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 Andela.
Software engineering has become one of the most sought-after and lucrative career profiles worldwide, with its market size having the potential to reach $123.5 billion by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 11.26%.
The substantial growth in demand significantly impacts corporate goals and hiring tactics. IT companies must refine their software engineer recruitment techniques to prevent hiring from becoming a significant barrier. However, not only are enterprises finding it difficult to recruit talented software developers, but candidates also need help to land lucrative jobs.
Andela is one of the most prominent global talent networks that provides companies with software engineering talent in emerging markets. This article highlights every vital detail about Andela, from its startup story, funding, and founders to investors, competitors, and more.
Andela – Company Highlights
Company Name
Andela
Headquarters
New York City, New York, United States
Industry
IT Recruitment
Founder
Jeremy Johnson, Christina Sass, Nadayar Enegesi, Ian Carnevale, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Brice Nkengsa
Andela is a global placement network for software engineers and developers. The company paves the way for sustainable careers by connecting technologists with long-term engagements and providing them access to international roles, competitive remuneration, and career coaching.
It spans six continents and has opened career paths for over 175,000 budding software engineers worldwide. Hundreds of organizations, including ViacomCBS, Casper, GitHub, Mastercard, Cloudflare, and many more, are loyal to Andela.
Andela – Industry
Andela operates within the IT recruitment industry, which focuses on identifying, attracting, and hiring skilled professionals for technology-related roles. The industry serves both companies seeking to expand their technical teams and individuals looking for new career opportunities in the technology field. With the rapid growth of the technology sector, IT recruitment has become increasingly competitive, requiring companies to employ innovative strategies to attract and retain top talent in a highly competitive market.
The global IT recruitment market size was $147.923 billion in 2021 and is projected to reach $230.473 billion by 2028, growing at a CAGR of 7.67%.
Jeremy Johnson, Nadayar Enegesi, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Christina Sass, Brice Nkengsa, and Ian Carnevale co-founded Andela in 2014.
Jeremy Johnson
Jeremy Johnson – CEO and CO-founder, Andela
Jeremy Johnson is an alumnus of Princeton University. Currently, he is working as the co-founder and CEO at Andela. He commenced his career by founding Zandigo and working as its CEO.
In addition, he is an ex-member of the Board of Directors of PENCIL, Inc. He also co-founded 2U and is a member of its Board of Advisors.
Christina Sass
Christina Sass – Co-founder and Chair of Advisory Council, Andela
Christina Sass earned a master’s in International Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School at Tufts University. She is the Advisory Council Member at NYU Stern School of Business and a Life member of the Council on Foreign Relations.
In addition to this, she has been Andela’s co-founder and is now Chair of its Advisory Council. Christina is also a full-time Founding Partner at Dive In.
Nadayar Enegesi
Nadayar Enegesi – Co-founder, Andela
Nadayar Enegesi completed BCS in Computer Science from the University of Waterloo. He has been one of the co-Founders of Andela and worked as its Director. He has also been the Applications Developer at BNOTIONS, CTO at Fora Inc, and Code Reviewer at Udacity.
Presently, he is the co-founder and CEO of Eden Life Inc.
Iyinoluwa Aboyeji
Iyinoluwa Aboyeji – Co-founder, Andela
Iyinoluwa Aboyeji attended the University of Waterloo and earned a bachelor’s degree in legal studies. A Nigerian entrepreneur, he is the ex-co-founder of Andela and was Managing Director at Flutterwave.
Ian Carnevale
Ian Carnevale – Co-founder, Andela
Ian Carnevale attended the University of Toronto to study Computer Science, Digital Enterprise Management. He has been the co-founder of Street Capital and Andela. Currently. Currently, he serves as Volley’s Founder and CEO.
Brice Nkengsa
Brice Nkengsa – Co-founder, Andela
Brice Nkengsa completed his bachelor’s in software engineering from the University of Waterloo. He has been the co-founder and Director of Engineering at Andela. In addition, Brice worked as an Agile Engineer at Pivotal Labs and Software Engineer at Blackberry.
Andela – Startup Story
In 2014, Jeremy Johnson, Nadayar Enegesi, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Christina Sass, Brice Nkengsa, and Ian Carnevale established Andela with the main aim of extending engineering teams with skilled and trained IT professionals. Andela launched its first call for applications on Twitter in May 2014. The company received 700 applications for 4 spots and hired its first cohort- four Nigerian software engineers.
In 2018, the first two sets of engineers completed the four-year program. In 2019, Christina Sass stepped down from her President position and started working as a supporting Chair of the company’s Advisory Council.
Andela expanded its hiring criteria for middle and senior-level engineers in Nairobi, Kampala, and Lagos in 2019. The organization went fully remote in 2020 after its first expansion to Ghana and Egypt.
As of 2021, the company provides technologies from six contents access to opportunities to work with global companies by entering into long-term embedded contracts. Moreover, applicants can learn multiple software languages, including React Native, Ruby on Rails, JavaScript, Node, Python, and more.
Andela – Mission and Vision
Andela’s mission is to connect brilliance with opportunity, irrespective of gender, race, and geography.
Andela aims to empower individuals and unlock their potential on a large scale. They envision a world where the most talented people can build a career commensurate with their ability – not their race, gender, or geography.
Andela – Business Model
Andela connects the most talented software engineers and developers with leading engineering teams. The company finds qualified and talented software engineers through online skill tests and interviews. Then it trains them for 4-6 months via the Andela Learning Community, where they acquire additional skills and knowledge. After training is completed, Andela helps in the placement of these individuals in competitive jobs with leading companies, enabling them to apply their skills and contribute to real-world projects.
Andela – Products/Services
Andela typically provides IT recruitment services. It lets companies and enterprises discover talent, and technologists, programmers, product managers, and designers find work through its platform.
Andela – Funding and Investors
Andela has raised $381 million in funding over 9 rounds. Its latest funding round, the Series E Round, was conducted on September 29, 2021, and the company raised $200 million. Several renowned investors back the company, including SoftBank Vision Fund, Generation Investment Management, Spark Capital, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and Google Ventures.
Date
Round
Number of Investors
Money Raised
Lead Investor
September 29, 2021
Series E
6
$200 million
SoftBank Vision Fund
January 23, 2019
Series D
14
$100 million
Generation Investment Management
October 10, 2017
Series C
10
$40 million
CRE Venture Capital
January 1, 2017
Venture Round
1
–
–
June 15, 2016
Series B
11
$24 million
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
June 25, 2015
Series A
13
$14 million
Spark Capital
September 23, 2014
Seed Round
17
$3 million
–
July 15, 2014
Angel Round
2
–
–
May 1, 2014
Seed Round
1
$5.8K
–
Andela – Mergers and Acquisitions
Andela has acquired two companies: Codewars and Qualified.
Andela – Patents and Trademarks
Andela is registered with two trademarks, with ‘Advertising; Business’ as the most popular class.
Andela is a global placement network for software engineers and developers. It paves the way for sustainable careers by connecting technologists with long-term engagements and providing them access to international roles, competitive remuneration, and career coaching.
When was Andela founded?
Andela was founded in 2014.
Who are the founders of Andela?
Jeremy Johnson, Nadayar Enegesi, Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Christina Sass, Brice Nkengsa, and Ian Carnevale co-founded Andela in 2014.
The retail industry is one of the most prominent industries that involves the sale of goods and services directly to consumers. It plays a crucial role in the economy, driving employment and consumer spending.
Lowe’s Companies, Inc. is a notable player within this industry, operating a network of home improvement stores and providing a wide range of products and services to customers.
In this article, we’ll explore Lowe’s story, business model, funding, acquisitions, and more.
Lowe’s Companies, Inc. is an American retail company that operates as a retailer and wholesaler worldwide. It is the world’s second-largest home improvement retailer, after The Home Depot. Lowe’s was founded in 1946 by Lucious Lowe in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, as a small hardware store. Over the years, it has grown to become one of the largest public home improvement companies in the world, with stores located throughout the United States and Canada.
Lowe’s – Industry
The US retail industry is a vital part of the US economy. Retailing merchandise and services is a major part of the retail trade sector, which includes store retailers, department stores, discount stores, supermarkets, and others. The sector comprises establishments that sell products to consumers directly or through sales workers in a pleasant shopping environment. Retail sales account for a significant portion of total retail trade in the US and have grown steadily over the years. Retail stores offer an array of products as well as sales services to meet customers’ needs efficiently while providing them with an enjoyable shopping experience.
In 2022, US retail sales reached a record-high $7.1 trillion. This represents an 8.2% annual increase, and it is expected to keep rising in the coming years. This amount is higher than any other retail trade industry around the world, and this market size has been consistently increasing since 2011.
Lowe’s – Founder and Team
Lucius Smith Lowe was the founder of Lowe’s.
Lowe’s first store was opened in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina as North Wilkesboro Hardware in 1921. The first store was opened by Lucius Smith Lowe, the founder of the company. When Lowe died in 1940, the company was inherited by his daughter, Ruth Buchan, which she sold to her brother James Lowe in the same year. James and his brother-in-law Carl Buchan ran the company under partnership from 1943.
Marvin Ellison
Marvin Ellison – Chairman, President, and CEO, Lowe’s Companies, Inc.
Marvin Ellison is the Chairman, President, and CEO of Lowe’s Companies, Inc. With extensive experience in the home improvement industry, he held senior-level operations roles at Home Depot Inc. for 12 years and served as the executive vice president of U.S. stores. Prior to joining Lowe’s, Marvin was the CEO and Chairman of J.C. Penney Co. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Memphis, an MBA from Emory University, and serves on the boards of FedEx Corporation and the Retail Industry Leaders Association.
Lowe’s – Startup Story
The first Lowe’s store opened in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, in 1921, selling hardware and building materials. From that initial store, the company has grown to become the second-largest home improvement retailer in the United States, with stores located across many states as well as in Canada. With its headquarters still based in North Carolina, Lowe’s has seen a dramatic increase in stores over the years since the end of World War II, now with over 2,200 locations.
Lowe’s Companies is a leader in the home improvement retail store industry, with a strong market share and a strong profit margin. This is due to its dedication to providing customers with excellent store experiences, competitive sales promotions, and a comprehensive product selection. Lowe’s has the largest market share of home improvement hardware stores, with total industry revenue of more than $156 billion in 2019. Lowe’s continues to lead through innovation and has been successful in both their traditional hardware store concept as well as their home improvement stores. They have achieved this by focusing on customer needs while also offering excellent value-for-money products.
Lowe’s Companies, Inc. is an American chain of retail home improvement and appliance stores. Founded in 1946, Lowe’s has grown to become one of the largest hardware stores in the United States, with over 2,000 locations across the country. The store leadership ensures that all customers receive quality customer service by placing an emphasis on safety and security as well as providing a wide selection of products. Each store also has a manager who oversees safety and asset protection to ensure that any issues are addressed quickly and effectively.
Lowe’s – Mission and Vision
The mission and vision statements of the company define the organization’s business motto and the functioning of the organization.
The mission that guides Lowe’s processes is “Together, deliver the right home improvement products, with the best service and value, across every channel and community we serve”.
The vision of the company is to provide customer-valued solutions with the best prices, products, and services to make Lowe’s the first choice for home improvement.
Lowe’s – Name, Tagline, and Logo
Lowe’s Logo
The company is named after its founder, Lucious Smith Lowe. The company’s slogan says, Do it right for less. Start with Lowe’s.
The logo shape of the company gives a hint of specialization of the company. The shape depicts a house that has a dark blue building, and the letters show Lowe’s. The company modifies its logo at certain intervals, but the basic palette and shape haven’t changed.
Lowe’s – Business and Revenue Model
Lowe’s Companies is a multinational retailer with physical stores located throughout the United States and Canada. Lowe’s Companies has a strong presence in online merchandise purchases through its official website and several online sales channels. Lowe’s also offers DIY customers an array of products for home improvement projects and individual professional contractors alike. The company generates net sales primarily from product revenues derived from both small businesses and individual consumers. Lowe’s Companies has been successful in acquiring smaller companies to strengthen its business model and revenue model which has helped the company stay competitive in this fast-paced retail environment.
Here are the key aspects of the company’s business and revenue model:
Retail Stores: Throughout the United States and Canada, Lowe’s runs a network of real-world retail locations. These shops sell a variety of things for home remodeling, such as furniture, decor, appliances, and building supplies. Customers are welcome to browse the stores and buy the supplies they require for their home improvement projects.
E-commerce: In addition to having physical locations, Lowe’s also has an online store where customers may browse and buy products. The e-commerce channel offers clients who prefer to shop online or want to discover a wider choice of products convenience and accessibility.
Professional Services: Lowe’s provides consumers with a range of professional services, including remodeling, installation, and repair.
Pro and Commercial Sales: Lowe’s places a strong emphasis on catering to commercial clients, professional builders, and contractors. Bulk purchasing, volume discounts, and customized assistance are just a few of the unique services and incentives they provide that are catered to these clients’ needs.
Private Brands: Lowe’s distributes goods under private labels and exclusive brands that are owned by the company. This enables them to provide a distinctive range of items, set themselves apart from rivals, and possibly generate larger margins.
Credit Services: To make purchases easier and increase client loyalty, Lowe’s offers consumer financing choices like credit cards and finance plans. Through interest and other fees related to financing transactions, these credit services generate income.
Lowe’s primarily focuses on selling tools, appliances, and other products for home improvement projects. The company has achieved significant success by leveraging its strong consumer base to drive sales growth and shareholder value over the past decade.
Lowe’s – Employees
The home improvement company offers a lot of benefits to its employees. The benefits include health insurance, life insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, temporary disability insurance, prepaid legal, long-term disability insurance, and severance pay.
Lowe’s – Funding
Here are the funding details for Lowe’s:
Date
Transaction Name
Money Raised
Lead Investors
Mar 28, 2023
Post-IPO Debt
$3B
—
Mar 22, 2022
Post-IPO Debt
$5B
—
Lowe’s – Acquisitions
Below are the acquisitions made by Lowe’s:
Date
Acquiree Name
Amount
May 20, 2019
Boomerang Commerce
–
Dec 29, 2011
ATG
–
Apr 22, 2021
StainMaster
–
May 18, 2017
Maintenance Supply Headquarters
–
Jun 17, 2013
Orchard Supply Hardware
–
How Lowe’s Is Competing With the Home Depot
Lowe’s – Competitors
Home improvement and retailing is a vast industry and no doubt there are too many competitors in the field. The top competitors for the company include:
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 Anchorage Digital.
The blockchain industry is booming, with an expected market size of $67.4 billion by 2026. With the blockchain market growing, financial institutions, fintech companies, and governments are looking for platforms to manage their digital assets, including cryptocurrencies.
Digital asset management is all about efficiently storing, organizing, managing, and transacting digital assets with the help of a robust infrastructure. Anchorage Digital is a US-based private company famous for offering digital asset financial services and infrastructure facilities.
This article highlights every crucial detail about Anchorage Digital: its startup story, founders, products and services, funding, investors, future plan, and more.
Anchorage Digital is a digital asset financial services and infrastructure provider that helps clients deal with holding, investing, and infrastructure for cryptocurrency and cryptocurrency products. In addition, the company offers a digital bank as a crypto-native bank and crypto strategies for leading institutions.
With offices in San Francisco, New York, Portugal, Singapore, South Dakota, and Asia, Anchorage Digital provides its offerings to a global roaster of institutional clients, including SEC-registered investment advisors, crypto protocols, asset managers, and venture capital firms.
Anchorage Digital – Founders
Diogo Monica and Nathan McCauley co-founded Anchorage Digital in 2017.
Diogo Monica
Diogo Monica – Co-Founder and President, Anchorage Digital
Diogo Monica graduated with a BSc and MSc in Communication Networks Engineering and a Ph.D. in Computer Science – Network Security from Instituto Superior Tecnico.
He commenced his career as a Platform Security Lead at Square Inc and then worked as Security Lead at Docker, Inc. Additionally, he held the role of Advisor at Airtable, StackRox, and Jscrambler.
Presently, he is working as the Founder and President of Anchorage Digital.
Nathan McCauley
Nathan McCauley – Co-Founder and CEO, Anchorage Digital
Nathan McCauley co-founded Anchorage Digital and is the company’s CEO. Previously, he worked as Technical Product Manager / Software Engineer at Arxan Technologies and Security Engineering Manager / Security Engineer at Square.
He has also been the Director at Docker, Inc and Board Director at Vendor Security Alliance.
Anchorage Digital has a team of more than 300 employees.
Anchorage Digital – Startup Story
Diogo Monica and Nathan McCauley founded Anchorage Digital in 2017 with its early investors, Andreessen Horowitz and Blockchain Capital. In 2019, Visa invested in the company and used it to provide cryptocurrency payment services. It added trading and financial services in 2020.
Later in 2020, Anchorage Digital established its first engineering hub in Porto, Portugal, and is the first cryptocurrency unicorn with a presence in that nation. Furthermore, Anchorage Digital Bank received its banking chart from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency in 2021. It made it America’s first federally chartered cryptocurrency bank.
The same year, it entered into a contract with the United States Department of Justice to act as custodian for all digital assets seized or forfeited in criminal cases. Anchorage Digital was valued at over $3 billion in December 2021. In 2022, the company became the first federally chartered bank to custody an NFT.
Anchorage Digital – Mission and Vision
Anchorage Digital’s mission is to invent solutions for the future of capital. Moreover, its vision is to be the foundation upon which value can safely move in the new global economy and let innovation grow without bounds.
Anchorage Digital works with America’s first federally chartered crypto bank and Anchorage Digital Singapore (which offers equivalent security and service standards) to provide institutions with an unparalleled combination of secure custody, product breadth, regulatory compliance, and client service.
The company acts as a custodian of digital assets for financial institutions and governments. Moreover, it stores and secures cryptocurrency using biometric authentication and hardware security modules.
Anchorage Digital – Products and Services
Anchorage Digital serves as custodian of digital assets and also provides lending and trading of digital assets. In addition, it offers multiple crypto services, including security, risk monitoring, safekeeping, compliance, and fiduciary obligations.
The company launched Build With Anchorage Digital to link every business with crypto through its safe, regulated, and secure infrastructure.
Anchorage Digital – Funding and Investors
Anchorage Digital has undertaken 5 funding rounds and raised a total of $487 million. Its latest funding round – Series D Round, was conducted on December 15, 2021, and raised $350 million. 32 investors fund the company, of which 4 are lead investors, including Blockchain Capital Kraken, Golden Tree Asset Management, and Andreessen Horowitz.
Date
Round
Number of Investors
Money Raised
Lead Investor
December 15, 2021
Series D
19
$350 million
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts
February 25, 2021
Series C
6
$80 million
GIC
July 10, 2019
Series B
5
$40 million
Blockchain Capital
January 23, 2019
Series A
9
$17 million
Andreessen Horowitz
November 3, 2017
Seed Round
2
–
–
Anchorage Digital – Mergers and Acquisitions
Anchorage Digital acquired Merkle Data in 2020 for an undisclosed amount.
Anchorage Digital – Growth
The estimated annual revenue of Anchorage Digital was $63 million per year, with a $3 billion valuation in March 2023. Moreover, the monthly web visits grew by -21.08%, with 11,120 visits.
Anchorage Digital plans to use the bear market as a time to build with its institutional partners in the face of more macroeconomic uncertainty while paving the path for a safe, secure, and regulated digital asset ecosystem.
FAQs
What does Anchorage Digital do?
Anchorage Digital is a digital asset financial services and infrastructure provider that helps clients deal with holding, investing, and infrastructure for cryptocurrency and cryptocurrency products.
Who are the founders of Anchorage Digital?
Diogo Monica and Nathan McCauley co-founded Anchorage Digital in 2017.
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 Beauty Sailor.
In recent years, people have developed a greater understanding of their skincare regimens. This has led to tremendous growth in the skincare industry. Many factors, like technological advancements and changing attitudes toward beauty standards, are contributing to the growth of this industry.
With the increase in demand for natural, organic, and science-powered products, more and more players are entering the industry to make a mark for themselves. One such example is The Beauty Sailor. The company is committed to bridging the gap between premium-quality skincare and affordability with its active and natural ingredient products in India.
In this article, we’ll learn more about The Beauty Sailor, its products, its founders, its business model, and more.
The Beauty Sailor is a company that believes in empowering individual beauty with affordable, high-quality skincare. They celebrate uniqueness and aim to redefine beauty as a core part of well-being, all while delivering happy customer testimonials from various parts of the globe.
The Essence of Health and Vitality in One Place: Sailing through the ocean of active and natural ingredients, The Beauty Sailor has brought the best of the best products to give your skin the luxury it deserves. Creating the Best in Class Skin, Hair, and Body Care Products for Beauty has adapted quickly over the 21st century, and they, with adventure at their core, attempt to chart the course of perfect skin care solutions compatible with times. The company aims to become a one-stop shop of products to quench your skin’s every need.
The Beauty Sailor – Industry
The global Beauty and Personal Caremarket is valued at $571 billion in 2023. The beauty and personal care market will hit a jaw-dropping market size of $716.6 billion by 2025. The US cosmetic market is worth a staggering $62.46 billion. India’s Cosmetics Products Market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 4.23% during the forecast period 2020 – 2025.
So, keeping the market size and requirements of necessary personal care products, the company has expanded its product range to:
The Beauty Sailor was founded by Mr. Avtar Singh and Ms. Raman Bakshi in September 2020 and established its first corporate office in January 2021 in Mohali, Punjab. Empowering more than 100+ people directly and indirectly, the company aims to provide a healthy and cheerful platform to grow one and all participants of its journey.
Mr. Avtar Singh and Ms. Raman Bakshi – Founders, The Beauty Sailor
Avtar Singh
With an experience of more than 15 years in the corporate world, Mr. Avtar Singh is the visionary behind Abbey Edge. He started his career with Leading Bank in Delhi and built his expertise in Business Development, Marketing, and Customer Relationship Management for an exemplary contribution to the firm. In 2012, he founded the first pioneering venture in the real estate market of the region. His direction and vision for the firm could orient it to aim for the pinnacle of success and be the mother company of Abbey Edge India Pvt Ltd, which is oriented towards the same goal.
Raman Bakshi
A firm believer in team spirit and the power of coordination, Ms. Raman Bakshi is a dynamic leader and loving mentor of the AEIPL team with 12 years of valuable corporate experience. Her confidence in the creative expression of her team allows each team member to unleash their full potential. She believes in ‘ideas over hierarchy’ and takes pride in the self-sufficiency of her team. Strongly backed by her team, Ms. Bakshi aims to take AEIPL to the pinnacle of success and redefine the accessibility of good quality products from just a small class to a wider market.
The Beauty Sailor – Startup Story
As users, founders Mr. Avtar Singh and Ms. Raman Kaur always quest for premium and luxury skin care products in India, which were more expensive and more of them were non-effective at the same time. So they decided to make products to bridge the gap between Premium Quality Skincare and Affordability, made with Active and Natural Ingredients Products in India, keeping all skin and hair-related major concerns in mind according to the changing weather conditions in India.
The Beauty Sailor – Products/Services
The Beauty Sailor Products
The Beauty Sailor creates products to cater to the needs of everyone. In the era where chemicals have become part of every small thing owned and used, The Beauty Sailor makes products with nature in mind. They use nature-derived ingredients as well as active ingredients to balance all basic and advanced requirements of today’s skin, body, and hair needs, which are also parabens-free and sustainable to make sure that products are as gentle on the skin as on nature. None of its products are tested on animals.
The product range is:
Skin Care
Hair Care
Body Care
Face Care
Gift Packs, Combos, and Regimes
The Beauty Sailor – Vision and Mission
We all have different and unique souls. While we acknowledge the uniqueness of our inside, why keep our outer shield limited to the common? says Raman Bakshi, Founder & Chief Operating Officer, The Beauty Sailor
Vision: Established to celebrate the oneness of the entire YOU, The Beauty Sailor strive to become a loyal and royal partner of customers’ magnificent skin, body, and hair. Its vision is to provide customers with sustainable products specifically designed to enhance the beauty that is already there.
Mission: With its pioneering technology and scientifically proven manufacturing processes, the company aims to create skin, body, and hair care products that resonate with the modern generation. With its experience and expertise, the company aims to design products that shatter one self’s boundaries, enhance the beauty already there, and push them to the cutting edge. The team of The Beauty Sailor is passionate about delivering the best and satisfying the different needs of its customers. Making customers’ shopping experiences hassle-free and blissful remains one of its prime concerns.
The Beauty Sailor – Name, Tagline, and Logo
The Beauty Sailor Logo
In the ocean of beauty, where there are uncounted natural and active ingredients available, The Beauty Sailor tried to dive into this ocean and try to sail customers with the best out of the best ingredients to make premium quality products. That’s how “The Beauty Sailor” name was chosen by its founders. All products are suitable for all age groups, all skin types, and all genders.
Tagline: Assured Quality
The Beauty Sailor – Business and Revenue Model
The Beauty Sailor is a Mohali, Punjab-based eCommerce company, serving the skincare industry on B2B and D2C models, whose revenue model is based on the offers available on different D2C platforms (Amazon, Flipkart, Nykaa, Myntra, Purplle, and others), with its wide range of skin, hair, and body care products. The company has had more than 1 Lac+ happy customers within 2 years of the journey, and the countdown is running and so on.
The Beauty Sailor – Customer Retention Strategy
Product quality is its core strength; with more than 55% repeat customers, the company always offers attractive discounts, and one-to-one customer attention and service make the company stand by the time.
The products are India and US FDA Certified, Dermatological Tested, and free from parabens, silicon, and sulfates (DMDM, LLP, TEA, and DEA). None of the products are tested on animals.
Every new company faces challenges and hurdles in its starting journey, and The Beauty Sailor was not shielded from them. Being new to the online market, some strategies did not work according to their vision. The core team realized it needed to rephrase the marketing strategy and come up with strong and tested strategies. As a result, the company could see itself rooting its feet in this industry. Now, they are coming up with online and offline stores with multiple hair, skin, and body care ranges to reach the maximum number of customers.
The Beauty Sailor – Great Initiative
Mission 1 Crore Green Hands: The Beauty Sailor always thrive on making choices that are good for its consumers as well as the environment. With this vision in mind, the company makes products that are free from toxins and devoid of animal testing. With customers’ help, The Beauty Sailor now targets to plant 1 crore trees that will improve air quality, soil quality, and even groundwater levels.
The Beauty Sailor’s Mission 1 Crore Green Hands
The Beauty Sailor – Competitors
Being in a growing market, The Beauty Sailor also faces direct and indirect competition from some of the existing companies and big players in the market. Amway India, Vichy, and Bath & Body Works are some of them.
Let me ask you a quick question: How do you perceive light? You will say, of course, through your eyes. Excellent, John, that’s correct. The eyes are the only organs in the human body that can detect light, and they identify it before your brain assigns meaning to the information. They can also adjust automatically to varying levels of light; contracting in bright conditions and expanding in low-light settings.
While it may be needless to say, the eyes are vital and require proper care. This need has given rise to a thriving industry, which has grown considerably in the past and is expected to continue to do so in the future – the Eyewear industry.
The eyewear industry has seen a massive transformation in recent years, with the emergence of several new players and the introduction of innovative products. However, one company has remained a dominant force in this field, controlling over 80% of the major eyewear brands – Luxottica. As a global leader in the eyewear industry, Luxottica has been able to enjoy a near monopoly-like status, thanks to its vertically integrated business model and its strategic acquisitions. In this blog, we will take a closer look at how Luxottica has been able to establish and maintain its dominance in the eyewear industry, and the impact it has had on consumers and competitors alike.
“Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.” – Edgar Allan Poe
Poor eyesight has bothered humans since time immemorial. Roman orator Cicero in the history allegedly complained of being dependent on slaves for reading. The first ever lens was ground from quartz in 750 BCE, that is present day Iraq. The ancient Greeks filled glass spheres with water to see clearly.
Arab polymath Ion al-Haytham laid the laws of optics in 1021, it is said. Most agree that spectacles were first made in Pisa, Italy. The first mass production took place on the land of Munaro, Venice.
In around the years of 1440, a smart person named Gutenberg invented the printing press. Which was a hit at that time. It increased the number of books everywhere, making the process of writing and manufacturing books efficient and fast. This made more people read books and more people getting eyesight issues. Which in turn made eyeglasses popular, and the need for reading glasses increased substantially. You can see the cause and effect relation in all these events.
Are you finding history dull? Let’s shift our focus to the present scenario.
Eyewear Industry: Now
While sunglasses are generally used to protect human eyes from Ultraviolet radiation of the sun. Branded corrective glasses and sunglasses are expensive. If you are a person who wear glasses then you would find this relatable. In today’s modern world, when we all are glued to our screens, glasses are a form of necessity.
With the technology boom that the world is witnessing right now, the glasses or eyewear industry is also seeing a massive scale. In this section, we will discuss the magnitude and forecasted studies around the sector.
Global Eyewear Markets
This is a forecast about the global eyewear markets. All the values are in billions, Yes sir billions. The global eyewear market, which is made up of spectacles, contact lenses, sunglasses, and other eyewear products, was estimated to be worth around 140 billion U.S. dollars in 2020 and was forecast to reach a value of 165 billion U.S. dollars by 2025.
Two eyewear executives recently told the Los Angeles Times columnist that quality frames can be made in the range from 4$ to 8$ and if you want designer and customized frames and glasses, that could be made in well under 15$. Then why such a huge markup on price?
According to an IBISworld report, the top four companies manage more than 60 percent of the eyewear industry revenue, following almost a decade of mergers and acquisitions.
These skyrocketing numbers tell one this for sure, that it is one of the hottest businesses out there. The companies providing this product are getting massive and massive. One of the biggest makers of eyeglasses in the world is Luxottica.
Luxottica is a multinational eyewear conglomerate based in Italy. The company was founded in 1961 by Leonardo Del Vecchio and has since become the world’s largest eyewear company, controlling over 80% of the major eyewear brands.
Luxottica designs, manufactures and distributes eyewear for various brands, including Ray-Ban, Oakley, Persol, Vogue Eyewear, and many others. The company also owns retail chains such as LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, and Pearle Vision.
Italian eyewear behemoth Luxottica is considered to play a dominant role in the glasses industry all over the globe. It is in fact the largest maker of glasses in the world. It owns several big names in this line of products. It signs exclusive manufacturing and licensing deals with in-fame designer names, like that of Prada, Coach, Chanel. It even owns Eyemed, the biggest eyes insurance provider in the world. So, you see quite a big party !
History and Establishment of Luxottica
Leonardo Del Vecchio – Luxottica Founder
Leonardo Del Vecchio, founded Luxottica in Italy in 1961. The name is simply the combination of the Italian words for light (Luce) and optics (Ottica). It manufactured components for the optical industry. Leonardo soon shifted from being a supplier of equipment and components to manufacturers of eyewear. And in 1971 they launched their first line of house-made glasses.
In the 1980s, eyeglasses began to evolve from being a necessary medical device to becoming a fashion accessory. Luxottica recognized this trend and capitalized on it by partnering with various fashion brands. Through these licensing agreements, Luxottica would take inspiration from the fashion brands and design matching eyewear to complement their collections.
Luxottica’s first major partnership in this regard was with Giorgio Armani, the renowned Italian fashion designer, in 1988. Following this successful collaboration, Luxottica continued to acquire other major players in the industry, such as Vogue Eyewear, Ray-Ban, and Oakley. The company also ventured into retail, acquiring Cole National, LensCrafters, and Sunglass Hut.
These strategic mergers and acquisitions have helped Luxottica establish a dominant position in the eyewear industry and expand its offerings to include a vast portfolio of brands and retail outlets.
Geography and Spread of Luxottica
In total the brand has around 9000 stores worldwide. Their owned subsidiary EyeMed has over 28,000 eye professionals and the insurance provider covers 39 millions in America alone.
It has its manufacturing units everywhere, I mean almost everywhere, Latin America, and, of course, its native Italy, as well as manufacturing facilities in the U.S., China, Brazil, Italy, and two units in Japan and India. In 2018, Luxottica had net sales of just under 9 billion euros. That’s about 10 billion U.S. dollars and an increase of 22 percent since 2013.
To put it straight forward: if a brand wants to sell glasses, they want to be on Luxottica’s huge network of stores, and if a store wants to sell popular brands, they’ll want to offer Luxottica products, You know them already, Ray-Ban, Chanel, and Bulgari.
Some argue that Luxottica’s unreasonable size plus power stifles competition and establishes it as a monopoly, causing the whole industry to fester. The profits in this industry are relatively obscene.
To tackle the trend of eyeglasses being expensive, online retailers like Warby came to the rescue. In an interview, Warby’s founder shared a funny anecdote about once forgetting his pair of glasses and thought about the prices of those glasses. It was ridiculous to pay about 700$ for specs. So, with this inspiration he and his brother led the founding stones to build an online retailer for affordable eyewear. It became an instant hit that after opening their first store in 2013, they have grown to more than 90 stores by now.
Brands Under Luxottica
Luxottica has a lot of brands working under this big umbrella organization. The brands we know and which have a strong presence in the luxury items market. We will only speak of the most notable ones like Ray Ban, Vogue, Oakley, Chanel, Coach, Ralph, Prada and Versace and many more. These names are close synonyms to fashion accessories but these are not all where Luxottica has a stronghold.
Luxottica also owns retail brands to sell its products directly to customers. The enlisted brands are – David Clulow, EyeMed, LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, Optical, Laubman & Pank, Pearle Vision, and more. These brands and retail stores ensure that Luxottica sells the majority of frames they make successfully to the public. Even if you want and try to go with your favourite eyewear brand, there is a good probability that you will be paying your money to Luxottica.
Global Revenue of Luxottica
The above image shows Global revenue of Luxottica, starting from 2007 to 2020. The figures stated are in million euros. This graph is quite evident of the hold that the company has in this product segment.
Infamous Mergers of Luxottica
The company is famous for not only buying retail or fashion stores, it is also known to have had big mergers in the past. These were immensely successful partnering’s that bore fruit to every volunteer in the group.
EssilorLuxottica is an Italian and French vertical integrated multinational corp. It is based in Paris and was founded in 2018 from the merger of Luxottica with the French Essilor. The group designs, markets and produces ophthalmic lenses, equipment and prescription glasses plus sunglasses.
The merger company EssilorLuxottica has a portfolio of licensed brands like Ray-Ban, Oakley, Michael Kors, Varilux, Crizal, and LensCrafters. The company has reported 14.4 billion euros in revenues.
Hype Analysis of Luxottica
The success of the brand is not just because of the big spread that the company has. It is just one factor to the overall success.
Partnering with designers
The initial hype was induced by Luxottica by partnering with designers. In fact it was the first corporation to do so. Successful partnerships with designers like Armani and the like made the company sales go skyrocket. They know how to ride the wave of fashion swiftly.
Ray-Ban stories by Facebook
Ray-Ban Stories
In the recent past, months from now, Facebook partnered with a brand Ray-Ban to introduce “Ray-Ban stories”. They were a sort of smart glasses that could instantly capture moments as videos and pictures to share on social media. These glasses were made keeping in mind the instantaneously sharing of media on social networks. Facebook chose Ray-Ban to partner for the glasses due to their wide reach.
Luxottica Facts
Here are some facts about Luxottica:
It is the largest eyewear company in the world.
The name of the company is derived from the combination of two Italian words, Luce (light) and Ottica (optics).
They were the first to work with designers to turn glasses into accessories of fashion.
They have over 28 eyewear and 19 retailer brands in their portfolio.
Luxottica has a vertically integrated business model, which means it controls the entire supply chain from design and manufacturing to distribution and retail.
Climate change once affected Luxottica eyewear sales in Europe. Reason being late summer.
The company has faced criticism over the years for its dominant market position and for its pricing practices, particularly in the United States.
In 2020, Luxottica was ranked number 76 on Forbes’ list of the world’s most valuable brands, with a brand value of $9.2 billion.
How Did Luxottica Become the Dominant Player in the Eyewear Industry?
Luxottica became the dominant player in the eyewear industry through a combination of strategic acquisitions, vertical integration, brand power, and retail presence.
Aggressive Acquisition Strategy – One of the key factors behind Luxottica’s success is its aggressive acquisition strategy. Over the years, the company has acquired many of the world’s most iconic eyewear brands, including Ray-Ban, Oakley, and Persol. By acquiring these brands, Luxottica was able to capitalize on their popularity and build a loyal customer base, giving it a significant competitive advantage over its rivals.
Vertical Integration Strategy – Another reason behind Luxottica’s success is its vertical integration strategy. Unlike many other eyewear companies, Luxottica controls the entire supply chain, from design and manufacturing to distribution and retail. This means that the company has complete control over the production process, allowing it to maintain a high level of quality and consistency across its products.
Brand Power – Luxottica’s brand power is another factor that has contributed to its dominance in the industry. The company owns some of the most iconic and recognizable eyewear brands in the world, including Ray-Ban and Oakley. By leveraging the popularity of these brands, Luxottica has been able to charge premium prices for its products, further solidifying its position as the dominant player in the industry.
Retail Presence – Luxottica’s strong retail presence is another key factor that has helped it maintain its monopoly in the eyewear industry. The company operates over 9,000 retail stores worldwide, including LensCrafters, Sunglass Hut, and Pearle Vision.
How Does Luxottica’s Monopoly Affect Consumers?
Luxottica’s dominance in the eyewear industry has had a significant impact on consumers. With little competition in the market, consumers are forced to pay higher prices for eyewear, which can be a significant burden, particularly for those on a tight budget.
Critics argue that Luxottica’s monopoly also limits innovation in the industry, as there is little incentive for competitors to invest in new technology or designs when they are unlikely to be able to compete with Luxottica’s economies of scale.
Conclusion
Reading the article above, one thing is clear, Luxottica is a big player in the eyewear industry. Its recent merger with Essilor is making the company stronger. However the FTA (Federal trade commission) tends to be easy going or sympathetic to vertical mergers. Vertical mergers are mergers between two companies at different areas of the supply chain. In this case, Luxottica makes and sells frames whereas Essilor makes and sells lenses.
Senate Democrats condemned the Essilor-Luxottica merger as an example of corporate consolidation gone too far. This merger will further strengthen the hold that Luxottica already enjoys in the market. So surely this merger is getting on some experts’ nerves. This is seen as a group that will almost establish a monopoly in the eyewear industry.
A good thing around all this scenario is that eyewear companies like Warby, are trying to make glasses cheaper for the general public. As it is not a mandate for everybody to go for expensive pairs of glasses or to jump into the fashion line. This will be a game changer for sure in the future as it is already welcomed by the public.
Luxottica will mostly dominate the fashion line with its brands and retail chain. It is forecasted that the corporation will earn billions in this decade, seeing its size and mergers. It is amazing to see a brand as big as this, moulding the industry in such ways, and many people don’t even know about the name. Started with humble beginnings, now it is here. It’s truly an eye opener in the story of spectacles.
FAQs
What does Luxottica do?
Luxottica is an Italian eyewear conglomerate that designs, manufactures, and distributes eyewear products. The company owns many popular eyewear brands and retail stores.
Who is the founder of Luxottica?
Leonardo Del Vecchio founded Luxottica in 1961.
Who is Luxottica biggest competitor?
Luxottica’s top competitors are Specsavers, Pair Eyewear, TJX and FGX International.
What companies do Luxottica own?
Luxottica owns brands such as Ray-Ban, Oakley, Vogue Eyewear, Persol, Oliver Peoples, Arnette, Costa del Mar and Alain Mikli, as well as licensed brands including Giorgio Armani, Burberry, Bulgari, Chanel, Coach, Dolce&Gabbana, Ferrari, Michael Kors, Prada, Ralph Lauren, Tiffany & Co.
How does Luxottica’s monopoly in the industry affect consumers?
Luxottica’s monopoly in the industry can lead to higher prices, reduced access to affordable eyewear, limited innovation and choice, and anti-competitive practices.
Are there any alternative eyewear companies that consumers can turn to?
While Luxottica is the dominant player in the industry, there are still some independent and smaller eyewear companies that consumers can turn to for more affordable and diverse options.
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 Credgenics.
In India, where the credit demand of more than $600 Billion is being met through informal sources, digital lending is set to cross the $100 Billion mark by the end of 2023. Credgenics is a part of the financial industry, especially the lending and debt recovery ecosystem. Anand Agrawal, Mayank Khera, and Rishabh Goel founded Credgenics in 2018.
The SaaS-enabled debt recovery platformofCredgenics was designed to help lessen the burden of the lenders (banks, NBFCs, FinTech) through better data management and ensuring lesser cost and time consumption in the recovery process. At present, over 50 lenders are using the platform, which includes 07 banks with notable names like ICICI, Axis, and HDFC and more than 40 NBFCs, such as LoanTap, Drip Capital, and Udaan, among others. In the last three years, Credgenics has managed to grow MoM by 80–100%.
StartupTalky interviewed Mr. Rishabh Goel, Co-founder & CEO of Credgenics to learn the Startup Story and the roadmap of Credgenics. He also gave insights on the business model, when it originated, funding, growth hacks, working model, and expansion plans.
At Credgenics, the core product is the SaaS platform that comes armed with two unique offerings, the Automated Communication and Digital Legal Notice Module. Its SaaS-enabled debt recovery platform was designed to help lessen the burden of lenders (banks, NBFCs, FinTech) through better data management and ensuring lesser cost and time consumption in the recovery process. The legal module simplifies the entire journey of issuing a legal notice to the borrowers, sending a soft copy via digital channels (SMS, email, and WhatsApp) and physical modes (via courier partners).
Credgenics offers the creditors two solutions —
Where the creditor can purchase its software and undertake the rest of the process, and
The end-to-end recovery where the entire process from data management to Online Dispute Resolution and litigation processes undertaken by Credgenics’ designated teams.
The process entails uploading the data on the platform, generating actions using an automated rule-defining widget, issuing notices, and then approaching borrowers using any of the five modules, such as cloud-based calling, automated communication, and field executive being tracked by the Android app for on-field collection, legal notice, and litigation workflows. Thus, the Credgenics platform becomes a one-stop solution for creditors and their debt recovery woes. Within just a couple of months from its inception, Credgenics could demonstrate a strong product market fit.
Credgenics
Credgenics’ long-term focus is also to strengthen and build further from its present position, which includes equipping itself with a better-enabled team, to growing operations and business by expanding in multiple lending products, apart from the collection angle alone. The plans are also to continue researching and upgrading Credgenics platform features, offerings, and market presence because technology and legal, fields require a constant upgrade. Research and strengthening the core also becomes vital as the judicial and fiscal regulations in the target geographies have to be thoroughly studied, followed by the design and implementation of the Credgenics platform and offerings.
“Our core belief is based on the principle of ethically resolving the bad debt crisis that the economies are dealing with,” says Rishabh Goel, Co-founder & CEO, of Credgenics.
Credgenics is a part of the financial industry, especially the lending and debt recovery ecosystem.
The Debt Recovery Market is expected to grow at a significant pace. The Debt Recovery market provides the various factors that form an important element of the market. It includes the definition and the scope of the market with a detailed explanation of the market drivers, opportunities, restraints, and threats. India has the worst bad-loan ratio after Italy among the world’s 20 largest economies.
In terms of the industry and its growth, since Credgenics has a unique offering, it does not see much competition, especially given its USPs. About Credgenics performance and the metrics, it can be described one by one. Let’s begin with the resolution rate, which has improved by 15–20%. The collection rates are measured in the terms of each DPD resolved within the stipulated time and the success-based module ensures data transparency. Resolution time has improved by 20 days for Credgenics’ clients. The average resolution time is measured by providing concentrated efforts from tele-calling, digital reminders through WhatsApp and Digital Notices, and tracking the EMI repayment and E-mediation. The collection time has improved by 5 times.
The digital disruption introduced by Credgenics saves efficiency in data management and tracking the cases, with dedicated teams per case, ROI for the creditors is compared to the error-prone erstwhile practices.
Credgenics – Founders and Team
Anand Agrawal, Mayank Khera, and Rishabh Goel are the co-founders of Credgenics.
Anand has a strong Computer Science background (owing to B.Tech and M.Tech, both from IIT-Delhi). IIT-D is their alma mater and that is how Rishabh and Anand knew each other. While Rishabh was making his way through Deutsche Bank and Blackrock as an Investment Banker, Anand was working with the founding team of 1mg. Mayank, whom they knew through common friends, has been on the panel of NHRC, he is a certified mediator and a fellow at the World Mediation Organization, Berlin. This resulted in the best fit.
Anand Agrawal | Co-founder & CTO of Credgenics
Anand was emancipated as an entrepreneur after accumulating years of experience in product technology and engineering. Before embarking on this SaaS-based journey, he gained experience as a Lead in the data science team of 1MG and worked with Urban Company. With a keen interest in the fintech ecosystem, Anand is now the Co-Founder and CTO of Credgenics. With a focus on team building, he exhibits thoughtful leadership and entrepreneurship – be it customizing the platform features and offerings (which includes the communication and data projections), or designing and integrating the website for the company, he ensures that the technology can boost the software-based collection process to reduce bad debts.
Mayank Khera | Co-founder & Legal Brain of Credgenics
An Advocate, a certified mediator, and a fellow World Mediation Organisation, Berlin, Mayank has been associated with many social initiatives to provide justice to the underserved. As part of his dedication to giving back to society, he has regularly visited many jails, including Tihar, Jaipur, Amritsar, Ludhiana, and Jodhpur, among others to provide legal assistance to prisoners. For Credgenics, he is the legal brain that helps with the litigations and the legal notices. Be it the case of e-mediations and settlements, or taking the right legal remedy for the defaulters, his word holds weightage.
Rishabh Goel | Co-founder & CEO of Credgenics
Rishabh handles the marketing, business development, customer engagement, apart from the overall decision-making and risk analysis. For this, he is armed with his Charter in Risk Analysis through the U.S. GAARP courses, namely CFA and FRM. This skill added to his B.Tech helps him understand the business and technology aspects.
“Since, all three of us take care of the three important verticals, we take decisions in unison and exhibit the proof of ‘united we stand’ philosophy” Rishabh added.
Credgenics has hired from the fintech and consulting firms, and with more clients being onboarded, it aims to increase its team and establish an organizational culture, where each joiner comes with zeal and expertise. The right attitude also matters and the Credgenics’ HR ensures that the new people enhance the culture.
Currently, Credgenics team comprises 170+ members, where its legal team has more than 8 in-house lawyers including Mayank, as the leader and mentor, and they collaborate with 2200+ lawyers pan India. With the future forecast, Credgenics aims to grow with a direction and enhance its offerings and be more customer-oriented.
Credgenics History – How it Started?
Reminiscing the Initial journey of Credgenics, Rishabh Goel (Co-founder& CEO of Credgenics) says –
“The inspiration came back in 2017 when I was working with Blackrock, where I garnered a better understanding of the lending process, specifically from the recovery and collections angle. The realizations continued while working with Deutsche Bank. The collection processes were still age-old and led to poor recovery rates, thereby leading to the constant increase in the NPA with each loan adding up to delinquency. The whole process was taxing the economy and increasing the judicial load (from the recovery angle). Being good with research and risk analysis, I (Rishabh) researched the problem and solution for two years.
During the research, I studied the mechanics of resolving the debt cases using technology-driven amicable methods and analyzing their efficacy in the long term. Though the process is dynamic and the research and problem-solving is still an everyday process, yet back then I started wondering about the technology-aided solutions and started lending some outline to the idea of what has now become Credgenics.
At this point in time, I came in touch with the Co-founder and CTO Anand Agrawal. IIT Delhi being our alma mater, we together started working on the SaaS platform. Anand had experience owing to his M.Tech and then his work with 1MG and Urban Company. He and I started working on a prototype. At this point, we came in touch with Mayank, an advocate, and the idea of legal tech was added. In 2019 we got our first client and that was where we tested our platform for the first time.
The moratorium in 2020 became the testing time and we got plenitude in terms of clients. Since we work on a success-based module, we charge our clients per the success rate.”
Rishabh continues on Credgenics’ Interesting Investor Journey –
“Credgenics team completed the seed round led by Titan Capital along with a few seasoned investors in May 2020. This was where we had garnered the faith of our investors and began gaining the faith of our lenders.
With growing success, within six months, the young and innovative SaaS platform received INR 27 crore (US$3.5 Million) in a pre-Series A round led by Accel Partners, DMI Alternatives fund with participation from existing investors Titan Capital besides marquee angel investors like Kunal Shah (Founder, CRED), Dilip Khandelwal (MD & Global CIO, Deutsche Bank), Sumit Maniyar (Founder, Rupeek), Ramakanth Sharma (Co-founder, Livspace), Gaurav Agarwal (Co-founder, 1mg), Vivek (Founder, Bounce), Akhil Paul (MD, Caparo Group), Nitin Gupta (ex-Founder, PayU) and Karthik (Ubiquity Capital).”
Credgenics – USP
In India, where the credit demand of more than $600 Billion is being met through informal sources, digital lending is set to cross the $100 Billion mark by the end of 2023. Increased disbursement of credit has also led to a spike in NPAs for both NBFCs and banks. This was an opportunity for Rishabh to put across his knowledge and skillset to work in the Indian market to launch Credgenics, which is at a confluence of legal, technology, and finance.
The biggest challenge the stakeholders noticed was in the data management, which was hardly being updated, and the process was not streamlined. But now, the platform assists lenders in streamlining and digitizing their collections and legal workflows with customized strategies and faster legal solutions for stressed assets.
It also offers Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) and mediation services by becoming an intermediary between its clients and borrowers. The ‘plug-and-play SaaS solution digitizes the entire collections process on an easy-to-use interface and provides an AI-powered personalized collections strategy, which optimizes and automates action through automated communication, field agencies, and legal notices.
There are certain USPs that Credgenics bank on:
Updated Dashboards: The Data Analysis team maintains the data and keeps it organized. This data is then analyzed and the results are reflected on its dashboards that keep the internal teams informed about the status of each borrower case, and the lenders also can keep track of each case’s position. This helps to decide the future course of action.
Automated Communication Model: One ingredient Credgenics vouchs for is the communication channels that it uses which include telecommunication, SMS, online legal notices (which are duly tracked), and the data is updated.
Digital Notices: The other USP is the digital notices model where the defaulters are sent digital notices. They are given the notice through a URL which when clicked helps the team also to track the status. This also helps them to identify the nervousness factor of the borrower. In the future, this becomes potential digital evidence if the creditor files for judicial remedy.
Lawyers on board: Credgenicsnot only has its own Legal Team but also has empanelled lawyers across India who help them with mediation and litigation services, in case the borrower’s account turns delinquent or if the borrower seeks mediation due to a genuine reason behind the inability to pay. During the COVID-19 crisis and the resultant job and market recession, the team has even advised loan restructuring to their client for sensitive cases, so that the client’s risk profile does not suffer, nor does the borrower get entangled in mentally strenuous legal situations.
Credgenics SaaS Platform
Credgenics – Name, Tagline and Logo
The name is very self-explanatory in a way. Cred comes from ‘credit’, which stands for not only the credible platform and services that the team were building but also for the credit building through the technology-aided debt collection for the lending institutions. The ‘Genics’ represents the idea of genesis or evolution of the first such platform that aims at creating dents on the NPA crisis and supports the economy as a debt recovery platform. Also, ‘genetics’ in the scientific language means producing, so to the two IIT-ian Co-founders this came as a natural addition to the ‘cred’.
Credgenics tagline ‘Converting Bad Debts into Good Assets’ is based on the basic principles on which the research and the final outcome of what they call Credgenics, and “I would humbly state that this tagline is what we would like to grow further with” says Rishabh.
Credgenics Logo
About the logo, initially, they just had the CG from CredGenics as its logo. But as Credgenics got bigger and designers joined the team, they decided to redo its logo, and the circular motive where C is wrapped around G is not only symbolic of the name but also of the dent they intend to make on the said vicious loan cycle.
The business model of Credgenics revolves around the SaaS platform, which is a one-stop solution for banks, NBFCs, and fintech, among others who are unable to recover the loan amounts from their borrowers. There are two proposals that it presents to its clients –
One of which is the Software platform alone. Here, the client can choose to use the software model, and using the API integration they can put their data and the platform arranges and manages the data. This data then is used by their in-house calling or legal team to communicate with the borrowers.
The second proposal is to use both its software and the collection services. In this, Credgenics seek their data and integrates it using its API. The data is then used by the telecommunication team initially. Where the data for each payment is managed by the Data Analyst teams and the future plan is discussed by the respective collections and legal teams, whereby, if the borrowers refuse to pay, then legal notices are sent and tracked by Credgenics teams. It offers the Online Dispute Resolutions (ODR) to those interested or maintaining the data for its clients if they need to present it as evidence in the court of law.
Revenue Model of Credgenics | Charges and Payments:
When it comes to Credgenics charges, it charges a lump sum amount for the software platform alone. However, if the client seeks the second proposal which is software and services, then it takes specific numbers of cases from the client and then charges a certain percentage over the entire loan amountrecovered.
What helps the client with loan recovery is the automated platform that makes data management and communication tracking an easy process. Credgenics also customizes solutions for each client and the challenge is actually with the unsecured loans, where the communication is the secret ingredient and the riskier tiers and lack of documentation often makes the data a mammoth task.
Strategies Adopted during Credgenics Launch
“To be fairly honest, when the moratorium was announced, we thought that for a few months we would have to lie low, however, with the collection becoming challenging in the moratorium and post-moratorium phase, we started getting more clients” Rishabh added.
Initially, Credgenics clients came to them to test its platform. It was the performance that not only made them stay but earned them more clients.
Rishabh says – “Word of mouthour name spread. The present success owes a great deal of accolades to the Business Development and Customer Management team as well, who help us spread our reach and retain those we have on board”
The strategies were fairly uncomplicated. The team demonstrated its platform and features, then they would onboard the client with a set of cases on trial. Once that would shine, they would go further.
Now the team has more strategies, such as newsletters, social media engagements, constant customer engagements and problem-solving, and other such channels that help Credgenics with the recognition. As Credgenics is growing, the team aims to involve better engagement strategies.
The biggest challenge that Credgenics faced was reaching out to the borrowers within ethical measures, owing to the pandemic and the pay cuts and job losses it brought along. The other problem that the team identified is language. India is a land of 18 official languages and many dialects. For this, the team brought native speakers, and its notices are also drafted in local languages. This strategy of globalization has not only helped Credgenics bridge a mental distance between the borrowers and collection agents but also make the process more vernacular-oriented, thereby supporting India’s rich ethnic legacy as well.
Legal notices also become a problem because the borrower would either change residence, contact, etc. or can outright deny the receipt of the notices. This makes the door-to-door movement of legal agents a problem and also causes issues in accumulating evidence for the court proceedings. With its URL-enabled digital notices, Credgenics helps the creditors with both notices and evidence.
From the same or similar perspective comes the problem of collection. Credgenics digitized the repayment, thereby reducing the door-to-door collection. This saves the borrowers from embarrassment and saves costs for its clients.
A constant cash flow from the borrower to the creditor is needed to combat the alarming 14.8% NPA, which might grow owing to the global pandemic crisis. Here also, the Credgenics process allows the flow to stay alive, the risk profiles of the creditors to stay afloat, and the CIBIL scores of the borrowers to remain decent.
“We do not intend to see a huge list of defaulters, and that is one problem we combat every day” Rishabh added.
Credgenics – Successful Marketing Campaigns
Since the platform and the offerings were unique and were already a disruption, hence the team did not need an elaborate GTM (go-to-market strategy). The extensive research and the foundational work on the platform and the prevalent condition of the lending ecosystem gave enough input to the founders. Rishabh’s research showed him the loopholes, while Anand’s and Mayank’s expertise helped him fill the gaping holes.
Since the research itself, the founding team kept getting data. This data was utilized and to launch Credgenics as a unique offering, the prospective clients were found using available leads, while for newer leads the professional network over the ecosystem was reached out to. The demonstration sessions were conducted. This GTM was later substantiated by reaching out to more people by content or investor and existing client networks. The implementation of core marketing strategies began later.
The existing lending ecosystem is being disrupted in many ways. To begin with, SaaS platforms are not used to date, as the age-old process of manually floating the data is still being followed by most of the creditors. The platform features data management, which involves tracking the entire system of collection and recovery that each case is going through. The data is then analyzed and shared with the internal teams and the clients. This data also helps in assessing the recovery progress and predicting future possibilities.
The automated communication system is a disruption, where the messages and calls are timely, and The tracked, and yet the privacy measures are duly followed. The other disruption is in the form of Digital Notices. Reducing the manual and strenuous process of lawyers drafting and sending notices, without a proper track of those being received and adhered to had to be reduced. Thus, they came up with digital notices that are triggered when a defaulter case is identified. The notices are tracked through a URL, whereby the receipt is not only recorded but the number of times it is clicked is recorded to predict the nervousness of the borrower. This can also be used in court as evidence if needed.
Credgenics – Growth
Credgenics is located in Delhi and operates its working SaaS-based model from there. At present, It helps more than 40 NBFCs/Fintechs and 7 Banks including HDFC, ICICI Bank, Clix Capital, Shubh Loans, LoanTap, Udaan, MoneyTap, etc., streamline their recovery section with a blend of data-driven technology and legal solutions.
Credgenics – Funding and Investors
Credgenics team completed the seed round led by Titan Capital along with a few seasoned investors in May 2020
In 2020, Credgenics raised $3.5 million in a pre-Series-A round led by Accel Partners, DMI Alternatives fund with participation from existing angel investors Titan Capital.
Credgenics recently raised a substantial funding round of $50 million on August 9, 2023, with investments from Accel and Westbridge Capital.
Credgenics does not consider anyone as a direct competitor who can provide both collection and legal combined recovery suites on a single SaaS platform but can claim CreditMate as one of the competitors.
Tools used by Credgenics to run the Startup
The SaaS platform is Credgenics’ basic tool, where automated communication through SMS, cloud-based telephone calls, and WhatsApp messages are the other tools. For the data integration, the team relies on API, and AI and ML are the key instruments in the platform and the digital processes. The technology-driven team constantly uses permutations and combinations to keep the dashboards, websites, and communication smooth and personalized. Since servers are decentralized, they are relatively worry-free of data calamities.
Credgenics – Awards and Recognitions
Recently, Credgenics founders got featured in Forbes 30 under 30, and have won the Young Entrepreneur awards from Business Mint for two years in a row.
Credgenics – FAQs
What is Credgenics?
At Credgenics, the core product is the SaaS platform that comes armed with two unique offerings, the Automated Communication and Digital Legal Notice Module. Its SaaS-enabled debt recovery platform was designed to help lessen the burden of the lenders
Who are the founders of Credgenics?
Anand Agrawal, Mayank Khera, and Rishabh Goel are the co-founders of Credgenics.
When was Credgenics founded?
Credgenics was founded in 2018.
How much funding has Credgenics raised?
In 2020, Credgenics raised $3.5 million in a pre-Series-A round led by Accel Partners, DMI Alternatives fund with participation from existing angel investors Titan Capital, among others.
How does Credgenics make money?
When it comes to Credgenics’ charges, it charges a lump sum amount for the software platform alone. However, if the client seeks a complete recovery solution, then it takes a specific number of cases from the client and then charges a certain percentage over the recovered loan amount.
Is Credgenics an Indian Company?
Yes, Credgenics is an Indian company and the headquarters in Delhi, India.
Who are Credgenics’ competitors?
Credgenics claims CreditMate as one of the competitors.
Who are the investors in Credgenics?
Titan Capital, Accel Partners, DMI Alternatives fund
With increasing global warming and other environmental issues, people are becoming more conscious of their choices of products and services. This consciousness, in turn, is making people shift their choices toward sustainability.
Keeping this in mind, the demand for sustainable brands is increasing rapidly, leading to many new players entering this marketplace. One such company that is set about making sustainability affordable is Suspire. Founded in 2021, Suspire is a marketplace for sustainable apparel and cosmetic brands, headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.
In this article, let’s explore more about Suspire, the idea behind it, its vision, the challenges faced, and more.
Suspire’s short-term vision is to promote sustainability and veganism in India by collaborating with brands that share a similar ideology. The company is committed to making sustainable living through fashion and self-expression accessible to everyone. Suspire is dedicated to demonstrating that there are many sustainable and vegan alternatives available at both the individual and global levels.
The company’s aim is to provide well-considered choices and showcase the true effects of one’s decisions. Suspire strives to foster an all-encompassing community that encourages each other to create a long-lasting impact.
Suspire’s long-term vision is to leave the planet and its people in better shape than they found them. This is an ambitious goal that affects everything that we all do; fulfilling it requires everyone’s effort. Suspire wants to create a community of sustainability where ethical and vegan lifestyles are accessible and affordable. The company knows that everyone’s choices matter and wants to make it easier for everyone to make the right choice.
Suspire – Founders
Suspire Founders
Deepak Ramakrishna and Swayam Doshi founded Suspire in 2021.
Both Deepak and Swayam deeply care for the environment, animal welfare, and people and aim to make a real difference with Suspire.
Suspire – Startup Story
In 2020, the founders of Suspire wanted to bring about a positive change in the way the country looks at climate change. Having studied environmental sciences and witnessed ocean degradation while scuba diving convinced them that working for the environment was their calling. They aspired to sustainability and wanted to give the planet a chance to breathe, so they launched their sustainability startup and chose to name it Suspire, signaling their commitment to the cause.
Suspire was originally envisioned as a vegan and sustainable apparel brand. The fashion industry was the 2nd-largest emitter of CO2, contributing to plastic pollution, water shortages, soil damage, poor labor practices, and more! Making a sustainable dent here could go a long way.
When they got down to business, though, they found it filled with inspiring brands already creating eco-friendly and ethical fashion. They were far from dispirited, though. Instead of competing with these brands, they saw an even better opportunity to partner with them and amplify their impact!
Their initial conversations on the topic and initial research in ascertaining the requirement for such a marketplace were mostly through friends and family and quite intensive primary research on growing trends in the Indian market, of which sustainability formed a major chunk.
With this in mind, they launched the Suspire website in October 2021 as a hub for India’s best sustainable and vegan apparel brands. The demand from consumers was clear to see, and six months in, they could tell the customers wanted more than just ethical fashion in pursuit of a sustainable lifestyle. They responded by growing their catalog to include cosmetics, food, housewares, and more.
Suspire – Products/Services
Suspire Products
Suspire offers products that are designed to last for years, providing customers with a cost-effective solution. For example, their thousand-rupee t-shirt may seem more expensive than a 400-rupee alternative, but their t-shirt will last 3–4 years, whereas the cheaper alternative will need to be replaced every year. Over time, their product will actually save customers money and be better for the environment and workers. It’s a win-win situation!
Suspire is confident in the quality of its products and wants to help customers overcome any hesitance they may have towards higher-priced sustainable and vegan options. They believe that by prioritizing quality over quantity, they can create a more sustainable future for both customers and the planet.
Suspire addresses the challenge that consumers face in finding sustainable and vegan products that align with their values. As consumers become increasingly aware of the negative impact of their purchases on the environment and animal welfare, Suspire offers a solution by providing a platform that makes it easy to purchase these products in one place.
The team at Suspire knows the size of the challenge the planet faces and wants to maximize the impact of each positive choice their customers make. So they try to go above and beyond in whatever way they can. For every purchase a customer makes, they’ve partnered with SayTrees, who will plant a tree in Chikkaballapur, near Bangalore, and Coastal Impact, who will plant a coral tile along the coast of Goa. In less than a year, Suspire’s customers and NGO partners have come together to plant 100 trees and 24 coral tiles!
Suspire – Name and Logo
Suspire Logo
The Name
The word “Suspire” means “To breathe.” The founders of the company wanted to provide the world and environment the chance to breathe in a new generation of conscious consumers that are born with the intention of doing good for the environment and taking responsible steps that shape the way resources are utilized.
The Logo
Two Humans. Partners. Collaborators. Creators
Shows two sides of the coin. Created by a human for humans. Against fast fashion, mass-manufactured clothes, and irresponsible sourcing.
Suspire Logo Highlighting Its Partners and Business
It also allows Suspire to highlight its partners and business in a more humane way, validating their stake in sustainability.
Suspire – Launching Company
When the founders started with zero users, it was important for them to focus on getting their service in front of people who would be interested in it. Here are some channels, tools, and strategies that they used and that worked well for them:
Leveraged Network: They started by telling their friends, family, and colleagues about their service. This created a ripple effect, as they were quite happy to share it with their social circles as well, which helped the company tremendously.
Social media: Social media has been a major contributor to Suspire’s growth over the years. The company has maintained its vision and mission through its brand voice, due to which a lot of potential consumers who resonate with it have either bought from Suspire or sent a message to commend their efforts.
Content Marketing: They also spend a considerable amount of time researching and disseminating the latest trends and information in the world of sustainability in bite-sized information packets to make it easy for anyone to understand. These are normally in the form of articles, videos, or infographics. Early on, they spent a lot of time growth hacking on Instagram in order to engage with pages that followed the company’s ideology in order for a similar target audience to stumble upon Suspire’s page.
Influencer Marketing: The founders made it quite important early on to identify influencers in their industry who have a following that matches their target audience. They have been quite successful in spreading the word about Suspire with the help of these influencers, who they believe are more like ambassadors for the brand.
Referral Marketing: They offered incentives to existing users to refer their friends and family to the service if they liked the company’s offering.
Participation in Communities: They joined a number of online communities and forums that were relevant to their service to engage with other members, share their knowledge and expertise, and in turn learn more about the industry and the people that form an integral part of it.
Suspire – Challenges Faced
A major issue that the founders have faced ever since Suspire’s inception is addressing the fact that sustainable products are priced a lot higher than the fast fashion alternatives that exist in the market. Their main idea to solve this was to educate the consumer as to why their products were priced higher. With ethical products, they are not only taking care of the planet positive aspect of the products, but it also comes with ensuring a transparent supply side, wherein the producers are provided fair wages and good working conditions, which is not the case with fast fashion brands, which prioritize cost competitiveness as compared to fair pay and working conditions.
Additionally, at Suspire, the team is passionate about the mission to promote sustainable and vegan products. They understand that some customers may be hesitant to invest in their higher-priced products, but they believe that prioritizing quality over quantity will benefit them in the long run.
Suspire’s short-term vision is to promote sustainability and veganism in India by collaborating with brands that share a similar ideology. Its long-term vision is to leave the planet and its people in better shape than they found them.
When was Suspire founded?
Suspire was founded in 2021.
Who is the founder of Suspire?
Deepak Ramakrishna and Swayam Doshi are the founders of Suspire.
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 Zimaxx Tech Solutions.
The need for safety services has increased as a result of people’s growing concerns about security and safety. As technology develops, the market changes continuously, bringing better, more efficient safety solutions. Zimaxx Tech Solutions Pvt. Ltd. is one such company that operates in this field.
Headquartered in Mumbai, Zimaxx Tech Solutions Pvt. Ltd. was founded in 2022. It is a tech-enabled electronic security service provider, operating through an innovative ‘Platform as a Service’ (PaaS) concept. The company has launched Captain India, India’s first AI-powered life safety app, providing smart, intelligent, and trustworthy safety solutions on the go, anytime and anywhere.
In this article, let’s explore more about Zimaxx Tech Solutions Pvt Ltd, how it started, its business and revenue model, and more.
Zimaxx Tech Solutions Pvt. Ltd. is a social impact enterprise that has introduced India’s first life safety services under the ‘Mission Surakshit Bharat’ program, as envisioned by our Honorable Prime Minister. Their app called Captain India– My Safety Superhero, backed by a 24×7 command station, offers 14 life safety services to provide a protective ring around users.
The company’s short-term plan is to change the mindset of every Indian regarding their personal safety needs, and the long-term vision is to provide personal safety services to every Indian to make the country safe and secure.
Zimaxx Tech – Market / Industry Details
Zimaxx Tech Solutions Pvt. Ltd. operates in the category called Personal Emergency Response Services, which is witnessing significant growth in all aspects of personal safety. According to a report published by Research and Markets, the Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS) – Global Market Trajectory and Analytics mentions that the Global Personal Emergency Response Systems market is expected to reach $10.7 billion by 2026, with the global market for Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS) estimated to be at US $8.2 billion in 2022 and projected to reach a size of US $10.7 billion by 2026, growing at a CAGR of 6.6% during the analysis period. There is no data available about the Indian market since the company is in the nascent stage of PERS. However, Zimaxx Tech expects the Indian industry to grow beyond a billion-dollar market.
Zimaxx Tech – Founder
Onkar Sonalkar is the founder of Zimaxx Tech Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
In 1995, Zimaxx Tech Solutions Pvt. Ltd.’s mentor, Pramoud Rao, a first-generation entrepreneur, founded a company called Zicom, which started retailing mobile phones in India and later pioneered electronic security in India. In January 2022, after exiting Zicom, over a cup of coffee, he was ideating with his friend, Onkar Sonalkar, a US-returned technocrat. During the conversation, Pramoud mentioned that he could not ever imagine that in 1995 when he was selling mobile phones, one day they would be ubiquitous to our daily existence. The discussion then centered around the fact that if mobile phones can do so many things for us, why not life safety services? This eureka seed, post multiple ideation meetings, created India’s first life safety service called – “Captain India- My Safety Superhero.”
Zimaxx Tech – The Product/Service
The services of Captain India – My Safety Superhero, are delivered through an app backed by their command station. It has aggregated 14 life safety services that can be availed of at the click of a button for personal safety. The company provides SOS services, Ambulance services, Location Services to locate parents, children, and pets, Road Side Assistance, Medical Support, Follow Me, which provides Virtual Security Guard Services, and many more. The core of their services is their 28 years’ experience managing a command station. All its 14 services are delivered through its command station, 24×7. Zimaxx Tech soft-launched its services on the 6th of August 2022 and started full-fledged services in the month of October 2022.
Zimaxx Tech – Name, Logo, and Tagline
Zimaxx Tech Solutions’ Captain India Logo and Mascot
When Zimaxx Tech Solutions Pvt. Ltd. was ideating on the name, they were clear about joining Mission Surakshit Bharat. Hence, they ideated a name that would glue their business with their ‘Mission Surakshit Bharat’. Presto, the name which rang jingle bells in their mind was ‘Captain India – My Safety Superhero’, inspired by the Marvel movie famous superhero character ‘Captain America.’
Zimaxx Tech – Business Model and Revenue Model
Captain India app comes under the category of transactional apps and its services are subscription based wherein the users pay an annual fee for availing its services. Since it is a ‘Social Impact Enterprise’ its ethos is personal safety and not profits which is incidental. It has two channels of sales, direct and thru channel partners. Zimaxx Tech clearly understands, the success of any app business is its distribution and they are taking all steps to increment this on a daily basis. Currently, its pace is slow due to bootstrapping, however, the company has a target of gathering steam in Q4 of 2023. The company offers services at a list price of Rs 2999 and is currently running promotions at 50% discounts. It also offers commission/incentives to its Surakshit Bharat Ambassador (SBA) who are in partnership with the company. Its focus currently is the B2B segment.
Zimaxx Tech – Launching Company
The company’s first customer is Bonanza Group. The Bonanza Group is known to care for its human assets beyond its physical work premises. When Captain India – My Safety Superhero was pitched to them, the decision to protect their human asset was taken in the first meeting itself. Currently, the company is in talks with more than 30 enterprises, all of whom understand the need to make their human assets safe. They believe that a ‘Great Place to Work’ can never be complete without their human assets feeling like they are in a ‘Great Safe Place to Work’.
Zimaxx Tech – Customer Acquisition Strategy
The idea behind Mission Surakshit Bharat is what is attracting users to the company, which is a social enterprise with a mission to make the country safe and secure. The company fully understands, with its 28 years of experience that Indians unlike their Western counterparts do not pay much attention to personal safety. Instead, people believe in the law of Self Exception that nothing ever will happen to them, it will happen to someone else.
The company’s future success depends on multiple factors, including changing the mindset of Indians on personal safety, the quality of their backend command station services, their outsourced service partners’ service qualities, and the reliability and usability of their app. They are currently running low-budget marketing campaigns to warm up the market and test customer feedback. The company is also gathering feedback from its customers on what they like and dislike about their app. Their journey of 10,000 miles has just begun, and they know they will face glorious uncertainties, but they are ready to battle it.
Zimaxx Tech – Marketing
When it comes to marketing campaigns, the company understands that in the app world, where more than 5 million apps are battling it out, marketing is not an option. However, to state the real facts, their much-desired and most successful marketing campaign has still not happened. The reasons are twofold. They want to test the waters before they dip into them, and second, they want to meet more customers to get deeper insights before they open their wallets.
Failing is not an option, hence, the company is treading carefully with a simple ethos, they may slip, but they do not want to fall. Slow and steady will win the race for them.
Zimaxx Tech – Advisors and Mentors
The mentoring team is headed by Safety and Security Industry veteran – Mr. Pramoud Rao and the advisory board consists of Mr. Manohar Bidaye, Mr. Pawan Desai, and Mr. Rajesh Agnelo.
Zimaxx Tech – Challenges Faced
The company has not faced any major challenges until now. However, they are preparing to face challenges in the future. The company has created several pioneering categories in the past, such as Fax Machines (1988), Electronic Security (1995), Command Station (1996), SaaS in the electronic security domain (2012), etc. They are very confident and sure that they will be able to mitigate any challenges they face. They believe in the principles of the 5 Fs: Focus, Fast, Flexible, Fit, and Fun, which is their mantra for success.
In our business journey, we hit the pinnacle of success to experience the depths of failure, our motivation, zeal with energy has only increased with every failure. For us failure is a motivation and a good learning experience which success never teaches, said, Onkar Sonalkar, Founder, Zimaxx Tech Solutions Pvt. Ltd.
Zimaxx Tech – Competitors
Currently, the company has no direct competitors in their business. Although there are a dozen safety apps in the market offering lean safety services, what differentiates them is their aggregation of safety services, backed by their command station, and the fact that they provide within 90 seconds emergency response services pan India 24×7.
Zimaxx Tech – Future Plans
The company is in the crawl phase before they walk, run, and eventually sprint. The company started small with a rented office in Bandra and has onboarded a lean team of less than 15 Surakshit Bharat Ambassadors (SMA) along with a few safety industry veterans. They have a realistic plan to achieve their goals. The plan is not audacious nor pompous to attract investors, rather it’s a very realistic one. The chart below exemplifies their approach.
Captain India – My Safety Superhero is India’s first AI-powered life safety app, providing smart, intelligent, and trustworthy safety solutions on the go, anytime and anywhere.
Who is the founder of Zimaxx Tech Solutions Pvt. Ltd.?
Onkar Sonalkar is the founder of Zimaxx Tech Solutions Pvt. Ltd., which launched Captain India – My Safety Superhero.
What is the size of the Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS) market?
The global market for Personal Emergency Response Systems (PERS) was estimated at US$8.2 billion in 2022.
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 Amperity.
Customer data is the brand’s most valuable marketing asset, but it is diverse, complicated, and multi-faceted as customers themselves. The best way to know the customers is through real-time transactional and behavioral data. However, customer data is more likely to be under-utilized due to inefficient data collection, management, unification, and analytics.
Although traditional data management platforms can capture every data of data required by business, storage across outdated and disconnected data silos could limit the real-time accessibility and effectiveness of valuable customer data.
It’s when the Customer Data Platform (CDP) is deployed to collect and aggregate the critical information in a persistent, unified database and analyze it in real-time to provide personalized customer experiences.
Amperity is a leading CDP company enabling top-ranked brands to collect and unify customer data, improve customer experiences, and grow businesses. In this article, you will uncover all about Amperity- its startup story, founders, partners, funding details, and more.
Amperity is a comprehensive Customer Data Platform that helps enterprises put messy customer data to work to improve marketing performance, provide personalized customer experiences, build long-term customer loyalty, drive revenue, and grow business. It offers intelligent capabilities across data unification, management, analytics, activation, and insights.
With its presence in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, this privately held company serves 100+ leading global brands worldwide, including Alaska Airlines, Kendra Scott, Planet Fitness, First Hawaiian Bank, and many more.
Kabir Shahani and Derek Slager founded Amperity in 2016.
Kabir Shahani
Kabir Shahani completed his graduation from the University of Washington with a Bachelor of Science in Informatics. In addition to co-founding Amperity, he co-founded Appature and held the CEO role.
He has been Director at Blue Dot, Inc, Vice President at IMS Health, Board Member at the University of Washington, and CEO at Amperity.
Kabir Shahani – Co-founder, Amperity
Derek Slager
Before co-founding Amperity, Derek Slager worked as Software Developer at Activate, Loudeye, and Blue Dot, Inc. He has also been the VP of Development at Appature and Director of Engineering at IMS Health. Currently, he is working as CTO at Amperity.
Derek Slager – Co-founder and CTO, Amperity
Barry Padgett is the CEO of Amperity, which is currently working with over 400 employees.
Amperity – Startup Story
Amperity was established with the idea that Kabir Shahani and Derek Slager thought about the dependency and problems with third-party cookies, which have lingered for decades.
Initially, the company’s approach was to build the connectivity to bring the data together out of its silos and then merge it and make it worthwhile. However, this business model was similar to other customer data platforms.
Later, Kabir and Derek realized this was a hard computer science problem with all disparate data running off different keys. Some customer identifiers are based on physical address, some on phone numbers, and others on email, and so on. A single key is required to connect everything, but no one has done that before.
It’s when Kabir and Derek thought of trying to do the same using machine learning. Thus, they engaged the leading researcher in the probabilistic data who built Amperity models, and this is what is powering Amperity’s service today.
Amperity – Mission and Vision
Amperity’s mission is to deliver the customer data confidence that brands need to provide meaningful experiences and accelerate growth.
Amperity – Business Model
Amperity’s enterprise-grade tools suite addresses the extensive range of customer data challenges, from gathering scattered data into a unified customer profile to uncovering and activating valuable customer intelligence.
With this platform, companies can put their customers at the center of their business, not just philosophically but strategically, by determining the agenda based on what customers want and how they engage with brands. Moreover, Amperity can integrate with any system, including ActiveCampaign, Acxiom, Adobe Analytics, Adobe Campaign, AdRoll, Airship, Airtable, and more.
Amperity: A Different Approach to Customer Data
Amperity – Revenue Model
Amperity offers custom pricing for its software- ‘Amperity Starter Service’ and ‘Amperity Services Plus.’
Amperity – Products and Services
Amperity – Products and Services
Amerity comprises the following products- AmpID, Amp360, AmpIQ, and DataGrid. Moreover, it offers Analytics, Compliance, IT, and Marketing solutions, including Identity Resolution, Customer 360, Paid Media Activation, Personalization at Scale, Conversion Optimization, Customer Care, Elevating Loyalty, and Churn Prevention.
Amperity – Challenges Faced
In 2022, Amperity felt the effects of the shaky economy as deals took longer to complete, and more requirements were to be met before contracts could be signed.
Amperity – Funding and Investors
Amperity has undertaken 5 funding rounds and raised $187 million. Its latest funding round – Series D Round, was conducted on July 13, 2021, and raised $100 million. 17 investors fund the company, including Madera Technology Partners, Declaration Partners, and HighSage Ventures.
In 2022, the estimated annual revenue of Amperity was $70.6 million per year ($186,737 per employee), with a $1 billion current valuation. Moreover, the monthly web visits grew by -6.55%, with 11,720 visits. And its employee count elevated by 30% last year.
Amperity – Partners
Amperity has partnered with 145 companies, of which 137 are technology partners, and 8 are channel partners:
Kabir Shahani and Derek Slager founded Amperity in 2016.
Who is the CEO of Amperity?
Barry Padgett is the CEO of Amperity.
What is Amperity and what does it do?
Amperity is a leading CDP company enabling top-ranked brands to collect and unify customer data, improve customer experiences, and grow businesses. It offers intelligent capabilities across data unification, management, analytics, activation, and insights.
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 Amount.
Meeting the consumers’ and small business banking customers’ evolving needs and expectations is imperative for financial institutions to remain competitive in today’s increasingly crowded marketplace. However, most financial institutions struggle to adapt and evolve with customer demand since they feel constrained by monolithic, inflexible platforms and overwhelmed by multiple-point solutions.
It is when Amount comes into the picture. This private fintech company is recognized for accelerating seamless omnichannel customer experiences by offering a full suite of end-to-end retail banking and point-of-sale solutions.
In this article, let’s explore the story of Amount, its founders, business model, funding and growth details, partners, and more.
Headquartered in the United States, Amount is a digital technology company that accelerates digital transformation for financial institutions. It builds software that re-engineers consumer, small companies, and embedded finance solutions to provide simpler, safer, and more convenient banking solutions to today’s digital-first customers.
10 leading banks, including HSBC, Regions, Banco Popular, T.D. Bank, and Avant, use Amount’s technology to simplify their transition to digital financial services.
Amount – Industry
Amount belongs to the financial technology industry as it leverages products and services to help financial institutions transform digitally. Financial technology (Fintech) can be defined as the application of the latest technological advancements to the financial industry’s products and services and aims to automate and improve the delivery and use of financial services.
The global market size of fintech technologies was valued at $110.57 in 2020 and is estimated to grow to $698.48 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 20.3% from 2023 to 2030. With Fintech allowing providing more convenient, simple, and transparent financial services, more and more people prefer using digitalized and innovative Fintech solutions.
Fintech sector revenue worldwide in 2017 and 2018, with a forecast until 2024
The pandemic significantly accelerated the financial products and services being purchased online, prompting the need for digitalized banking experience. In addition to Amount, Blend, nCino, Divido, Plexian, and Personetics are some companies providing technology to banks and financial institutions.
Amount – Founders and Team
Albert Goldstein is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Amount. He completed his graduation from Gies College of Business at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a B.S. in Finance, Math.
Avant’s Founder and Executive Chairman, Albert, is also the Founding Board Member at Spring Labs, Board Member at U.S. Wrestling Foundation, and Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO at StoicLane.
Albert Goldstein – Founder and Executive Chairman, Amount
Adam Hughes is the Amount’s CEO, and Raj Kolluri is the CTO. Talking about the team size, Amount is currently working with 400 employees.
Amount – Startup Story
Amount was spun out of Avant in February 2020 as a new financial technology business. Initially, this tech business was named ‘Powered by Avant.’ Two or three years ago, Avant realized that there was a gigantic opportunity to build a standalone technology business that was completely different from its vision and goals in terms of serving partners and banks.
Moreover, Albert Goldstein considered establishing Amount as a separate brand to avoid confusion between Amount as the technology provider and Avant. The company was initially started as a business providing technology around personal loans- helping banks deal with fraud and understanding how to host credit policies and service loans digitally.
Amount aims to help financial institutions’ go digital in months – not years,’ enabling them better compete with fintech rivals.
Amount – Business Model
Amount partners with several banks and financial institutions to help them rapidly digitize their financial infrastructure providing a competitive edge in the retail lending and buy now, pay later sectors.
Its ‘battle-tested’ retail banking and point-of-sale technology provides those financial institutions a way to offer a secure and seamless digital customer and merchant experience by leveraging Amount’s analytics and verification capabilities.
Amount offers point-of-sale financing products with multiple features, including applicant sourcing, application capture, fraud prevention, verification, decisioning engines, and account management.
Amount – Challenges Faced
As the company grid for economic turbulence in 2022, it laid off 18% of its staff, i.e., more than 100 employees.
Amount – Funding and Investors
Amount has undertaken 4 funding rounds and raised $283 million. Its latest funding round – Private Equity Round, was conducted on May 19, 2022, and raised a total of $40 million. 10 investors back the company, and Hanaco Venture Capital and WestCap are the recent ones.
Date
Round
Number of Investors
Money Raised
Lead Investor
May 19, 2022
Private Equity
2
$40 million
–
May 17, 2021
Series D
6
$99 million
WestCap
December 2, 2020
Series C
5
$86 million
GS Growth
March 17, 2020
Series B
2
$58 million
QED Investors
Amount – Mergers and Acquisitions
Amount acquired Linear Financial Technologies on February 1, 2023.
In 2022, the estimated annual revenue of Amount was $55.1 million per year ($173,407 per employee), with a $1 billion current valuation. Moreover, the monthly web visits grew by -89.75%, with 7,936 visits. And its employee count elevated by -4% last year.
Amount | Accelerating the World’s Transition to Digital Financial Services
Prakash Mishra
