 crore in FY20)
Parent Organization	Hike Private Limited
Website	hike.in

Hike Messenger Officially Shuts Down (Latest News)
Hike Messenger – About
Hike Messenger – Founder
Hike Messenger – Startup Story | How it started
Hike Messenger – Name, Tagline and Logo
Hike Messenger – Business and Revenue Model
Hike Messenger – User Acquisition
Hike Messenger – Competitors
Hike Messenger – Funding and Investors
Hike Messenger – Growth and Revenue
Hike Messenger – Acquisitions and Investments
Hike Messenger – Future Plans

Hike Messenger Officially Shuts Down (Latest News)

Hike shut down its messaging service, by shifting its focus to two new social products—Rush and Vibe. It was rebranded as Hike Sticker Chat with a sticker-centric experience in April 2019

11/ Finally → StickerChat by hike.

Millions of users spending 35 mins / day.

A very loyal user base that has been a fantastic launchpad for us to bring our innovations to the market → HikeMoji & HikeLand.

— Kavin Bharti Mittal (@kavinbm) January 6, 2021

On January 6, 2021, Hike informed its users that it will be shutting down its messenger and was given a deadline till January 14 to migrate their data.

Kavin Mittal didn’t give a reason for shutting down the service, Mittal tweeted that global network effects are too strong for India to have its own messenger.

India won’t have its own messenger.

Global network effects are too strong (unless India bans Western companies)@telegram UX, Groups better than @signalapp

Both are very good. As entities they have the right incentives (more aligned with consumers) unlike FB products.

— Kavin Bharti Mittal (@kavinbm) January 10, 2021

Hike Messenger – About

Hike is an Indian app and essentially is a cool messaging platform for chatting with funky and killer stickers that came in to innovate the messaging world. Hike, founded in 2012 by Kavin Bharti Mittal, was the first messaging and social technology company made in India. Some of the features of Hike are:

Two-way option: This option on Hike enables the users to add or accept the contacts before messaging and also the application has security measures that allow the users to prevent messages from strangers.
Offline messages: The users can receive message notifications even when the mobile data is disabled.
Free SMS: Hike messenger allows its users to send free SMS to any given number.
Theme-based interface: The whole idea of Hike is having conversations using some interesting graphic mediums like reaction stickers etc.

Hike Messenger introduced HikeLand

Tencent-backed Hike Messenger has introduced a new offering called HikeLand which is a mobile virtual world where people can participate in many activities. HikeLand allows users to hang out with their friends and watch videos together in a virtual environment. The move has come when sharing experiences via social networks has strengthened due to people staying at homes.

The early preview of HikeLand includes two shared experiences – ‘Home’ and ‘Big Screen’.

It explained that the home screen will be only for the user themselves, more like a private space. In this mode, users can watch YouTube videos and talk about it with another user. There will be eight themes to choose from and the home screen can be customized depending on the likes of the user. No one who is uninvited can enter this room.

The Big screen, on the other hand, is unlike Home and is more open. Hike’s Big Screen allows users to watch videos with other people. To start with, Big Screen is currently powered by YouTube and would be running shows 24×7 around comedy, sports, and others. Users that enjoy similar content can be a part of it. While viewing the show/video of choice, users can find out more about others watching the same content through their profiles and even message them.

1/ We’ve been wondering why the world is still using decade old social experiences built for the 2G world – Messaging, Feed etc → It's time to move on

Today @hikeapp we begin to change the way people hang out online. The ‘early preview’ for #HikeLand rolls out to a 100% today! pic.twitter.com/fg5sdZX2aZ

— Kavin Bharti Mittal (@kavinbm) June 17, 2020

“With advancements in technology, so much is possible today that wasn’t even just a few years ago. The world has evolved, it’s time for social products as well. With HikeLand, we’re launching the world’s first mobile-first Virtual World. A brand new take on how people can hangout online, transcending beyond the limitations of the offline world”, Hike founder and CEO Kavin Bharti Mittal said.

The company said HikeLand is a homegrown product that has been built from the ground up keeping India in mind.

“It is an India-first product built for a mobile-first/mobile-only audience. Leveraging diversity of art skills and resources, HikeLand also brought together a design team of not only UI (user interface) and UX (user experience) but also fashion, art, and 3D artists”, it added.

Rush Gaming Universe

Hike introduced Rush Avatar. It would be debuting with Rush Avatar, which is planned to stand as an NFT and digital identity for the Rush users, thereby moving the Rush Gaming Universe to the blockchain on February 28, 2022.

The Rush Avatar NFTs would be offered by Hike for free to the most active members of its community, where the rarest editions would go to the most active members. Furthermore, it has also been decided that 10% of the Launch Edition’s supply would be further used for future community giveaways, NFT sales, and partnerships.

The messenger app company has previously tried to pivot via a super app business, where Hike planned to integrate the digital wallet, ticketbooking and ecommerce services into the app. However, this didn’t pay off well for the company, which is why it ended the same idea in 2019. hike then tried to run its Hike Sticker Chat, focusing on it largely, but even this didn’t materialize profitably for the company, and was shuttered in January 2021. HikeLand was the next venture that it tried, where Hike turned into a gateway for microtransactions, and in-app spending.

Launched in June 2020, HikeLand saw a good traction right form its testing days, where the users spent a minimum of 50 minutes in the app on an average. This is why the HikeLand idea was again integrated into Vibe and Rush. Hike launched Vibe and Rush in 2021, where:

Vibe is a rebranded version of HikeLand and offers interactive social media experiences to the customers.
Rush is a mini-games platform by Hike, which would offer the users casual gaming experiences that will include microtransactions.

Hike also has HikeMoji, which extends animated avatars for the users, and will further be incorporated into Vibe and Rush.

“With Vibe & Rush, we now have 2 Virtual Worlds that focus on a single ‘Job to be Done’ each thus simplifying the UX. A much better approach for today’s world that is unconstrained by cheap, fast data & powerful smartphones,” tweeted Mittal recently.

Hike Messenger – Founder

Kavin Bharti Mittal is the founder and CEO of Indian instant messaging app Hike, and also the son of business tycoon Bharti Mittal.

Founder/Owner Hike — **Kavin Bharti Mittal Founder & CEO, Hike**

Before he started his venture, the founder of hike was studying Electronics and Electrical Engineering at the University of New York and then went on to Imperial College in London to study further. He first joined McLaren Racing as an Associate Vehicle Engineer Intern, after which he joined as an Associate Technology Manager at Google. Then it was Goldman Sachs that Mittal joined as Summer Analyst before founding Hike, where he is still serving as the Co-founder and CEO.

Hike Messenger – Startup Story | How it started

All of this was based on a basic insight to make the messaging module a little bit more interesting, and right when the world was busy chatting on Whatsapp and Facebook, Kavin, owner of the hike app, thought of coming up with a trendy and cool way of messaging. This is why Hike was launched on 12-12-12. It’s quite interesting that this application was made available in more than 100 countries ever since its launch.

Hike Messenger – Name, Tagline and Logo

Hike 4.0 launched on 26 August 2015 with the tagline ‘Got a Gang? Get on Hike’

Hike Logo

Hike ran a full fledged marketing and brand campaign across TV, radio, and Cinemas. The tagline for one of their TV ad was “Hike up your life” to convince youth to download the Hike app.

Hike Messenger – Business and Revenue Model

Hike Messenger believed in providing the users with an interactive social media chatting app that helped them to communicate and make their communication interesting via an amusing set of stickers. It later went on to build a virtual economy business model.

Hike’s operational revenues were disclosed to be Rs 13K in FY20, while its total revenues stood at Rs 11.9 cr during the same fiscal. Almost all of its revenue came from sources other than the operations of the company, which includes the interest income on fixed deposits, current investments and more. There was around 55% decline in the Hike revenues from FY19, where the messenger picked up revenues close to Rs 26.4 cr and around a 70% decline from Rs 39.6 cr revenues, which it pulled off in FY18.

Hike Messenger – User Acquisition

Operating in multiple countries can be a tedious task but Hike kept the users glued to the app using multiple marketing methods.

Following that, in August 2013, Hike launched its first-ever digital campaign which ran under the banner “keep your friends close”. The advertisement was a big hit and the users took it very well. Kavin knew that the key to any successful business is customer satisfaction. Hence the team started taking in real-time feedback from the users for further and better development of the product.

What also worked well for Hike was their tie-up with Airtel. They ran a scheme that if the user had an Airtel postpaid connection in India, they would be given free data for three months for using Hike Messenger. This campaign gave Hike the needed hike in their consumer base.

Hike also tied up with various brands like Dominos, CCD, Pizza Hut for discount coupons. This intrigued the actual customers and brought potential customers on board. With all these creative marketing strategies, Hike gained a base of 15 million loyal customers in just one year of inception.

Hike Messenger – Competitors

Hike Messenger competes with messaging platforms like WhatsApp, WeChat, Signal, Viber, and Telegram. All these platforms have a great market standing and each has its own set of user bases. Though Hike provides a unique kind of interface, it still faces cut-throat competition from these platforms.

Hike Messenger – Funding and Investors

Hike has raised over $261M in funding over 7 rounds. Their last funding was raised on Aug 24, 2021 from a Venture round led by Justin Mateen and Sean Rad. The round further saw participation from Kunal Shah, Binny Bansal, Softbank Vision Fund CEO Rajeev Mishra and others. Hike hasn’t disclosed the amount yet. After this, Hike recently received an undisclosed amount of funding from Jump Crypto, Tribe Capital and Republic Crypto, which came on May 6, 2022, and is reported to be utilised for its web3 gaming platform, Rush Gaming Universe (RGU). Developing RGU’s product strategy and hiring new talents across verticals would be the sole aim of the funding that Hike received via this Venture round.

The recent funds, according to the company, will be utilized to hire skilled employees across a wide range of sectors in order to improve the product strategy of Hike.

Date	Stage	Amount	Investors
May 6, 2022	Venture Round	–	–
August 24 2021	Corporate Round	–	Sean Rad, Justin Mateen
August 16, 2016	Series D	$175M	Foxconn Technology Group, Tencent Holdings
January 11, 2016	Venture Round	–	–
August 26, 2014	Series C	$65M	Tiger Global Management
March 31, 2014	Series B	$14M	Bharti Soft Bank
April 25, 2013	Series A	$7M	Bharti Soft Bank

Hike was launched in 2012 and soon after in the next year they raised $7 million from Bharti, SoftBank and others. This funding went straight into launching the most popular USP of the app – STICKERS to increase their customer engagement. In March 2014, Hike raised $14 Million from Bharti SoftBank, and put this money into more innovative features on the application, soon Hike crossed the 20 Million user mark. In August 2014, Hike again raised $65 Million from Tiger Global.

In January 2016, Hike raised an undisclosed amount in a venture round. Again, in August 2016, Hike raised around $175 million led by Tencent and Foxconn Technology Group in a Series D round. With this latest round of funding, the startup was valued at $1.4 billion and achieved the “unicorn” status. However, its valuation decreased eventually and it lost its unicorn valuation.

Hike Messenger – Growth and Revenue

In just one year of its launch, Hike was rated #1 App on Android Playstore, iOS Appstore, and Windows Store and had a customer base of 15 million.
In 7 years, more than 35 million user base out of which 60% of the base is in India and the rest is in Germany, the Middle East, and other countries around the globe.

The Hike Messenger revenues dropped significantly in FY20, which was valued at Rs 11.9 cr lately in FY20. Along with its revenues, the company also witnessed a decline of its operational income, expenses and losses throughout the years.

Hike Operational Revenue Decline

Years	Hike Operational Revenue
FY20	Rs 13K
FY19	Rs 3.5 lakhs
FY18	Rs 51 lakhs

Hike Expenses Decline

Hike’s expenses and losses also dropped. However, this was rather due to the decline of its operations rather than its business growth. The company’s total expenses were noted to be Rs 193 crore in FY20, which is 16% and 56% lower than the previous years, FY19, FY18 respectively. The losses of Hike also declined at the rate of 12% YOY.

Years	Hike Expenses
FY20	Rs 193 cr
FY19	Rs 232 cr
FY18	Rs 439.2 cr

Hike Losses Decline

Years	Hike Losses
FY20	Rs 181 cr
FY19	Rs 205.8 cr
FY18	Rs 399.5 cr

The company spent around Rs 193 cr in FY20, which was 16% lower that what it expended in FY19, and around 56% lower than what it spent in FY18.

Hike Expenses Breakdown

Hike Expenses Verticals	FY20	FY19
Employee benefits	Rs 81.7 cr	Rs 109.3 cr
Server cost	Rs 31.8 cr	Rs 33.6 cr
Marketing expenses	Rs 23.4 cr	Rs 24.1 cr
In app costs	Rs 6.6 cr	Rs 4 cr
Facility expenses	Rs 4.3 cr	Rs 4.7 cr
Video usage expenses	Rs 5.3 cr	Rs 7.5 cr

The most interesting fact is that Hike was once valued at around $1.4 bn, and was also known as one of the fastest growing unicorn then, while it failed to generate any operational revenues back then.

Hike Messenger – Acquisitions and Investments

Hike has acquired 3 organizations – CREO, InstaLively, and Thought Mechanics.

Their most recent acquisition was CREO on Aug 11, 2017. CREO is on a mission to build software that empowers every device to deliver new experiences every month. Thought Mechanics is a web development company acquired by Hike in January 2015. InstaLively helps broadcast your event Live in just a single click. Hike acquired InstaLively in June 2017.

Acquired	Date
January 2015	Thought Mechanics
June 2017	InstaLively
August 2017	CREO

Hike has invested in WinZO on Feb 22, 2019. This investment – Series A – WinZO – was valued at $5M.

Hike Messenger – Future Plans

Hike has officially called its social messenger to quits earlier in 2021 and has not been very active since then. However, the exponential growth that online gaming and the Crypto industry have witnessed has attracted the company, which is now looking to expand on those lines.

Hike has already forayed into the gaming industry by launching a social app, Vibe, and Rush, an online gaming app. The company is now looking to start its journey with cryptocurrency by offering crypto operations and services.

Hike rolled out the NFT avatars on February 28, 2022, with an eye on its blockchain gaming universe. It upped the game with Rush Avatar, which will be an NFT and digital identity for the users.

Kavin Bharti Mittal, Founder & CEO, Hike said, “With the Rush Avatar NFT, players will now own their digital identity in the RGU. This launch brings the Rush Gaming Universe on-chain and with it we plant the seeds to build a new game economy where consumers are owners.”

Monetisation is what the Hike platform is currently looking eagerly at. With the launch of Rush, Hike has already seeing the gaming experience gradually meeting its success. However, it will be interesting to note how Hike capitalists gaming boom and would earn its revenues ahead.

FAQs

What is Hike’s origin country?

Hike is a messaging app that originated in India, and was founded by Kavin Bharti Mittal.

Is Hike a Chinese app?

No, Hike is an Indian app.

Who is Hike Indian messenger app founder?

Kavin Bharti Mittal is the founder and CEO of Indian instant messaging app Hike, and also the son of business tycoon Bharti Mittal.

Who are the Hike investors?

Hike is mainly funded by investors Foxconn Technology Group, Tencent Holdings, Tiger Global Management, and Bharti Soft Bank.

What is Hike Timeline?

Timeline is an awesome hike feature where you can post photos and status updates.

What are Hike Rewards?

Hike Rewards helps you expand your network on Hike. Invite your friends using exclusive invites offered by Hike and earn rewards by sending and receiving stickers to your friends.
Earn points and redeem them for exclusive rewards and recharges.

May 7, 2022

Prepare for Government and Competitive Exams With Ixambee

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 ixamBee.

A Government job is the first preference of many-educated young adults in India. Every year millions of graduate and undergraduate students appear for competitive exams to secure jobs in the public sector. As shown by surveys conducted by the Lokniti research program at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies (CSDS) in 2016, 65% of the Indian youth preferred a Government job. Again, a huge chunk of these Government job aspirants belong to the rural areas and a lot comes from financially weaker sections.

However, this section residing in backward areas and having a low income does not get adequate opportunities to prepare for competitive exams, owing to lack of infrastructure or money. Considering this scenario, ixamBee, a New Delhi based startup is offering free mock tests on its online platform so that all the govt job aspirants can prepare well for their dream job, irrespective of economic status, and from anywhere.
StartupTalky interviewed ixamBee CEO Chandraprakash Joshi to understand the startup better.

Startup Name	ixamBee
Headquarter	New Delhi
Founders	Chandraprakash Joshi, Arunima Sinha & Sandeep Singh
Sector	EdTech
Founded	2016
Website	www.ixambee.com
Parent Organization	ATOZLEARN EDUTECH Pvt. Ltd.

About ixamBee and How It Works
Online Education and Ed-Tech in India
Founders of ixamBee and Team
How Was ixamBee Started?
ixamBee – Name and Logo
ixamBee – Revenue Model
ixamBee – User Acquisition
ixamBee – Startup Challenges
ixamBee – Advisors and Mentors
ixamBee – Growth
ixamBee – Future Plans

About ixamBee and How It Works

ixamBee is a platform that lets Government job aspirants prepare for various competitive exams online. ixamBee is the only website where all the mock tests are available for free to the users to practice and prepare for various competitive exams and that is their USP.
ixamBee makes a large number of questions at a very low cost. These questions are made in-house, after thorough research and analysis of past trends, matching the difficulty level of the exam and following the same exam patterns as the real exams. The platform offers mock tests for more than 50 exams in Banking, Insurance Teaching, Railways, SSC and other categories.

ixamBee also provides comprehensive online learning courses for exam preparation. These learning modules are a package of short video lessons, study notes, practice questions and live sessions with the expert faculty. Besides online practice tests and speed tests offered in the platform helps the users be better prepared to face the exam. Here, you can find over 500 video lessons to learn from and over 10000 practice questions. With paid subscriptions to these online courses, students can learn from anywhere and anytime convenient to them.

Some highlights of ixamBee courses are–

Users get exam preparation tips from exam toppers and subject experts.
Offers career guidance by successful professionals.
Exam focused on comprehensive and concise study materials.
Content is available in vernacular languages too.
Extensive question banks that help students prepare better.
Video lessons for difficult topics.
‘Adaptive Practice’ tests, where difficulty level of questions are adjusted as per performance.
ixamBee also offers topic wise and section wise performance accelerating analytics.

Online Education and Ed-Tech in India

There are 300 million students in India and a large majority of them live in villages and small towns where quality learning material is not easily accessible. Online learning provides an equal opportunity for anyone to learn from anywhere. As per reports, the size of the Online Education market is expected to reach $325.48 billion by 2026.

EdTech market is very competitive, probably due to the low entry barriers. However, considering the large market, we have always been confident to make our own space. Today ixamBee is growing fast because of its focus on the quality of content that helps students in clearing the exam. In the time of information overload, our crisp and to the point content which is created by Subject Matter Experts is helping students get success.

Relevant Read: upGrad is Offering Distance Courses from Reputed National and International Institutes

Founders of ixamBee and Team

ixamBee was founded by the trio, Arunima Sinha, Sandeep Singh and Chandraprakash Joshi in 2016.

Chandraprakash Joshi is the CEO of ixamBee. He received his formal education in the field of agriculture and finance. He held reputed positions in RBI as Manager (Hyderabad) and Assistant General Manager(Lucknow). He also held various positions in esteemed organizations like Oriental Bank of Commerce, Regional Rural Bank and Yes Bank before starting ixamBee.

Arunima Sinha, a born teacher, quit her government job (as Manager–SIDBI) and started Stratagem – a coaching institute for the preparation of competitive exams. She being an educator was very keen to work on a project for the betterment of society, combining the benefit of her teaching with tech skills, which made her join the founding team of ixamBee.

Sandeep Singh has extensive technical experience as he used to manage various technical departments in brands like Make My Trip, Carnation Auto India Pvt. Ltd and Sirez Ltd. Sandeep also co-founded an E-commerce site ‘Babyhugs.com’ which dealt in baby care products.

ixamBee has a team of qualified and dedicated professionals having diverse skillsets which have helped it get established as a known name amongst students.

How Was ixamBee Started?

Chandraprakash Joshi did his schooling from a village and had no proper awareness and guidance to choose the right career. While travelling to different parts of the country during his field visits for YES Bank, he interacted with a large number of people living in small towns. The observation made him realize, that the people were willing to invest in education, however, there were hardly any options that made quality education accessible. Increased access to internet services in rural areas has created an opportunity for online education so Chandraprakash grabbed the opportunity with both hands. He always wanted to do something beneficial for the youth of the country, and his experiences during personal and work-life turned into a passion to teach, that finally led to the conviction of starting up ixamBee.

ixamBee – Name and Logo

“We wanted a name that is related to education and exam preparation and also wanted to include an element of nature in it,” said Chandraprakash explaining the idea behind the name ‘ixamBee’.

Bees are the most social, systematic and intelligent insects having a crucial place in the cycle of life by helping plants grow, breed and produce food. Therefore, the word ‘exam’ is clubbed with ‘bee’. The ‘e’ of the exam is replaced with ‘i’ as the company name starting with ‘I’ makes it personalized for every user and every team member of ixamBee.

ixamBee – Revenue Model

ixamBee provides free mock tests for more than 50 exams and it is the only platform where students get mock tests without paying anything for that. ixamBee’s revenue comes from the comprehensive online learning courses that students subscribe to for the preparation of competitive exams such as Bank PO, SSC, RBI, NABARD, SEBI, LIC, and others.

ixamBee – User Acquisition

ixamBee launched the mock tests in April 2017 and reached customers using social media such as Quora, Facebook, and Youtube. Students visit the website to attempt mock tests because of the quality of questions, answer explanations and personalized feedback analytics that helps them in improving their performance. More than 300 million questions have been attempted by 750K plus users on the website.

For a B2C player in the online space, it is tough to reach customers, and one needs to spend much on digital marketing. However, social media did the magic for ixamBee, in getting its first 1000 registrations in the first month itself. Due to good content quality, very quickly the word spread among the online student communities across various social media.

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ixamBee – Startup Challenges

“I always believe, What doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger”-Chandrapraksh says.

At ixamBee, there was a big challenge to get qualified and experienced professionals on board when the company has little money to pay them. Again, there was a challenge to make students realize the quality of the content.

To some extent selection of students in the first year of the course launch and appreciation by users about the ixamBee experience has helped us grow at a good pace. We are continuously learning how to manage these challenges in a better way and are also preparing for the bigger challenges we are going to face in the coming years.

ixamBee – Advisors and Mentors

Keyur Joshi, Co-Founder of MakeMyTrip is mentoring ixamBee since the beginning. Sandeep (co-founder and CTO) has earlier worked with Keyur in MakeMyTrip. Keyur’s continuous guidance has been extremely valuable for crafting the differentiation strategy and growth plan for ixamBee.

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ixamBee – Growth

ixamBee is growing very fast and becoming popular among students because of the value they are getting. Today the company has 1 million-plus monthly visits on the website and the number is growing constantly. There are more than 45 million page views on the websites and students have spent a total of 800,000 plus study hours at ixamBee.com. These numbers are growing at the rate of 80-100% month on month.

The average ticket size for each course ranges from INR 3,000 to INR 60,000 per course. The company claims to have about 1,500 paid users.

ixamBee – Future Plans

iexambee plans to keep investing the profits into the business to launch more courses, they have already launched a mobile app and added more languages on the platform.

“We have still not reached even 1% of the student in the market. We have lots to be achieved and we are preparing in the right direction.” Chandraprakash says.

ixamBee’s aims to reach 100 million students by 2025. Recently, in 2021, it has raised $300,000 in seed funding.

FAQs

When was ixamBee was founded?

ixamBee was founded in the year 2016.

Who founded ixamBee?

ixamBee was founded by Chandraprakash Joshi, Arunima Sinha and Sandeep Singh.

What is ixamBee?

ixamBee is an online platform that helps in learning and preparing for competitive exams for like Banking, SSC, Railways and others.

April 19, 2022

Kimaya Himalayan Beverages: Modern disruptors in state-of-the-art brewing
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 Kimaya Himalayan Beverages.

Kimaya Himalayan Beverages is harvesting a community of beer drinkers in India by sourcing premium ingredients and keeping up with the innovative styles of brewing methods that constantly push boundaries. One of its top-selling products is BeeYoung, India’s first strong craft beer that celebrates the story of youth. This bootstrapped brand witnessed a solid 287% growth rate in just 2 years with to date turnover being around INR 128 Cr.

StartupTalky interviewed Mr. Abhinav Jindal (Founder & CEO, Kimaya Himalayan Beverages) to get insights into the startup story and roadmap of the organization.

Kimaya Himalayan – Company Highlights

Startup Name Kimaya Himalayan Beverages

Founder & CEO Abhinav Jindal

Founded 2019

Headquarters New Delhi

Industry Alco Bev

Website kimayahimalayan.com

Kimaya Himalayan – About, Vision & Mission

Product by Kimaya Himalayan –

BeeYoung (story of youth): India’s first strong craft beer – The story of Bee Young is the story of youth. It started with an idea to create a brew that could deliver a crisp and clean yet punchy sip, every time, no matter the social setting. The idea was to find the choicest of ingredients and merge them into a brew that would find instant appeal with the drinker, be it a seasoned imbiber or a first-timer. The product evokes a sense of adventure and curiosity in the drinker, promoting the idea of trying something new, something that is different and yet remains familiar.

BeeYoung Starts with a crisp attack delivering a perfect malty taste. Then it translates to ripe fruitiness on the midpalate, while the invigorating flavors & taste make each sip EVENTFUL.

BeeYoung is Kimaya’s star product and bestseller across markets.

Vision: To create beverages that set benchmarks and define categories ahead of the curve.

Mission: To create honest drinks, crafted & enjoyed with passion

Kimaya Himalayan – Industry Details

The beer industry in India is in its growth stage, evolved from manufacturing standard beers such as strong and lager beer to flavored and variety, housing more than 140 beer brands in the country.

The total beer market in India as per volume was 2,047.8 m liters in 2019, with a dip of – 2.4% in CAGR in the period 2015-2019. The strongest growth for Beer in India was witnessed in 2015 with a rate of 4.1%.

It is forecasted for the beer industry to reach 2,025.9 m liters in 2024 representing a volume CAGR of 0.8% since 2020.

(Data Source: Mintel Beer Report for India 2020)

The strong beer category (alcohol content between 6% to 8%) holds the 82% market share vis a vis Standard/Light/Low/Extra Strong/ No Alcohol Category.

India is following in China’s footsteps where consumption has grown from 2 liters to 36 liters over the last 25 years. Also, high growth has been witnessed in the Craft beer industry in India and internationally, with a CAGR of 304% (2014-18) in India.

Beer Industry has a lot of growth potential in India, however being hit twice in a row with a pandemic at its peak during the main beer season, certainly will hamper the growth vis a vis as projected before.

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Kimaya Himalayan – Idea and Inspiration

“Being a beer enthusiast, I (Abhinav) love to try newer variants and styles of beer from across the globe. And being from the Alco-Bev industry for over a decade now I’ve closely observed the beer landscape and consumption patterns in India”

Abhinav Jindal – Founder & CEO, Kimaya Himalayan Beverages

While observing the market he analyzed the gap in the beer industry, there were not many players manufacturing quality products especially in the strong beer segment, something that would appeal to all sorts of customers cutting across preferences. Hence, he created a product that is crafted and artisanal, considering that the strong beer segment makes up for the largest percentage of the market share yet underserved in terms of quality products. Abhinav spoke to a few company heads and stakeholders, the suggestion was unilateral – to stay out of the space due to the masses being acquired by two giants of the industry.

Small businesses being bought over by larger companies, margin, and cost are under pressure all the time given that it is the lowest margin product in the world, everyone persuaded him to not foray into this space and take up this challenge. They suggested that he should rather try creating something for the IMFL segment as it demands lesser investment, it’s easier, and much better margins gameplay.

Yet he and the team decided to stick to the plan and create more talk points around the same. With extensive research of more than a year at hand, they started their journey in 2019. Despite the phases of lockdowns, they were able to build a market and name for the brand and lead the way ahead. Kimaya has more variants coming up very soon, experimenting with different ingredients and flavors to provide the best likable offerings. Patrons have poured in an immense amount of love and support, regardless of the lockdown situation. The brand has been communicating with people through various marketing strategies as it was the only key to remaining relevant in such situations and keeping the audiences hooked.

Having traveled to a few different parts of the world, Abhinav also witnessed that beer is not just alcohol but a culture, a kick-starter for celebrations, adventure, and leisure, and that is how he feels. The beer consumption was perceived wrongly which he wanted to change by educating people about the right pack size and temperature.

Kimaya is a team of passionate individuals trying to provide international standard brews at the right price, that can be consumed in any social setting.

Kimaya Team

Kimaya Himalayan – Products and USP

Kimaya Himalayan beverages offer BeeYoung in 500ml sizes (can and bottles), which is an adequate quantity to share and consume at the right temperature. The brand aims to make the beer drinkers aware of the right pack size and temperature to enjoy a beer at. Moreover, at the same time, the Kimaya Himalayan Beverages team is also focused on premiumizing the craft brew space with an aim to make beer drinking an experience and more than a means of intoxication. They are experimenting with different flavors and ingredients to provide the offerings with a distinctive taste to cherish and enjoy. The brand is also dedicated to curating conceptual synergies between other alcohol, food products, and entertainment promoted through various influencers.

Along with the 500ml packaging, it also released a 650ml packaging edition due to great consumer response and increasing demand for the same.

Key Highlights of the brand:
- Unique packaging: 500ml bottles: Team Kimaya has moved against the grain and has embraced a unique size to showcase their most interesting creation in the beer segment. An optimized size that bridges the gap between 330ml and 650ml offers the perfect pint size to enjoy the beer at the right temperature till the last sip and is adequate for sharing.
- Emphasis on Provenance: The ingredients are sourced from their provenance. The beers exhibit graceful flavors of carefully selected international malt with the inclusion of premium Basmati rice to provide smoothness on the palate. Noble hop Saaz is carefully chosen and infused with Himalayan source water.
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Kimaya Himalayan – Ideology behind Name & Logo

As aforementioned, the team associates BeeYoung with a story of youth that’s vibrant, buzzy, and adventurous, excitement, and celebration. From the buzzy aspect of the product that gives you a light buzz and excitement when consumed as it is a strong craft beer, the logo Bee came into inception. They wanted to create a product that is an expression of excitement and adventure for the youth, the vibe of being young in older people; relate the product with fun and energy and hence the name.

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Kimaya Himalayan – Business & Revenue Model

Kimaya’s business and revenue model is mostly retail and through trade. Generally, when an alcohol startup launches and begins sampling/selling, they take the on-premise route, this brand’s approach was distinct from other craft brew brands. It took the off-premise route and also engaged with customers through various events and festivals which played well for the business.

Kimaya Himalayan – Launch and Marketing Strategies

Initially, Kimaya launched through on-ground samplings and word-of-mouth branding through stakeholders and promoters.

Abhinav started the retail business with minimal and controlled sampling to gain feedback. With planned marketing outreach, the tea, got the opportunity to participate in events such as Food for Thought, Horn OK Please, Eat Love Party, and Toast -Wine & Beer Festival which enabled them to sample the product to a wider audience. More and more sampling to the target audience was the initial focus before the brand gained momentum on the sales in cities where it has its distribution.

The perfect taste and buzz of the product are what kept the audience hooked. Moreover, the high voltage campaigns that Kimaya is consistently running on its social media platforms have helped it to promote the brand narrative, populate collaborations with industry faces/influencers. These collaborations (engaging reels/ fun videos with product integration) have helped garner traction, build brand identity and consumer loyalty. The cocktail mixing by experts, comic, dance and festive reels have performed considerably well and was well accepted by the audiences.

Kimaya’s social media campaign and physical collaboration have helped it to establish a name in the market and stand amongst the competition. The brand’s social media channels are interactive, heavy on engagement and entertainment. Being an alcohol brand, Kimaya did not restrict itself to associate with different brands and genres. From music to fashion to comedy, which connotes the story of youth/vibrancy is something that it can cross collaborate. Along with the product the team also wants people to associate with the vibe of the brand and relate, and Kimaya should be their first choice when it comes to drinking beer. The brand has also experimented with the taste notes and texture to be smooth and light on the palate, being a strong brew.

“The contests that we run and the collaborations with key industry leaders and influencers have helped us position ourselves as a brand that is consumer-centric and values them” – Abhinav added.

A few major collaborations that had worked really well for Kimaya are the comic reels with content creators like Arun Singh, Dance collaboration with faculties of Big Dance Center, Delhi, and most importantly with travel groups, trips to Zanskar valley with BeeYoung. These campaigns drove enormous engagements on the page. Participation in major events like Horn Ok Please by So Delhi, Toast Beer & Wine Festival at DLF Avenue and Eat Play and Party at DLF Promenade have helped it garner visibility, brand loyalty, and more partnerships.

The brand is affable, with honest prices, quality & packaging benchmarks. This has eventually created a word of mouth for the brand. Moreover, BeeYoung is distributed widely in Delhi, Uttarakhand, UP, and some areas of Punjab which makes it more approachable in terms of availability.

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Kimaya Himalayan – Challenges Faced

Kimaya’s Yavira packaging (not available in Delhi right now) states that it is a lager brew yet produced at 6.2% ABV. Kimaya’s team learned that people are unaware of the distinction between lager, a strong beer, and light beer. Lager being the umbrella categorization, telling people that Yavira is a lager didn’t work out well. The team tagged it as pilsner instead to perfectly categorize it. The brand’s approach of associating with larger events and festivals worked out really well to promote the brand. People like the vibe and the story of the brand.

The startup onboarded their brewer to create different styles in the strong and pilsner categories. It did it across 3 microbreweries over a period of one month or so. After numerous tastings, Kimaya got what it wanted to offer. The team wanted to source ingredients from their provenance. The search for authentic ingredients led the team to Uttarakhand hills’ Basmati rice. The infusion intrigued them as to what it does to the brew, making for the smooth texture of the product. No one else in this space had experimented with the same. It worked for the brand to make a distinct brew for the discerning.

Kimaya Himalayan – Growth and Revenue

Financial Year Turnover

2019-20 INR 22 Cr

2020-21 INR 64 cr

2021-22 INR 42 Cr (as on Nov 15th, 2021)

Total Revenue To Date INR 128 Cr

Kimaya Himalayan Beverages is currently available in 4 states, which are – Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Punjab. It had plans of expanding in 2020 but, due to the pandemic, it has been delayed. Having said that, the brand is vigorously trying to expand the territorial boundaries in 2021, as it has a large number of customers all over the country who have been quite vocal about demanding availability. Therefore, physical presence would definitely help the team in re-energizing the brand and bringing them into customer focus.

Kimaya has dispatched over 9,00,000 cases to date. In comparison to 2020, the brand is experiencing a growth of 72% YTD. From 2019-20 to 2020-21 it has had 287% growth.

Kimaya Himalayan – Funding

Kimaya Himalayan Beverages is currently bootstrapped.

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Kimaya Himalayan – Competitors

Kimaya’s competitors in Alco Bev Space include Bira91, Medusa, Kati Patang, Tuborg, Carlsberg, Kingfisher Premium, among others.

Kimaya Himalayan – Awards/Achievements
- Awards – BeeYoung was awarded as ‘Best Debutant Beer of the Year’ by Spiritz Achievers Awards 2019.
- Home Grown Business of The Year in Small Business Awards 2020
- Fastest Growing brand (Gold) Spiritz Achievers Awards 2020
- Spiritz Selection Awards 2020 – Silver in Liquid Tasting
- Spiritz Selection Awards 2021 – Gold in Packaging & Liquid tasting (2 categories)
Kimaya Himalayan – Future Plans

The team at Kimaya envisions creating beverages that set benchmarks and define categories ahead of the curve.

They are fabricating an expansion plan in terms of new variants, products, and usage of unique ingredients to further enhance the taste. The brand is onto expansion in newer territories and cities, which would start with a stronger foothold in Northern India and then further extension to major markets in the west, south, and east of the country as well.

Kimaya’s focus is always on the final consumer. The strong beer segment has been so largely unserved forever that it was aching for an overhaul. A well-made beer with a strong sense of provenance, in the long run, will always find takers and over time, this translates into brand loyalty. It’s a slow but organic and sure-shot way to grow and stay ahead.

Kimaya Himalayan – FAQs

What is Kimaya Himalayan Beverages?

Kimaya Himalayan beverages offer BeeYoung in 500ml sizes (can and bottles), which is an adequate quantity to share and consume at the right temperature. The brand aims to make the beer drinkers aware of the right pack size and temperature to enjoy a beer at.

Who founded BeeYoung?

Abhinav Jindal founded Kimaya Himalayan Beverages in 2019. BeeYoung is Kimaya’s star product and bestseller across markets.

Is Kimaya Himalayan an Indian brand?

Yes. It is an Indian brand headquartered in New Delhi.

Who are the competitors of Kimaya Himalayan Beverages?

Kimaya’s competitors in Alco Bev Space include Bira91, Medusa, Kati Patang, Tuborg, Carlsberg, Kingfisher Premium, among others.
December 21, 2021
Luxury Ride – Redefining the notion of owning pre-owned luxury cars

This article is contributed by Mr. Sumit Garg, MD & Co-founder, Luxury Ride.

Ever been awe-struck looking at the stylish luxurious car with terrific design, running dynamically down the road. While attracting the crowd’s gaze, there must be many who are invigorated with the desire to own an exclusive luxurious car. But are unable to fulfill their dreams owing to financial constraints.

Realizing the unfulfilled aspirations of the consumers, Sumit Garg incepted Luxury Ride to provide pre-owned best quality luxury cars to the consumers at the most competitive price. Luxury Ride started in the year 2015, is certified India’s biggest pre-owned, multi-brand luxury car company, and is the leading dealer in the pre-owned luxury car segment.

Luxury Ride – Company Highlights

Startup Name Luxury Ride

Co-founder & MD Sumit Garg

Founded 2015

Headquarters Delhi

Industry Automobile

Website luxuryride.in

The Start of Luxury Ride
What is Luxury Ride?
Challenges Faced by Luxury Ride’s Founder
Growth & Future Plans of Luxury Ride
FAQs on Luxury Ride

The Start of Luxury Ride

It all started with Sumit Garg’s unflinching passion for luxury cars since his childhood which could not be evaded even during his engineering days in RVCE Engineering College. But after completing his graduation, when he was faced with two options, one leading to the conventional path of making a career in engineering and the other of pursuing the childhood passion, he without any doubt decided to mold his passion for luxury cars into a promising career.

Hence, in the year 2012, right after his education, Mr. Garg Co-founded KoiBhiCar.com, an online marketplace for pre-owned luxury cars. While being in the industry, he soon realized that owning a luxury car came with acute financial obligations. The youth formed the major bulk of this aspirational population desiring to own a luxury car. Even though their disposable income and buying capacity raised substantially over the years, they still were unable to buy luxury cars and settled for economical cars with their hard-earned money. Additionally, he perceived the need for venture dealing in luxury cars that promoted inclusivity of more brand names with the help of a pivoted business model.

Sumit Garg was perceptive enough to counter the problem with his enthralling idea of venturing into the pre-owned luxury car segment. This led to the inception of Luxury Ride in 2015 which was aimed at organizing the otherwise scattered pre-owned car industry by exceptionally raising the service standards.

Sumit Garg – Co-Founder & MD, Luxury Ride

What is Luxury Ride?

Luxury Ride is an end-to-end quality product and service provider which monitors and assists the customers throughout the process of buying the vehicle to support them in maintaining the car even after the purchase with the after-sales services. It is focused on elevating the experience of the customers. For a hassle-free experience, the pre-owned luxury car aggregator offers 15 days money return guarantee. It even provides easy premium financing options and lucrative insurance deals, showing value for the customer’s money.

Nonetheless, the purchase from Luxury Ride has been backed up with a 1-year warranty assured of genuine, authentic parts, coming with 6 months warranty on the gearbox and engine. For the convenience of customers, it also provides a doorstep test drive facility. Understanding the complexity and importance of documentation, verification, thorough inspection in purchasing a pre-owned car seamlessly takes care of all the legal paperwork and testing procedures prior to handing the vehicle to the customer.

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Challenges Faced by Luxury Ride’s Founder

But the journey was not as simple and easy as it sounds while listing the benefits of Luxury Ride. In the beginning, Mr. Garg was clueless as he did not know where to start. He struggled with funding to get the optimum capital required to set up the business. Reminiscent of one such incident, he recounted the challenge he faced during the launch of the first showroom in Delhi. That time he had no cars to showcase in the showroom. He requested his mentors and investors to lend him cars for stationing them in the showroom.

Having overcome the roadblocks of setting up Luxury Ride, organizational and management challenges continually surfaced, requiring immediate attention on issues of regulating and managing manpower, staff training, devising strategies according to the objectives.

But he was never discouraged with the difficulties coming his way. His incessant love for luxury cars motivated him to persistently work hard in his venture. He recognized the loopholes and showed great agility in rectifying the flaws. Undeniably his efforts were rewarded with the launch of the second flagship showroom in his hometown, Karnal. It is India’s largest showroom in the pre-owned luxury car segment. The outlet is spread across a 1-acre space with a 4-floor building that easily accommodates the display of 50+ cars.

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Growth & Future Plans of Luxury Ride

Over time Luxury Ride made its foothold strong in the northern belt of India by launching 7 showrooms in the leading cities of New Delhi, Gurugram, Karnal, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Jaipur, and Dehradun. By serving all the verticals of customer requirement, Luxury Ride has secured a promising base of 4000+ loyal customers where they have sold 1200+ cars and serviced more than 10,000+ cars.

The achievement can be attributed to the visionary of Mr. Garg who was never convinced and hence never settled with just the buying and selling prospect of Luxury Ride. Rather, he was aspirational for making it a 360-degree service under a single roof. He wanted to build a platform that provided every possible solution concerning the pre-owned luxury cars.

Having achieved a substantial milestone, the journey doesn’t end here. Sumit Garg continually strives to establish leadership in the industry by creating a presence of Luxury Ride PAN India with future plans to open 50 new showrooms across the country.

FAQs on Luxury Ride

What is Luxury Ride?

Luxury Ride is certified as India’s biggest pre-owned, multi-brand luxury car company, and is the leading dealer in the pre-owned luxury car segment.

Is Luxury Ride an Indian Company?

Yes. Luxury Ride is an Indian company headquartered in Delhi.

Where are Luxury Ride’s showrooms located?

Luxury Ride made its foothold strong in the northern belt of India by launching 7 showrooms in the leading cities of New Delhi, Gurugram, Karnal, Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Jaipur, and Dehradun.

December 13, 2021
Auric: 100% Natural Ayurvedic Drinks for Millennials!

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 Auric.

Auric is a Direct to Consumer (D2C) brand that is creating innovative and convenient lifestyle products by blending Ayurveda with the benefits of modern sciences. Deepak Agarwal founded Auric to bring Ayurveda closer to Millennials! The USP of Auric’s beverages lies in formulation – No preservatives, No added sugar, 100% natural & low calories.

StartupTalky interviewed Mr. Deepak Agarwal (Founder, Auric) to get insights into the startup story and roadmap of the organization. Let’s discover more about Auric in this article –

Auric – Company Highlights

Startup Name Auric

Founder Deepak Agarwal

Headquarters New Delhi

Founded 2018

Industry D2C Ayurveda

Website theauric.com

Auric – About and Vision
Auric – Market/Industry Details
Auric – Founder
Auric – Startup Story
Auric – Idea & Inspiration
Auric – Products Offered
Auric – Ideology behind Name & Logo
Auric – Business Model
Auric – Revenue Model
Auric – Marketing Strategies
Auric – Growth
Auric – Funding and Investors
Auric – Tools used to run startup
Auric – Recognition/Achievements
Auric – Future Plans

Auric – About and Vision

Auric is essentially a novel and aspirational Direct To Consumer (D2C) brand creating innovative and convenient lifestyle products by blending Ayurveda with the benefits of modern sciences. It aims to break the lucrative $5 billion worth Ayurveda & Supplements industry by championing a scintillating array of world-class consumer products.

Auric operates in the mass-premium segment at the crossroads of Consumer Goods & Supplements. It has a unique range of Ayurveda-inspired, Coconut-water based drinks for Beauty & Wellness drinks for healthy skin, Balanced Weight & Stronger Hair being some of the examples. The company has also launched Ayurveda-based Hot Beverages such as – Moringa Masala Tea, Turmeric Coffee & Ashwagandha Hot Chocolate.

The long-term vision of Auric is to bring Ayurveda closer to Millennials – products. If Millennials prefer Turmeric Latte over Haldi Doodh then Auric is former than later. Auric wants to become part of the daily lifestyle of Millennials.

Auric – Market/Industry Details

There are broadly three themes where Auric is trying to own space –

a) Premiumisation: Aspirational shift from Haldi Doodh to Turmeric Latte

b) Convenience: From Ready-to-Make To Ready-to-Drink (Aloe Amla Juice vs Aloe Amla Drink)

c) Newness: Same Benefits, Different Formats (Glowing Skin Drink and Glowing Skin Tablet)

Globally, Ayurveda is a $5Bn market while Yoga is a $100B economy. Ayurveda essentially needs to address this gap through various form factors including beverages. Foods & Beverages as an industry is moving towards nutraceuticals through fortification and Ayurveda due to its credibility is turning out to be a driver of that fortification.

Ayurveda is an Ancient Wisdom and the wisdom has been carried over generations in multiple shapes & forms. Let’s look at beverages, for example, the Ayurvedic Beverages market is going to be an intersection of the $10B beverages market and $1B nutraceuticals market.

At-home rituals such as Lemon water or Concentrates like Apple Cider Vinegar or Traditional choices such as Kadak Masala Tea & Buttermilk are rooted in ancient wisdom. The non-alcoholic drinking occasions market is replete with examples in packaged/branded and unpackaged/unbranded categories. Amla Juice is an example of the former while Haldi doodh is an example of the latter. As health and wellness rise, Ayurveda will find relevance in every drinking occasion of the multi-billion dollar beverage market.

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Auric – Founder

Deepak Agarwal is the Founder & the CEO of the company Auric.

Deepak Agarwal

Deepak Agarwal is the Founder & CEO of the company. He is a Fitness & Food enthusiast. The founder of Auric is quite passionate about the consumer brands of India! At Hindustan Unilever Ltd, he began his career as a summer intern and then joined the company as a Business Leadership Trainee. With every passing day, he got a higher position in the company. Currently, he is the founder & CEO of Auric. He is a graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Deepak completed his schooling from Apeejay School.

Deepak Agarwal, Founder & CEO, Auric

Auric – Startup Story

Deepak always dreamed of starting his own startup! After almost 10 long years in a corporate sector, he realized and founded his own Ayurveda drinks focussed startup. Since he belonged to a family of businessmen and chartered accountants, he too wanted to go in the same field. But from his college days, he was unable to find out in which sector he should start his business. For a long period of time, he was trying to find out the answer to his question and one fine day he got the answer from himself.

He used to be a sportsperson during his school days. But, unfortunately, he met with an accident during a football game which was conducted in his college. Deepak was the goalkeeper and during the game, a striker struck his knee which resulted in a number of fractures and so on. After this, he was totally off sports! This led him to ayurveda and he found his answer to the question. Soon after his corporate life ended, he started off with his new business idea.

Auric – Idea & Inspiration

A backbone fracture in University-led Deepak Agarwal, the Founder of Auric, to Yoga after Physiotherapy did not work for him. Yoga made Deepak a strong advocate of Ancient Wisdom which led him on the path to learn & experiment with Ayurveda.

Deepak Agarwal – Founder of Auric

While convincing friends and family to adopt Ayurveda, he observed reasons of Millennials to not consume Ayurveda – poor sensorial, a little trust, or absence of aspiration. Since Millennials are going to carry the flag of Ayurveda in the future, Deepak decided to Build Auric – Ayurveda for Millennials. Wellness, Natural Living, and Going back to Roots are some of the strong drivers for Ayurveda to become a daily lifestyle for India going forward. Auric is at the helm of the same.

“We did our own little research starting with Herbal Juices. We found that almost every single Amla Juice & Aloe Vera Juice selling in the market was Junk” – says Deepak.

Millennials believe in Clean labels and 100% Natural Nutrition. “If you cannot feed the same products to your children, you may not as well sell to others”, should be the wisdom of FMCG entrepreneurs. Also, most Ayurvedic products in the market do not mention basic details on calories, sugar, the fiber in the form of a nutrition table on the back of the pack. How else will we count the calories & sugar intake?

Auric – Products Offered

Coconut Water-based Ayurvedic Drinks and Ayurveda-inspired Hot Beverages are the product lines of Auric. Its highest selling products include Drinks for Glowing Skin & Sexual Wellness and Moringa Masala Tea.

The Auric beverages are made keeping in mind the traditional formulations from Charaka Samhita as well as recommended Daily Intake as prescribed by Ayurveda Pharmacopeia of India. Each bottle of Auric contains 25% of recommended daily intake of essential herbs for wellness and beauty.

Auric Products

The best part is, they do not add any preservatives or chemicals. Auric drinks are 100% natural, made with premium herbs, tender coconut water, and refreshing fruit juice – to deliver the benefits of Ayurveda with the convenience of a beverage. Auric doesn’t allow any junk in its products. The team has distilled the goodness of 5 Ayurvedic herbs in each bottle of Auric and mixed it with coconut water.

Auric – Ideology behind Name & Logo

Auric is a purpose-led brand with Ayurveda for Millennials. The purpose is to help make better choices for a better lifestyle whether it is Better Skin or Better Sexual Wellness or Better Tea for example. On other hand, a Millennial Ayurveda brand should make Ayurveda part of Millennial pop culture i.e. making Ayurveda trendy, relatable, and part of the lifestyle.

Auric (Awe-rik) is Inspired by the words Aura and Aurora that describe the mystical beauty of nature & its divinity.

Auric Logo

The name Auric also hints at the chemical name of Gold in Latin. It depicts the ‘trivalent form’ of Gold (meaning formed of 3 atoms) – depicting Body, Mind & Soul. The attributes of Gold further go on to inspire the personality of the three variants – Skin Radiance, Body Defence, and Mind Rejuvenation. On repetition, ‘Auric’ sounds like ‘Aur Ek’ which colloquially means “one more”, mentally conditioning the patrons to get another one.

The Logo Symbol represents an artistic version of the Celtic Symbol of the ‘Tree of Life’. Being nature-inspired, Auric strongly communicates Ayurvedic Science and many facets of it. Smart internal divisions create 5 leaf-like forms symbolizing 5 human senses. The interplay of the positive and negative space produces a life-like form sitting in a meditative posture while subtly creating the likeliness of a lotus. The custom-created Typeface has curved terminals and sharp edges denoting the Brand Personality to be bold & edgy, yet friendly & empathetic.

The typography is inspired by nature, which is subtly cued by the leaf-like terminals of the letters. The color of the Symbol is derived from the Brand Name and is thus an amalgamation of multiple shades of Gold. The Golden Symbol and the Black Wordmark complement each other well, as they are in perfect contrast; giving each other adequate visual space, whilst also navigating attention. The Symbol and the Wordmark harmoniously create a strong Visual Identity of the brand – a modern spin to the ancient art of Ayurveda.

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Auric – Business Model

Millennials today discover new brands online and hence, Auric is a 100% D2C online brand available pan India. Auric is essentially a novel and aspirational Direct To Consumer (D2C) brand creating innovative and convenient lifestyle products by blending Ayurveda with the benefits of modern sciences.

Auric operates in the mass-premium segment at the crossroads of Consumer Goods & Supplements. It has a unique range of Ayurveda-inspired, Coconut-water based drinks for Beauty & Wellness drinks for healthy skin, Balanced Weight & Stronger Hair being some of the examples.

Auric – Revenue Model

The revenue model of Auric is quite simple! Auric offers exotic discounts to its consumers almost everyday. Initially, there was an introductory offer which was only available for the first thousand consumers. Customers got free delivery all across the country. Auric till now tries to introduce different offers to its users because this benefits the company a lot. The company also provides a 10% discount on every drink purchased. Lifetime membership plan is also available at only Rs 500/- which is quite reasonable and after availing this, the users get a discount of 53% for the rest of the life.

Auric – Marketing Strategies

Auric’s marketing strategy is well balanced across all three funnels – Top, Middle, and Bottom. Creating content in collaboration with social media influencers helps at the top while Facebook/Google helps at the bottom. A strong community of 120,000 Instagram followers does the job in the middle. Retention is a less talked about marketing plan but it is often a key element for the longevity of a brand.

Auric has worked out its email marketing strategy with Klaviyo and also, developed proprietary conversation technology to enable WhatsApp convenience for existing customers

Auric Marketing Funnel

The most successful marketing campaign has been Memes – A little cheeky & a little below the belt but On point Messaging with Humour.

Auric’s Meme Marketing

Also Read: The Meme Era: How Meme Marketing Is Becoming The New Way To Brand Success?

Auric – Growth

Auric is doing over 25,000 orders every month fully online in India. The startup has strong retention and NPS. Here is how Auric’s website users have grown in the last 3 years –

Growth of Auric’s Website Users

Auric – Funding and Investors

Date Stage Amount Investors

June Quarter Pre-series A USD 2Mn Cactus Venture Partners, Venture Catalysts, 9Unicorns

Also read: Indian Startups – Funding & Investors Data [Exclusive 2021]

Auric – Tools used to run startup

Auric uses Google Analytics, Microsoft Excel, Whatsapp, and Facebook Analytics. It started on the Wix platform and has transitioned to Shopify in November 2021.

Auric – Recognition/Achievements

Auric was recently featured in the hottest 30 D2C startups in Inc42 Plus ’30 Startups to Watch.

Auric – Future Plans

Auric’s vision is to make Better Life for Millennials with Ayurveda. On the brand side, Auric will use the power of content-community-commerce to become part of the attention and conversation of millennials. On the product side, Auric will bring Ayurveda Wellness in foods you eat as well as personal products you apply

Auric – FAQs

What is Auric?

Auric is a Direct to Consumer (D2C) brand that is creating innovative and convenient lifestyle products by blending Ayurveda with the benefits of modern sciences.

Who founded Auric?

Deepak Agarwal is the founder of Auric.

Is Auric an Indian brand?

Yes. Auric is an Indian startup headquartered in New Delhi.

How does Auric make money?

Auric is an online D2C ayurveda brand. It earns money by selling a variety of products like Coconut Water-based Ayurvedic Drinks, Ayurveda-inspired Hot Beverages, and more.

December 3, 2021