Tag: ratan tata investment

Ratan Tata: The Accidental Startup Investor

Today, Ratan Tata needs no introduction as he is the most respected business tycoon in India. He is an Indian industrialist, philanthropist, former chairman of Tata Group and Tata Sons. Post his retirement in 2012 he has turned into an avid angel investor who has left an everlasting impact. He is well-known for investing in some of the most successful startups today.

So far, Ratan Tata has invested in over two dozen startups, including top unicorns of India, like furniture e-tailer Urban Ladder, digital payments app Paytm, ride-hailing company Ola and its electric vehicle arm Ola Electric Mobility, Cure.fit, Urban Ladder, etc. His investment may only be a few million dollars, according to industry sources, but what’s invaluable is having the 81-year-old tycoon’s name attached to a young startup.

So, how Ratan Tata: the accidental startup investor turned into an avid angel investor? Let’s take a look.

Name	Ratan Tata
Born	Surat, India
Age	82
Citizenship	Indian
Education	Cornell University College of Architecture, Harvard Business School
Title	Indian Industrialist, Philanthropist, and a Former chairman of Tata Sons
Occupation	Businessman
Net Worth	Rs. 6396 Crore
Awards	CNN-IBN Indian of the Year in Business, Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan

First Investment made by Ratan Tata

The 81-year-old also said that he became a startup investor by accident. He added that he used to look at the sector as exciting always but somewhat untouchable. Tata further mentioned that with two-three years into the sector, it has become a learning experience for him as he got to learn many aspects regarding investment in startups.

The business magnate, better known as the ”Accidental Startup Investor”, was always interested in the startup ecosystem. He mentioned that his tenure as the chairman of Tata Group as this sector meant conflicts if he would take up any entrepreneurial assignment. But once Mr. Tata retired, he wasted no time in becoming a full-time investor through his private investment vehicle—RNT Associates.

Ratan Tata said that when he retired, at first he started making small token investments in what he considered exciting companies. He admitted that in the beginning, he intended to take some more risks than he might have taken under different circumstances. With two-three years into this, it became a learning experience, as this sector is very active and has the best minds.

The first investment he made was in Snapdeal in 2014 which yielded great results. The CEO of Snapdeal, Kunal Bahl, has high regards for Ratan Tata and considers him to be a lucky charm for Snapdeal. He is believed to have bought a 0.17% stake in Snapdeal in August 2014, when he invested less than Rs 5 crore. Tata bought 256 shares from the e-commerce company’s angel investors, including Kenneth Glass.

Other Investments made by Ratan Tata

Following this, he has invested in 31 startups. After Snapdeal, the online furniture retailer Urban Ladder secured funding from Ratan Tata in November 2015. It was Tata’s second personal investment in an e-commerce firm. It is a popular furniture selling platform based in Bengaluru. It is currently present in 12 cities around India.

Paytm, a Noida-based digital-payments company saw an overnight jump in subscribers by millions, after Demonetization of announced by the government on November 8, 2018. The company had secured an undisclosed amount of funding from Ratan Tata in March 2015. Tata bought a stake in One97 Communications, the parent company of Paytm.

Ola Cabs is India’s answer to Uber. Much like Uber, Ola provides cab services across all price segments, ranging from economic to luxury. Beginning its operations in 2010, Ola secured funding from Ratan Tata in July 2015.

Ratan Tata is the first Indian to buy a stake in Chinese tech giant Xiaomi best known for its affordable smartphones. It’s true, the amount Tata invested in Xiaomi was not disclosed. Similarly, services marketplace UrbanClap raised an undisclosed amount in funding from Ratan Tata in December 2015. In April 2016, Lenskart, the popular online retailer that sells eyewear secured funding from Tata.

Ratan Tata has invested in More than 30 Start-ups

Tata, while referring to the growth of budding startups said, “We are looking at the India of tomorrow and the day after, and the start-up industry is entering the global field in a manner where competition is open. The fact is we (Indians) are entrepreneurs at heart. Maybe what we need is the opportunity to flourish and I think the startup industry is doing just that.”

Ratan Tata’s Sectors of Interest

Ratan N. Tata has invested in over 30 startups. Among these, there are several technology-based startups too. Tata has made all these investments in his personal capacity. Ratan Tata has not restricted himself to a sector and stepped into a variety of diverse strata, be it clothing, weather, pet care services, etc., but technology catches his attention.

He holds the view that technology can be applied and used in any sector and the future is all about technology. He has recently invested in Tork Motors and Ola Electric. Ratan Tata has been supporting Ola since 2015. He openly expresses his excitement of participating in new areas and encourages young minds to search for domains yet to be explored.

Ratan Tata believes startups should get funded by Indian investors. According to him, the startup sector is growing rapidly with the best of minds involved in it. He regrets seeing such companies having great potential that could add value to the Indian economy but being bound to foreign authorities. Thus, Tata finds it unfortunate that founders get driven by foreign investments in the hope of an eventual acquisition by a larger entity.

He tells his decisions are intuition-driven, but the steps he has taken by now proves his intuitions are calculated risk oriented. He prefers getting into conversation with founders, analyze their personality, skills, their maturity, and the seriousness and most importantly, their zeal and dedication.

And like any other investor, he judges the future scope of pitched ideas. Tata has told in his case selection is more by intuition than by numbers. He further revealed that judging the intent of the founders and their seriousness influenced him more than any other factor.

How to Approach Ratan Tata for Investment?

Is Approaching Ratan Tata Difficult? As a matter of fact, its not. He is as approachable as any other investor. A few things to keep in mind if you plan to seek investment from the business tycoon:

Your idea should be unique and hold great potential.
The startup should have begun its operations, at least on a small-scale.
Tangible feedback on the startup and its product or service is a must. Remember, Ola got funding from RNT Associates 5 years after it began.
He is a man of experience, so it is advisable to be realistic and honest. Sniffing out non-sense is easy for him.

Being a personal investor, he prefers keeping the details of his investment private. He hates it when the media makes such information public. You will find it difficult to find the exact amount of his investments online, even when it comes to the biggest players he’s backing.

When asked what makes a good entrepreneur, he told what probably drives an entrepreneur to start a business is the fire in his belly that there is a better way to do something that has been done or a good opportunity to make a difference because something has not been explored well enough. And the confidence of staying with it is deciding factor of a good entrepreneurs. This is one thing to keep in mind while approaching Ratan Tata for investment.

September 23, 2020

Snapbizz- Smart Billing Solution Made For Grocery Stores

The content in this post has been approved by the organization it is based on.

SnapBizz, headquartered in Bengaluru, provides new age solutions to convert the neighbourhood Kirana stores into smart stores with a host of features to enable the store owner to leverage on latter’s current strengths to gain a competitive edge and increase store profitability.

SnapBizz has helped kirana/ grocery store owners in cities such as Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai and New Delhi deploy its digital technology-led solutions for running their retail stores. The company has set its eye on digitising over 100,000 kirana stores over the next 18 to 24 months.

Snapbizz- Company Highlights

Startup Name	Snapbizz
Headquarter	Bengaluru, Karnataka
Sector	Retail, E-Commerce
Founder	Mr. Prem Kumar
Founded	2013
Parent Organisation	Snapbizz
Website	snapbizz.com

Snapbizz- About and How It Works
Snapbizz- Founder
Snapbizz- Name, Logo and Tagline
How Snapbizz started?
Snapbizz- Vision
Snapbizz- Unique Selling Proportion (USP)
Snapbizz – Business Model and Revenue Model
Snapbizz- Impact On Kirana Stores
Sanpbizz- Startup Launch
Snapbizz- Funding And Investors
Snapbizz- Competitors
Snapbizz – Growth/ Revenue

Snapbizz- About and How It Works

Snapbizz transform traditional Kirana stores into virtual supermarkets and give them a competitive edge in the current environment to make them far more profitable.

It is the result of extensive market research and pilot studies done to understand the pain points and key challenges of the consumer goods ecosystem stakeholders (consumer, retailer, distributor, and brand). This has led to the development of a unique disruptive product that delivers material measurable value to each of the stakeholders.

It is driven by a highly experienced team with a proven track record in delivering measurable value both developing and developed markets through successful business models and product innovations. A highly passionate team with in-depth domain expertise and track record in prior start-ups, value creation and successful exits across Retail, FMCG, Telecom and wireless technologies.

Snapbizz creates a social impact by:

Reversing marginalization for SMB’s retailers
Driving digital inclusion in a large section of India’s workforce
Skilling the bottom of the retail pyramid

And, there Driving last mile connectivity by connecting kirana stores to consumers and other ecosystem players like:

FMCG brands and distributors
Cash and carry chains
Research and marketing agencies
Fintech players

Snapbizz- Founder

Snapbizz is founded by Mr. Prem Kumar.

Prem Kumar is an industry veteran with over 30+ years of experience in Retail, FMCG, Telecom, and Technology across developed markets like US and Europe and emerging markets like India, Eastern Europe, China and Africa. In India, he has worked the length and breadth of the country in the FMCG industry and has held leadership roles in companies like Lakme Lever, Benckiser, and SC Johnson.

He has been a part of the founding team that built one of the largest retail chains in Eastern Europe. Currently, he is the founder and CEO of SnapBizz which is India’s largest network of kirana stores – a platform that empowers the kirana store owners to leverage their strengths and gain competitive edge in the current changing landscape. Having worked very closely with small merchants across different countries, he is extremely passionate about helping them to be more successful and profitable.

He has been the voice of the kirana stores to represent their best interest across national and international platforms. Infact, he has been celebrating the kirana stores during the Covid times as the unsung heroes who are in the forefront of serving the country’s large population.

Snapbizz- Name, Logo and Tagline

SNAPBIZZ brings to you a “Smart” Billing Solution especially made for kirana/grocery stores. Perform everyday operations easily and much faster. The tagline: “THE RETAIL BOOSTER” goes perfect with ample amount of support they are currently providing to grocery stores across major cities.

Its logo goes with a ‘bar-code’; which is pretty obvious because Snapbizz software is a GST billing software that can be customized to fit your business needs and enables users to attain higher performance.

How Snapbizz started?

The SnapBizz journey began with Qualcomm conducting a pilot in India to introduce wireless technology into the fragmented retail sector. Given the success of the pilot, they were on the lookout for an entrepreneur who had the experience of building a company in the space. Having seen Mr. Prem Kumar’s work with CisLink, an integrated data system derived company, they reached out to him and SnapBizz was born with Qualcomm being their first investor.

Snapbizz- Vision

Snapbizz’s vision is to develop a mobile technology platform connecting all stakeholders of a fragmented retail market ecosystem while adding value to individual stakeholders.

SnapBizz is the result of extensive market research and pilot studies done to understand the pain points and key challenges of the consumer goods ecosystem stakeholders (consumer, retailer, distributor, and brand). This has led to the development of a unique disruptive product that delivers material measurable value to each of the stakeholders.

Snapbizz- Unique Selling Proportion (USP)

SnapBizz has a range of solutions solutions/apps which allows the kirana stores to carry out the store operations efficiently and effectively. It provides the store owners with their very own consumer app to acquire new customers and service their customers better. Its solutions integrates the kirana stores (via cloud) with FMCG brands, distributors, wholesalers, financial service players and E-commerce players (B2B and B2C) thereby enabling the store owners to get more promotions, better pricing, wider access to assortment, reduce working capital requirements and access to financial services. SnapBizz has had a massive impact on the society – particularly in the following areas:

Digital and financial inclusion of kirana store owners
Reversing marginalization of kirana stores
Skilling people at the bottom of the pyramid

Snapbizz – Business Model and Revenue Model

SnapBizz has developed a unique technology solution for Kirana stores that transforms it into a smart store with the help of a few plug and play options. It has positioned its product as a “money-making machine” for kirana stores as it helps the store owners to improve their profitably. The solutions come with a host of features (back by AI and ML) to help the kirana stores compete with the larger supermarket chains from an intelligence standpoint. The easy-to-use solutions to manage and optimize store operations include:

Point of Sales Solutions:

Based on the business volumes/size of the kirana stores, it has a range of solutions/apps that enables the store owners to digitize all aspects of store operations – billing, customer management, inventory management, online ordering of supplies, create virtual merchandising space, take the store online and cloud-connect them to all the stakeholders of the eco-system to get better promotions/discounts from brands and suppliers

SnapOrder:

A mobile app that enables Kirana stores of all sizes to go online with their supplies instantly. The consumers can use the app to place orders directly with the Kirana stores – either for pick-up or for home delivery. This enables the Kirana store to manage demand efficiently and prevent over-crowding at the store – particularly during the lockdown period

Snapbizz- Impact On Kirana Stores

SnapBizz enables the kirana store owners to focus on their weak areas (Store experience, Offers, Freshly stocked produce) and compete against the bigger ecommerce/big-box players.

Variables that is important to consumers	Customer Satisfaction at Kirana Stores before Snapbizz Deployment	Customer satisfaction at Kirana stores after SnapBizz deployment
Store Experience	LOW	HIGH
Proximity (from House)	HIGH	LOW
Pricing/Offers	LOW	HIGH
Convenient payment options (providing credit)	HIGH	LOW
Freshly Stocked Products	MEDIUM	HIGH
Familiarity with Store Owner	HIGH	HIGH

Sanpbizz- Startup Launch

The Smart Kirana store once cloud-connected presents real-time access to the various stakeholders of the FMCG ecosystem including brands, wholesalers, distributors, advertising agencies, e-commerce (B2B/B2C) players and financial service players. The cloud platform allows FMCG stakeholders to access valuable data on various facets of the FMCG supply chain. The data not only gives them a birds eye views of the sector nationally and by geography but also helps them build meaningful relationships with the Kirana store owners basis demand and supply.

FMCG Brands: SnapBizz retail analytics solution enables them to track the performance of their brand SKUs, competition and that of the category. It also allows them to engage consumers visually and contextually, run targeted promotions, overcome supply chain and assortment challenges and furthermore avoid stock-out situations.
E-commerce players: SnapBizz platform offers them an opportunity to leverage the hyper-local assortment demands, understand inventory and delivery capabilities of the Kirana store so that they can service their consumers efficiently and scale-up operations.
Wholesalers/Distributors: SnapBizz platform enables them to increase share of wallet in the store and garner insights on what they are missing out on selling to the stores.
Finserve players: SnapBizz platform gives them access to reach out and engage the Kirana stores with financial service products while continuously monitoring the financial health of the store.

In the past one month, SnapBizz has launched new solutions that enables these FMCG stakeholders to address the immediate the challenges associated with the lockdown:

SnapSupply: A mobile app that enables FMCG brands/distributors to list their supplies online for their Kirana store network and enables the latter to place orders. This technology solution enables its large workforce to focus more on addressing the prevailing supply chain challenges than on order generation-related operations
SnapPulse: This retail analytics solution enables the FMCG brands to track the performance of the products, competition and that of the category on a weekly and monthly basis. The data is collected from the SnapBizz network of stores across the country and the insights are shared by the subject matters experts/ data scientists working in SnapBizz regularly.
SnapTek: SnapTek enables accelerated technology migration for all FMCG stakeholders with services likes white-label applications, tech consultations, etc.

Snapbizz- Funding And Investors

SnapBizz’s current investors include marquee VCs such as Jungle Ventures, Taurus, Blume Ventures and strategic investors such as Nielsen, Qualcomm, AUO and Mr. Ratan Tata and has raised in excess of USD 14 million over Seed and Series A rounds .

Snapbizz- Competitors

SnapBizz’s top 7 competitors are BeWo, EasyPOS, Eretail Cybertech, Nukkad Shops, Getpose, Vend and Hike POS. Together they have raised over 58.6M between their estimated 449 employees. BeWo is the top competitor of SnapBizz.

Snapbizz – Growth/ Revenue

SnapBizz currently has a network of 10 000+ kirana storesacross 7 major cities across India that collectively do a business (GMV) of approx. of $1 Billion/year. Given its successful inroads into major cities, the company was on its way to build a network of 50,000-60,000 Class A stores and 1,50,000 -2,00,000 Class B/C stores across 42 cities in the next couple of years – and becoming a $ 21Bn platform.

However, given its increasing relevance due to the lockdown (where most grocery fulfilment is being done by kirana stores), the company is now on its way to achieve that target much earlier.

Snapbizz – Future Plans

Given its increasing relevance in the space due to the current circumstances, SnapBizz is on a fast-track mode to build a network of 150,000 stores across 42 cities and becoming a $ 15 billion platform.

September 11, 2020