Tag: 📄Company Profiles

Metro Footwear: The story of a multi-brand footwear chain

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 Metro Footwear.

It is kind of hard to imagine a world without giving any sort of protection to our feet. In modern times, if we think of shoes and all other footwear, there are myriad options to choose from depending upon the occasion we are attending.

It is a bit tough to determine the exact period when shoes were invented. Some historians suggest that shoes were invented some 40,000 thousand years ago. Since then, numerous styles and designs have evolved in shoes, making them one of the largest industries worldwide. The structure of shoes have been more or less remained the same, but it is the features, materials, and methods have changed over time.

Metro, the brand is that a synonym with footwear brand in India is one of the biggest multi-brand footwear chains in the country. The brand was founded by Malik Tejani in 1977, with its main office located in Mumbai.

Metro brands have showrooms that are present all over India. It is located in almost 147 cities in 30 states and Union Territories. Presently, it serves India only. Metro brands were previously known as Metro Shoes.

Here in this article, we have piled up all the relevant information related to the company Metro. You can discover about Metro’s startup story, its founders and team, what is their business strategy, the revenue growth of Metro, and the challenges faced by them.

Metro – Company Highlights

Headquarters	Mumbai, India
Sector	Retail, Fashion
Founder	Malik Tejani
Founded	1977
Type	Public
Revenue	Rs 507.95 crores
Total Funding Raised	Rs 410 crores
Website	metrobrands.com

Metro – About
Metro – Industry
Metro – Founders and Team
Metro – Startup Story
Metro – Mission and Vision
Metro- Name, Logo, and Tagline
Metro – Business Model
Metro- Revenue Model
Controversy faced by Metro
Metro – Funding, and Investors
Metro- Mergers and Acquisitions
Metro – Advertisements
Metro – Awards and Achievements
Metro – Competitors
Metro – Future Plans
FAQs

Metro – About

Metro Brands, the company’s present reputation, was once called Metro Shoes. The brand, which was incorporated in 1977 by Malik Tejani, today has become one of the largest and most loved Indian footwear and accessories brands in the country.

Metro brands their specialties in different shoes, footwear accessories, shoe care, foot care, bags, and other related products. The company takes pride as it operates in 147 cities across 30 Indian states and Union Territories. As of 2021, Metro has around 644 stores in the country.

It was during 1955, that the brand was said to have opened its first-ever store in Mumbai, and since then, the brand never looked back and decided to be a one-stop shop for the footwear requirements like socks, sandals, shoe polishing liquid, and many other accessories in the footwear category. It offers shoewear for men, women, unisex, kids, and every walk of life for every type of occasion, including casual, formal, or festive events.

Metro Brands has one subsidiary named – Metmill Footwear Private Limited. The company has a joint venture – M.V. Shoe Care Private Limited.

Metro – Industry

As per statistics, the footwear industry constitutes a significant part of the leather industry. Having said that, India comes second after China as the largest global producer of footwear. It accounts for 13% of the global footwear market. It is predicted that the footwear market is going to witness a CAGR of 3.62% during 2022-2027.

Metro – Founders and Team

The founder of Metro Shoes is Malik Tejani, who laid the foundation stone for Metro shoes in 1955. Presently, Rafique Malik is the Chairman of Metro Brands Ltd.

Malik Tejani

Malik Tejani is the man behind the brand we know, Metro. He used to sell shoes in a store in Mumbai when India was under British governance. Due to the partition crisis after India got independence, Malik had to leave the store where he used to work, but decided to take over that store by taking a loan from a well-wisher, and that’s how he started the brand.

Rafique Malik

Rafique Malik is the Chairman of Metro Brands Ltd. After Malik Tejani, he took over the company by pushing his father’s idea across the country, hoping to carve a niche in India’s aspirational but inexpensive fashion footwear market. He is a Harvard graduate, under his leadership, the brand was expanded from a single store to set up in multiple locations across the entire country. He made the brand one of the leading providers of stylish footwear collections in the country today. Rafique Malik is considered the maestro of Indian footwear retail, with over 45 years of retail experience. His net worth is $2 billion as per Forbes.

Rafique Malik quotes, “A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn a reputation by trying to do hard things well.”

Farah Malik Bhanji

The granddaughter of Malik Tejani runs Metro Brands Ltd. as the Managing Director. She holds 20 years of professional experience which gives her the ability to operate the brand as per today’s expectations. Before, playing a pivotal role in Metro Brands Ltd. Farah started her career in marketing, and since then, she has been developing personal relationships with other popular foreign brands like Crocs, Skechers, and Clarks.####

Metro – Startup Story

Metro, was started by Malik Tejani by taking over a store in Grant Road in Mumbai, after which the company was officially incorporated in 1977. Ever since its inception, Metro shoes have been popular among many Indians.

In 2000, Metro launched its first branded outlet called, ‘Mochi’. It is a one-stop store, where the brand sells trendy footwear needs, including shoes, purses, belts, socks, mobile cases, foot care, and shoe care items. Mochi shops are present in over 150 outlets in 50+ cities.

After nine years, Metro Brands launched the ‘Walkway’ collection, which was previously known as ‘More Shoes For Less’. This brand by Metro is a value-for-money price shoe collection. It offers affordable shoes for men, women, and kids for everyday use.

The following year, Metro launched its e-commerce platform, www.metroshoes.com. The company also made progress in targeting 100 stores. In 2015, Metro tied up with an American shoe brand called ‘Crocs.

The company reached a watershed moment when it announced plans to open over 550 outlets across India by 2020.

Metro collaborated with another brand named ‘Fitflop’ last year, with great success. The firm became a public company in 2022.

Metro – Mission and Vision

Metro’s vision speaks out loud as, “To be India’s largest specialty footwear and accessories retailer”

The brand has five values, these are:

Strong Customer Relationship and Service
Passion for Perfection
Respect and Empowerment of Individuals
Differentiation through Constant Innovation
Integrity

Metro- Name, Logo, and Tagline

Malik Tejani took inspiration from a cinema hall in Mumbai, whose name was Metro Cinema.

Recently, Metro has rolled out a new tagline, and that is “Good Vibes Only”. The other tagline of Metro, which is quite common is, “Wear What You Are”

Metro – Business Model

Metro is said to have an asset-light model that teams with third-party manufacturers. The brand operates its business through vendor engagements and long-term lease arrangements.

Its retail operations are carried out through offline mode, that is through different stores and outlets and other distributors along with online marketing channels. Its marketing policy follows the rules of the company-owned and company-operated (COCO) model through its Multi-Brand Outlets (MBOs) and other Exclusive Brand Outlets (EBOs).

Metro’s subsidiary company, MetMill also distributes third-party brand products and retail merchandise through franchisees.

In addition to Metro’s physical spots, it targets customers by offering an omnichannel experience via its websites, multiple marketplaces, and social media channels. Most of Metro’s brands are listed and sold on B2C and B2B marketplaces.

The following is the list of brands under Metro Brands Ltd.:

Metro

Established as a contemporary Indian footwear brand that caters to every Indian’s taste as per regional preferences. The brand has over 219 MBO format shoes all over the country

Mochi

Mochi Showroom

Mochi is Metro’s first brand under the MBO format, which was established in 2000. The brand’s main target audience is young people while also targetting their entire families. Mochi offers a wide range of footwear for the casual, formal, party, festive events, and even weddings. Metro has opened around 145 Mochi stores across India.

Walkway

Walkway was launched with the motive to offer value-for-money shoes. The shoes are affordable and cater to the entire family including men, women, and kids. Given this brand’s economical customer base, Metro also sells products in Shop-in-Shop (SIS) at large department shops.

Crocs

The globally-recognized American brand Crocs Inc. engages in selling its clog-styled shoes. The brand offers flips, sandals, wedges, sliders, and other types that meet the comfort need of an entire family. Croslite is a material that is patented, molded footwear technology that delivers each pair of shoes soft, lightweight, and odor-resistant in the great majority of Crocs shoes.

Metro has a tenure with Crocs of 18 years under its EBOs format. In the agreement, after the initial three-year term, there is automatic renewal for five subsequent three-year terms. The Crocs Agreement allows Metro to use the trademarks and other intellectual property associated with the Crocs brand for the sole purpose of retailing Crocs items in India.

FitFlop

Fitflop was introduced for all-day wearing and designed in a manner to offer both look and comfort. Metro now sells Fitflop goods under its MBOs format. It holds the exclusive rights to sell Fitflop goods in offline mode as well as online channels.

daVinchi

Davinchi is designed to offer a unique and distinctive style for the youth of today.

Cheemo

Cheemo is the handicraft brand by Metro. Cheemo offers various ethnic handbags and matching footwear, which are made by Indian artisans. The brand is launched with the purpose to bring out the best of Indian artisans that depicts exclusivity and elegant style statements.

Metro- Revenue Model

Metro Brands has reported generating a revenue of Rs 507.95 crores in 2022. In addition to this, there are reports that Metro had a 54.63% increase in consolidated net profit to Rs 100.85 crore for the third quarter that ended in December 2021.

Some reports show that Metro derives about 59% of its sales from Metro stores, followed by 33% from Mochi showrooms, 5% from Walkway, and the rest 3% from Crocs stores.

Controversy faced by Metro

Disputes are part of any business since day one. Metro brands have also faced some controversies. In 1996, Rafique Malik, Chairman of Metro Brands got caught in a controversy. He was among several businesspeople and politicians arrested by Mumbai Police on charges of theft of concessionary funds provided to cobblers.

As of now, the case is still under trial and no decision has been concluded yet.

Metro – Funding, and Investors

Newly, reports have come in that Metro Brands has issued 82.05 lakh equity shares at Rs 500 each to anchor investors, bringing the entire transaction value to Rs 410.25 crore. This means that Metro has raised a total of Rs 410.25 crore funds from anchor investors in IPO.

Some of the anchor investors include Societe Generale, Goldman Sachs, Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, HDFC Life Insurance Company, SBI Life Insurance Co Ltd, Tata AIA Life Insurance Co Ltd, HDFC Mutual Fund (MF), Aditya Birla Sun Life MF, Sundaram MF, and ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund.

The brand is also backed by ace investor Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, an Indian billionaire business tycoon, stock dealer, and investor.

Metro- Mergers and Acquisitions

Metro brands have acquired Thaely Private Limited for a 5.03% stake. Thaely Private Limited is engaged in the business of marketing and selling sustainable sneaker shoes. The acquisition by Metro is done to carry forward its vision to sell sustainable footwear in the market.

Metro – Advertisements

Metro launched a campaign recently targetting millennials with the #GoodVibesOnly campaign right after their campaign #LetThereBeBright, which was launched right during the pandemic. The recent campaign delivers the new and fresh collections offered by Metro Shoes. The idea of this campaign came in to announce their latest Spring-summer collection and to reach out to a maximum audience, which is mostly the youth.

Alisha Malik, who is the President of Ecommerce & Marketing, Metro Brands Ltd. said, “#GoodVibesOnly felt like a natural next step to our #LetThereBeBright campaign, as the world looks forward to a post-pandemic era filled with hope and color. We wanted the customer to feel the vibes as soon as they see our new collection. Additionally, the groovy song and steps were our version of having fun with a great pair of shoes. We hope this positive energy resonates with every individual looking to spread Good Vibes. This is the spirit we celebrate!”

Metro – Awards and Achievements

Metro had won ‘The Best Footwear Brand with Outstanding E – retail Performance Award’ (2014).

Metro – Competitors

Metro competes with the following competitors:

Bata India
Relaxo Footwear
Campus Active
Liberty shoes
Khadim India
Mirza International Ltd.

Metro – Future Plans

With a strong retail marketing strategy, Metro now plans to strengthen its online presence to further boost its sales. The company generates about 3% from online sales and wants to grow the ratio in the coming three years.

FAQs

Is Metro an Indian Brand?

Yes, Metro is an Indian brand.

Who is the MD of Metro?

Farah Malik Bhanji is the current MD of the company

Does Metro own Mochi?

Yes, Mochi is one of the in-house brands of Metro.

Where is the head office of Metro?

The Head office of Metro is in Mumbai.

September 21, 2022

American Express – Success Story of the Leading Card Network in the World

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 American Express.

The use of money has been in existence for around 5,000 years. Whereas, a standardized and authorized use of coins can be traced back to the 7th century. Only the form of currency has changed over the years, but the concept and system behind it have been anchored to society for thousands of years. People slowly evolved from barter systems to monetary transactions, which laid the foundation for today’s globalization and international trade.

Despite this convenient system, people still feel some difficulties in carrying money on business or personal travel. As each country had its own currency, the exchange got difficult in the foreign land. There was also insecurity in carrying funds everywhere. As a result, there emerged financial institutions to simplify the process, which in turn introduced Traveler’s Cheques and Cards.

The world’s first traveller’s cheque was introduced in 1772 by the London Credit Exchange Company and the first credit card was brought in by the Diners Club in 1950. After this, the world of financial transactions was revolutionized. It made the system easy, simple, and secure. With just a single international card or cheque, you can make any transaction in any corner of the world.

American Express is one of those financial institutions that played a major role in reforming the industry. The company is most popular for its traveller’s cheques and credit cards. It should’ve been a pioneer in card services by 1946, but didn’t realize its possibility until Diners Club launched in 1950. American Express has an interesting origin story which is followed by its untiring enthusiasm toward technology and customer service.

Here’s the success story of American Express that covers all about the company, including its startup story, team, business model, acquisitions, growth, and more.

American Express – Company Highlights

Company Name	American Express
Headquarters	New York, United States
Industry	Banking and Financial Services
Founded	1850
CEO	Stephen J. Squeri
Revenue	$42.4 billion (2021)
Valuation	$114.77 billion (September 2022)
Area Served	Worldwide

American Express – About
American Express – Industry
American Express – Team
American Express – Startup Story
American Express – Mission and Vision
American Express – Name, Logo, and Tagline
American Express – Business and Revenue Model
American Express – Challenges Faced
American Express – Shareholding
American Express – Investments
American Express – Acquisitions
American Express – Growth
American Express – Competitors
American Express – Future Plans

American Express – About

American Express, often referred to as Amex, is an American company that is involved in the business of payment card services and banking. It is one of the oldest American companies that was established in 1850. American Express makes the process of payments and money transactions safe, simple, and trustworthy for people from around the world.

Besides card services, this company also provides travel cheques, and individual and business banking services to its customers. The card network of American Express is one of the four largest credit card networks in the world that includes UnionPay, Visa, and MasterCard. American Express operates in over 110 countries that are managed from 55 office locations with more than 60,000 employees. Its global headquarters is situated in New York, United States.

American Express – Industry

The financial services sector is considered to be a crucial and highly significant industry. It is due to its control over the market and economy of a country. This industry includes banks, credit card companies, real estate businesses, accounting companies, stock dealers, insurance companies, and any other establishments that are involved in the management of money.

The industry has started adapting itself to technological advancements by implementing them in all its business operations. Also, numerous Fintech startups are emerging around the world with various innovations and solutions to problems. The growth of the industry can be known from the amount of investments received by the Fintech companies, which is over $210 billion in 2021.

American Express – Team

The following are some of the key people who belong to the top management of American Express:

Stephen J. Squeri

Stephen J. Squeri is the Chairman and CEO of American Express since 2018. He has a very long history with the company. Steve is a part of American Express since 1985. He served in various administrative roles for over 37 years. Starting as a manager for the traveller’s cheque group, Steve was then given various roles to perform like, Vice President, President, Chief Information Officer, Vice Chairman, etc., until he was made the CEO in 2018. He graduated from Manhattan College with a Bachelor of Science and an MBA.

Doug Buckminster

Doug Buckminster is another senior executive who joined the company in 1985. He currently heads American Express’s Global Consumer Services as President since 2018. He did his Bachelor’s and Master’s in Business Administration at Boston University and New York University respectively. Doug earlier served as the president of various regions of American Express.

Jeff Campbell

Jeff Campbell is the company’s Chief Financial Officer, in addition to his designation as Vice Chairman. He also serves as the CFO and an officer of American Express National Bank. Jeff Campbell has an extensive portfolio of work experience and it includes his services in Deloitte, Haskins & Sells, AMR Corp, American Airlines, McKesson Corporation, etc., He is an Economics graduate from Stanford University and did his MBA from Harvard University.

Anré Williams

Anré Williams is the Group President for Enterprise Services in American Express. He is also the Chief Executive Officer of American Express National Bank. In short, it is said that Anré Williams looks after the management of two-thirds of the company’s operation. He started his career in American Express in 1990 after he earned his BA from Stanford University and MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

American Express – Startup Story

American Express was started as a joint venture between Wells & Company, Livingston Fargo & Company, and Butterfield Wasson & Company. The three founders, Henry Wells, William G.Fargo, and John Warren Butterfield, came together to form a joint-stock corporation to carry out the business of express mail in Buffalo, New York in 1850. It wasn’t planned to be a global financial giant like it is today. American Express kept expanding its mail services all over the US through ships and railroad companies.

It was only in 1857, that the company stepped into financial services through a money order business. Then came the concept of the ‘Letter of Credit’ which wasn’t that successful. As a result, American Express 1891, introduced ‘Traveller’s Cheques’ which became a huge success and made it an international company. Thus the company crafted its way into the financial sector and secured an undeniable spot through innovation and customer service.

American Express – Mission and Vision

American Express has a mission to ‘Become essential to its customers by providing differentiated products and services to help them achieve their aspirations.’ The company wanted to give the best products to its customers by doing it in the right way and making it great. It focuses on “Providing the world’s best customer experience every day” and it has, in turn, turned out to be the vision of American Express.

American Express – Name, Logo, and Tagline

American Express Logo Journey over the Years

It started as an express mail company to deliver goods and other materials in the US and hence the name, American Express. The logo of the company was changed four times since its inception. In the first 120 years, the name ‘American Express Co.’ was written in an old serif font on a white background and that remained the logo of the company for many years. Then, in 1974, it was entirely changed to a blue background with a blue font having a thick white outline. Ever since American Express has changed only the fade of blue but not the font.

The company’s popular taglines include, “Don’t Leave Home Without It”, “Don’t live life without it”, and “Don’t do business without it”.

American Express – Business and Revenue Model

The business model of American Express involves selling cards and providing merchant and business transactions across the world. Even today, the company offers various discounts and rewards to its customers which has a huge acceptance in the market. Most of the revenue for American Express comes from Card holders and merchant bankers. The other income flows in through interests, card fees, penalties, conversion fees, etc.,

American Express – Challenges Faced

American Express always charges a little more fees from its customers than the competitors to retain the premium standard of its brand. This has resulted in the loss of customers and merchants over the years. Finally, after years of consideration, the company decided to reduce the fees and charges and focus on widening the market.

On 23 April 2021, the RBI halted American Express from taking in new domestic customers from 1 May 2021. The governing finance body of India stated that the company had violated local data-storage rules which resulted in this restriction. In August 2022, RBI finally lifted the ban on American Express after the company complied with the central bank’s data localization and storage policy.

American Express – Shareholding

Since American Express has a long withstanding history of more than 170 years, its initial financial details are not clarified. But the company’s current ownership and financial activities are made visible to the public. 51.4% of the company’s shares are held by institutional holders. Out of which, 20% of American Express shares are held by Berkshire Hathaway. It is a holding company that is under the management of Warren Buffet. Berkshire Hathaway holds the highest percentage of shares in American Express. 35.30% of shares are with the mutual fund holders and 0.86% of shares are with the individual stakeholders.

American Express – Investments

Over the years, American Express has made over 35 investments in various companies. Of these investments, it has lead 8 of these funding rounds and has exited from over a dozen of its portfolio companies. Here are some of the recent investments made by American Express:

Date	Company Name	Funding Round	Amount
January 19, 2021	Dastkar	Grant	$125K
October 23, 2017	Abra	Series B	$16M
September 11, 2016	iZettle	Series D	$15.3 M
April 5, 2016	Persado	Series C	$30M
August 28, 2015	iZettle	Series D	$60.09M
January 19, 2015	Leaderosity	Seed	$2.1M
March 20, 2014	Ezetap	–	–
August 15, 2013	Kiip	Series B	–
April 5, 2013	SavingStar	Series D	$9.1M
October 29, 2012	Fancy	Series C	$26.4M

American Express – Acquisitions

American Express has acquired 12 organizations that are involved in diverse areas of business operation. It includes companies from the sectors of food, dining, travel, games, fintech, etc., Here is the list of the acquisitions made by American Express:

Date	Name of the Company	Amount
June 6, 2022	BodesWell	–
August 17, 2020	Kabbage	–
May 15, 2019	Resy	–
March 11, 2019	LoungeBuddy	–
January 15, 2019	Pocket Concierge	–
March 23, 2018	Cake Technologies	$13.3M
January 30, 2018	Mezi	–
December 6, 2016	InAuth	–
September 20, 2011	Sometrics	$30M
March 1, 2011	Loyalty Partner	$585M
November 4, 2010	Accertify	$150M
November 18, 2009	Revolution Money	$300M

American Express – Growth

American Express Annual Revenue from 2017 to 2021

Starting as an Express Mail company in 1850, American Express’s success in the financial services sector is truly marvellous. The company peeped into the money industry in 1857 and then kept introducing products and services at regular intervals. The business kept expanding all over the US with many affiliations and partnerships in mail services. Then in 1914, World War 1 provided a great platform and American Express utilized it to establish its business in Europe. It started providing letters of credit and various other financial services to the stranded troops in the region.

By 1946, American Express initiated talks to issue cards for customers but dropped them on the grounds of feasibility. Had it been done that year, American Express would have been the first company to launch credit cards. But Diners Club took that spot in 1950. It’s never too late, the company launched its credit card services in 1958 and made it one of the largest in the world. The year 1972 marked the expansion of the card network to countries like South America and Europe, which have reached greater heights.

Ever since the launch of credit cards, American Express has made consistent developments and innovations to its product. It transformed its paper cards into plastic cards and continuously rebranded them as Gold, Platinum, Optima, and more. Some of the products were premium branded and were given only to selected customers. Besides cards, American Express also made its mark in travel planning services, car rentals, tour packages, hotel agencies, etc., The company reported a revenue of $42.4 billion for the financial year 2021, which was a 17% year-over-year increase.

American Express – Competitors

The following companies are some of the top competitors for American Express in the area of card services:

Mastercard

Mastercard was started as a bank card associative’s cooperative which had the main aim to fight the competitor Visa. Mastercard offers credit, debit and prepaid cards with good customer support and enhanced features to its users.

Visa

Visa is the second largest card payment network in the world and is considered to be one of the most valuable companies. It was established in 1958 by the Bank of America and was initially called BankAmericard. Visa provides card services to people through banks which in turn manage all the financial transactions of the users.

Discover

Discover Financial Services is a banking company that offers various financial services like loans, credit cards, savings accounts, etc., to its customers. This company owns Diners Club International which was the first one to introduce credit cards. It is known for its low-fee services and cash reward programs.

American Express – Future Plans

American Express is expecting an overall growth of around 20% in the current year. After exciting growth in revenue in the previous year, the company is projecting a further rise in its revenue.

This financial services company is also planning for hybrid, onsite, and virtual forms of work in the near future. Once implemented, the company’s working environment involves a few onsite employees who have some essential roles to be played from the office. Hybrid employees would work a few days from the office and the rest of the days at home while virtual employees can fully work from home.

Like many other companies, American Express is also running towards zero-carbon emissions in the upcoming years. The company believes that the low-carbon work environment would give it the sustainability in long term. Various programs have been launched toward this mission. American Express is committed to achieving the target of net-zero emissions by 2035.

FAQs

What does American Express do?

American Express is a leading issuer of credit cards and business travel cards. The company also offers saving accounts, travel insurance, and other financial services making the process of payments and money transactions safe, simple, and trustworthy for people from around the world.

Is it hard to get approved for an Amex?

When compared to different issuers of credit cards, it is usually hard to get an Amex as all its credit card offers require a good or excellent credit score for approval.

Is Amex closing in India?

In August 2022, RBI finally lifted the ban that it had earlier imposed on Amex in April 2021 for the violation of local data-storage rules. This comes after American Express complied with the central bank’s data localization and storage policy.

What credit score do you need to get an American Express card?

You need a CIBIL score between 680-700 to get an American Express card. You may get difficulty in getting an Amex credit card if your credit score is lower than 700.

September 19, 2022

How State Bank of India became one of the largest Banks in the World? – SBI Success Story

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 State Bank of India.

Ever thought, if there were no banks how would the economy of the country develop? Banks have existed as old as any civilization and in different forms. The banking sector undoubtedly plays a very key in shaping the economy of our country.

Banking sectors over the years have bought various changes in the monetary policies to technological advancements. Right from the pre-independence phase during the 1770s to liberalization during the 1990s, this sector has come a long way.

State Bank of India is the world’s 43rd largest banking sector, and ranked as 221st Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s biggest corporations of 2020, is the only Indian bank to make the list. Commonly called SBI by many fellow Indians, the State Bank of India is an Indian Multinational, Public Sector Banking and Financial services statutory body.

In this article, learn all about State Bank Of India, how it started, its growth, business and revenue, competitors, the challenges faced, and much more.

State Bank of India – Company Highlights

Headquarters	Mumbai, India
Sector	Banking, financial services
Founded	1955
Previously known as	Imperial Bank of India
Area Served	Worldwide
Key People	Dinesh Kumar Khara (26th Chairperson of SBI)
Revenue	₹406,973 crores (2022)
Parent Organisation	Government
Website	bank.sbi

State Bank of India – About

State Bank of India has a 23% market share by assets and a 25% share of the entire loan and deposit market. It is a public sector bank and the biggest bank in India, with approximately 250,000 workers. It is also India’s fifth-largest employer.

With a quarter of the market share, it serves over 45 crore customers through a vast network of over 22,000 branches, 62617 ATMs or ADWMs, and 71,968 branch outlets. The bank’s core values of service, transparency, ethics, politeness and sustainability drive its unwavering focus on innovation and customer-centricity.

Through its several subsidiaries, including SBI General Insurance, SBI Life Insurance, SBI Mutual Fund, SBI Card and Payment Services, etc., the Bank has successfully diversified its commercial operations. It has a widespread presence around the world and employs 229 offices in 31 different foreign nations to function across time zones.

SBI is the earliest commercial bank in the Indian Subcontinent and came from the Bank of Calcutta, incorporated in 1806 through the Imperial Bank of India. The Bank of Madras merged with the Bank of Calcutta and the Bank of Bombay, the other two presidential banks in British India, to form the Imperial Bank of India, which later changed its name to the State Bank of India in 1955. Throughout its 200-year history, the bank has been primarily formed through the acquisition and merger of over twenty banks. In 1955, the Indian government took over the Imperial Bank of India, rebranding it State Bank of India and granting the Reserve Bank of India (India’s central bank) a 60% shareholding.

State Bank of India – Industry

In today’s times, it is recorded that the Indian Banking system consists of around 22 private sector banks, 12 public sectors, 56 regional rural banks, 46 foreign banks with 1485 urban cooperative banks, and 96,000 rural cooperative banks.

Many banks’ credit grew at a CAGR of 0.29 percent between FY16 and FY21. Total credit extended as of FY21 increased to US$ 1,487.60 billion. Deposits increased at a CAGR of 12.38 percent between FY16 and FY21, reaching US$ 2.06 trillion by FY21. As of May 20, 2022, bank deposits totaled Rs. 165.74 trillion.

State Bank of India – Key People

State Bank of India is a public sector bank, which is directed under Dinesh Kumar Khara, who is the Chairman of the bank.

Dinesh Kumar Khara

Dinesh Kumar Khara is the Chairman of the State Bank of India (SBI). He started in 1984 by joining SBI as a Probationary Officer. He has held a number of important roles, including that of Chief General Manager – Bhopal Circle, MD (Global Banking & Subsidiaries), MD (Associates & Subsidiaries), and MD & CEO (SBI Mutual Funds).

Dinesh Kumar Khara has an MBA from the Faculty of Management Studies in New Delhi and a postgraduate degree in commerce from the Delhi School of Economics. He is also an Indian Institute of Bankers Certified Associate (CAIIB). Alongside extensive roles, he has also carried out the merger of SBI and Bhartiya Mahila Bank with its five subsidiary banks. At various times, he also served as the bank’s head of risk, information technology, and compliance.

State Bank of India – Startup Story

If we talk about the startup story of SBI, then it goes back to the 19th century. The evolution of the bank started when the Bank of Calcutta, subsequently known as the Bank of Bengal, was founded in 1806. The Bank of Bengal and the Bank of Bombay, both of which were established in 1840, were the other two Presidency banks (incorporated after three years). Royal charters led to the formation of all three Presidency banks as joint stock companies. Prior to 1861, when the Paper Currency Act gave the Indian government control of the privilege, these three banks had the only authority to print money. On January 27, 1921, the Presidency banks merged, and the newly formed banking organization adopted the name Imperial Bank of India. Even without government support, the Imperial Bank of India remained a joint-stock business.

The Reserve Bank of India, the country’s central bank, obtained a majority stake in the Imperial Bank of India in conformity with the provisions of the State Bank of India Act of 1955. The Imperial Bank of India changed its name to the State Bank of India on July 1st, 1955. Since the Reserve Bank of India regulates the nation’s banking industry, the Government of India purchased the RBI’s holding in SBI in 2008 to avoid any potential conflicts of interest.

State Bank of India – Mission and Vision

State Bank of India Vision says, “Be the Bank of Choice For A Transforming India”

State Bank of India’s mission is, “Committed to Providing Simple, Responsive and Innovative Financial Solutions”

The bank also has five values upon which it serves its customers. The values are; Service, Transparency, Ethics, Politeness, and Sustainability.

State Bank of India – Name, Logo, and Tagline

The State Bank of India has multiple taglines. Some of the popular taglines of SBI are:

“PURE BANKING, NOTHING ELSE”
WITH YOU – ALL THE WAY”
“THE BANKER TO EVERY INDIAN”
“A BANK OF THE COMMON MAN”
“THE NATION BANKS ON US”

The logo of SBI can be seen as a blue circle with a cut that is white in color depicting the shape of a common man, which is the bank’s main motto for doing business. The logo was designed in 1971 by the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad.

State Bank of India – Business Model

The business model of the State Bank of India is based on a wide variety of business models. Treasury, Corporate or Wholesale Banking, Retail Banking, and Other Banking businesses are the four business elements in which the bank works.

Besides providing services to its customers, SBI is also engaged in providing financial services through its multiple subsidiaries including, mutual funds, credit cards, life insurance, merchant banking, security trading, pension fund management, and primary dealership. The subsidiaries of SBI are as follows:

SBI Life Insurance Ltd.
SBI Cards and Payment Services Ltd.
SBI General Insurance
Jio Payments Bank
Andhra Pradesh Grameena
Vikas Bank
Kaveri Grameena Bank

The reach of SBI doesn’t end here. The bank serves its services worldwide. It has its business spread with 57 zonal offices across significant cities in India, along with 16 regional centers.

It has 22,219 Branches with 62,617 ATMs in India, and in International, it has 229 Branches in 31 countries. The main target audience of SBI overseas is the NRIs. It has branches in countries like London, Colombo, Hong Kong, Johannesburg, Frankfurt, Osaka, Dhaka, Los Angeles, New York, Sydney, Bhutan, Singapore, and Tokyo.

The Key Services & Products of SBI are:

Smart Cards Products

VISA Foreign Travel Card
MasterCard Foreign Travel Card
Gift Card
Smart Pay-out Card
State Bank Virtual Card
State Bank Achiever Card
State Bank eZ Pay Card

2. Transfer or Payment Services

Funds Transfer
Intra-Bank Transfer
RTGS/NEFT
Credit Card (Visa)
IMPS Payments (Immediate Payment Service)
NRI eZ Trade Funds Transfer

3. E- Deposits Services

SBI Flexi Deposit
TDR/e-STDR
TDR/e-STDR under income tax savings scheme
Annunity Deposit Scheme
Recurring Deposits

4. Loans Against Shares

5. Other Services

YONO stands as You Only Need One – an integrated digital banking platform launched by SBI in 2017. It allows users to gain access to a number of banking services as well as other services like online shopping, paying medical bills, movie ticket booking, travel planning, and booking flights, trains, buses, and taxis. Both Android and iOS users can download the YONO app to their smartphones. The app was developed by IBM. The cost of the development of the app is anticipated somewhere around Rs 4,000 crores. Additionally, YONO provides standard mobile banking services like loans, financial transfers, cashless bill payments, and bank account opening. The highlight of using YONO is that you can withdraw money from an ATM using the smartphone app without using an ATM card.

State Bank of India – Revenue Growth

SBI earns its money through its various products and services. But, to say in a precise manner, SBI generates its revenue mainly through interest payment services from its customers.

As of 2022, the revenue of SBI is Rs 406,973 crores with a net income of Rs 43,774 crores. The operating income of SBI stands at Rs 78,898 crores.

State Bank of India – Employees

According to sources, SBI had 245,652 employees, ranking it one of the largest employers in the world in 2021. The representation of female employees in the workforce is close to 26%.

In the same year, there were 44.28% of officers, 41.03% of associates, and 14.69% of subordinate employees, respectively. During FY 2020–21, each employee contributed a net profit of Rs 828,350 (US$10,000).

State Bank of India – Challenges Faced

The outbreak of Covid in 2020 had a crucial impact on SBI. It was the time when the overall economy had shrunk affecting many households and businesses. During that time, the corporate sector, which makes up the majority of the bank’s clients, was already using liquidity management to reduce costs and outperform CAPEX.

The previous Chairperson of the State Bank of India, Rajnish Kumar had shared, “FY21 will be challenging as the full impact of the Covid-19 outbreak will be felt in this financial year. For instance, likely job cuts and salary reductions will have a relatively low level of stress on account of a higher proportion of Govt/ Quasi-Govt sector customers (in SBI’s loan portfolio). As of now, only 21.8% of the customers have availed the benefit of a moratorium.”

State Bank of India – Investments

State Bank of India has made 21 investments so far. Their most recent investment was on 5 July 2022, when Rivulis Irrigation raised $250 million. Some of the recent investments made by SBI are listed below.

Date	Company Name	Funding Round	Amount Invested
7/5/2022	Rivulis Irrigation	Debt Financing	$250 million
6/30/2022	Indiabulls Housing Finance	Post-IPO Debt	$100 million
3/25/2022	National Asset Reconstruction Company	Corporate Round	₹15 billion
1/4/2022	Pine Labs	Corporate Round	₹1.5 billion
12/21/2021	JWS Cement	Private Equity Round	₹1 billion
11/20/2021	Biryani By Kilo	SERIES B	$35 million
6/7/2021	Cashfree Payments	Funding Round
10/18/2020	DLF Cyber City Developers	Debt Financing	₹24 billion
9/8/2020	Cube Highways and Infrastructures	Debt Financing	₹35 billion
2/6/2020	Leap India Food Logistics	SERIES B	$23 million

State Bank of India – Shareholdings

The government of India owned about 61.23 % of the equity shares in SBI as of March 31, 2017. With 8.82% of the company’s shares, the state-owned Life Insurance Corporation of India is the largest non-promoter shareholder.

The equity shares of SBI are traded on the National Stock Exchange of India and the Bombay Stock Exchange, where they are included in the CNX Nifty and the BSE SENSEX index, respectively. The London Stock Exchange has Global Depository Receipts (GDRs).

State Bank of India – Mergers, and Acquisitions

SBI has acquired seven banks in 1960 by prefixing them with ‘State Bank of.’ These were the seven regional banks of the former princely states of India. These are;

State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ)
State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH)
State Bank of Indore (SBN)
State Bank of Mysore (SBM)
State Bank of Patiala (SBP)
State Bank of Saurashtra (SBS)
State Bank of Travancore (SBT)

SBS merged with SBI in September of the same year with plans to combine the partner banks into a single, and the extremely large bank was initiated in 2008. State Bank of Indore (SBN) also merged the very following year.

The State Bank of Bank has made five mergers since 2017, which is the largest merger in the history of the Indian Banking Industry.

The banks with which SBI has merged are:

State Bank of Bikaner and Jaipur (SBBJ)
State Bank of Hyderabad (SBH)
State Bank of Mysore(SBM)
State Bank of Patiala(SBP)
State Bank of Travancore(SBT)
Bharatiya Mahila Bank

State Bank of India – Online and Social Media Presence

It is amusing to know what makes SBI the largest bank in the country. The bank clearly knows how to target its target audience through various social media platforms. Here’s the number of followers the bank has on different social media channels:

LinkedIn – 2,413,368 followers
Facebook – 17,891,102 followers
Pinterest – 8.1 thousand followers
Twitter – 4.4 million followers
Instagram – 2.1 million followers
YouTube – 415K subscribers

State Bank of India – Advertisement and Social Media Campaigns

In 2021, SBI started a campaign on social media #KindnessIsCool campaign. It was Kreativ Street, an integrated marketing firm with offices in Gurgaon, who created the campaign. “Why isn’t there enough kindness on the internet?” was the question that the campaign set out to answer. The main objective was to make an effort to address the negativity and trolling that are common on social media sites. The impact of the ad was that 9.8 million people saw the advertisement as a whole throughout the Twitter-first campaign across Promoted Trend Spotlight and Promoted Tweets.

The campaign garnered 232K engagements and 15 million impressions across timelines. According to the survey by Twitter, it was found that brand awareness increased by 18%, favorability by 12%, and ad recall by 20%. Additionally, compared to two weeks prior to the campaign, positive opinions about SBI increased by 92% during the campaign period.

It doesn’t take much to be kind. If you are empathetic offline then let that reflect in the virtual social place, too. Let’s create a kinder ecosystem for everyone on social media. #KindnessIsCool pic.twitter.com/2IiVePE3XW

— State Bank of India (@TheOfficialSBI) March 1, 2021

State Bank of India – Awards

The giant, SBI has won many accolades. Here’s taking you to the list of awards received by SBI:

ICONIC BRAND OF INDIA 2021 BY THE ECONOMIC TIMES.
OUTSTANDING PSU OF THE YEAR (2021) AT 11Th MANAGING INDIA AWARDS BY ALL INDIA MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION.
Brandon Hall Awards, Excellence in Learning 2020 for “Nayi Disha
Technology Excellence Award 2020 for e-RBC
Brandon Hall Awards, 2020 for Learning initiatives benefitting 2 lakh Employees
State Bank Bhavan was awarded the Performance Challenge Award 2020 by Indian Green Building Council (IGBC).
Gold winner for Digital marketing Excellence in Content Marketing (Banking)
Gold winner for Digital Marketing Excellence in Video (Banking)
“Most Innovative Project” category for CHAPDEX (Customer Happiness Index) (2020)
Winner of the “Best Financial Inclusion Initiatives” category (2020)

State Bank of India – Competitors

Some of the major competitors of SBI are:

HDFC
ICICI Bank
Bank Of India
Bank of Baroda
Canara Bank
Punjab National Bank
Union Bank
Central Bank
Indian Bank
UCO Bank

FAQs

When was SBI founded?

On 1st July 1955, the State Bank of India was founded.

Who is the current Chairman of SBI?

Dinesh Kumar Khara became the 26th Chairman of SBI in 2020.

Is SBI a government bank or private?

State Bank of India is a multinational public sector bank headquartered in Mumbai, India.

Is YONO owned by SBI?

Yes. YONO is the digital banking platform offered by the State Bank of India.

September 19, 2022

Pinterest – Success Story of the Go-to Destination for Idea Discovery

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 Pinterest.

Who doesn’t use a social network? Can anyone claim that they have no idea about social media? It is almost impossible in this generation. Because social media has crossed the stage of mere entertainment, it teaches people, offers them numerous ideas for growth, assists them in times of need, and creates a platform for them to make money.

The growth in the number of people using social media is reaching new heights every year. Reports show that 2.73 billion people were using social platforms five years ago. This number has almost doubled in 2022 to 4.59 billion. It is further predicted that, by 2027, these social media users will increase to almost 6 billion.

The age of wasting-time-on-social media has gone. They have evolved to the world’s needs and have become productively entertaining. Pinterest serves as one of the best examples of a prolific platform. It helps people share and develop ideas on anything and everything of their interest. Pinterest had created a global market and positioned itself firmly in a short span of 12 years since its inception in 2010.

An inspiring and interesting story of Pinterest lies ahead. Lets’s know more about the company’s financials, founders, growth, and challenges over the years.

Pinterest – Company Highlights

Company Name	Pinterest
Headquarters	San Francisco, California
Industry	Internet, Information, Social Media Service
Founded	2010
Founders	Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra, Evan Sharp
Key People	Bill Ready (CEO)
Areas Served	Worldwide
Revenue	$2.58 billion (2021)

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

Pinterest – About and How it Works?

Pinterest - Pin Sharing Platform — Pinterest – Pin Sharing Platform

Pinterest is a social media network that helps people to hunt for ideas and inspirations for their day-to-day activities like hobbies, work, and interests. It is termed the ‘catalogue of ideas’ by the founders, which uses images, videos, and GIFs to share and explore thoughts. You can create a pinboard with pictures, connect with people who share the same interests, like and comment on their opinions, etc.

Pinterest, often described as a Virtual Search Engine, was established in 2010 in San Francisco, California. As of 2022, the company has over 436 million Monthly Average Users (MAU). This number is showing consistent growth every year. Pinterest is valued at more than $12 billion and is the 14th largest social media network in the world in terms of MAU.

Pinterest, in simple terms, acts like a virtual pinboard that helps you bookmark or pin posts on your interests and important topics. This pinboard enables you to remember and retain the ideas and posts for later reference. For example, if you require travel ideas, you can create a travel pinboard and search for related topics. Add the posts and images of your liking to this board so you can try them later. You can also chat with other users and exchange thoughts you are good at.

Pinterest – Founders and Team

Pinterest has three founders, Ben Silbermann, Paul Sciarra, and Evan Sharp, who today occupy some of the top positions in the company. Below are some of the brief descriptions of the founders and the CEO of Pinterest:

Ben Silbermann

Ben Silbermann is the co-founder who laid the foundation for Pinterest. He was born in a doctor’s family on 14th July 1982. Ben is a graduate of political science from Yale University. He earlier served as the CEO of Pinterest since its inception in 2010. In June 2022, he stepped down from the position to become the company’s new Executive Chairman.

Evan Sharp

Evan Sharp is also the founder of Pinterest. Besides being a founder, Evan also worked as the Chief Designer and Creative Officer of Pinterest. He currently resides as a Board Member of the company. Evan was born and brought up in York, Pennsylvania and holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago in History.

Paul Sciarra

Paul Sciarra is the third founder of Pinterest. He lent great support to Ben early in this platform’s development. Paul, however, left the company in 2012. He is a graduate of Yale University. Paul also serves as the founder of Cold Brew Labs, a social applications tool, and the present executive chairman of Joby Aviation.

Bill Ready

Bill Ready took up the position of Chief Executive Officer after Ben Silbermann stepped down from his position. He is a Master’s graduate in Business Administration from Harvard Business School. Bill possesses two decades of work experience in the field of management. He has served the top positions in PayPal, Google, Braintree, Venmo, ADP, Accel Partners, McKinsey & Company, and a few more.

Pinterest – Startup Story

What can the establishment of Pinterest be called? Accidental or destiny? Because its founder Ben Silbermann was meant to be a doctor. Everyone in his entire family is a doctor, and he believed he would be one too. But his interests in business and entrepreneurs pulled him toward Silicon Valley. The buzzing techies inspired him in the Bay area. As a result, Ben found a job at Google as a Product Specialist. Since he had his qualification in a non-engineering field, he couldn’t grow in the company as a developer.

Finally, with encouragement from his girlfriend, Ben started developing his tool. He joined hands with a colleague Paul Sciarra to conceive a tool called Tote. But it suffered from technical difficulties. Also, the founders faced huge struggles in finding investors and in the end, they found one. They used those funds to develop a new platform named Pinterest. The beta version was launched, and the founders consistently enhanced the tool to make it one of the largest in the world.

Pinterest – Mission and Vision

Pinterest’s mission is to “bring everyone the inspiration to create a life they love.” The company doesn’t want its users to always stay online. It wants them to get inspired and move towards implementing those ideas. Pinterest aims to unite the people of this world through its platform and wants to encourage them to do what they love through its catalogue of ideas.

Pinterest – Name, Logo, and Tagline

Pinterest Logo

The name Pinterest was proposed by Ben Silbermann’s girlfriend (now wife). This term combines ‘Pin’ and ‘Interest,’ meaning that the users can pin their areas of interest to the pinboard from the most favourite topics and pictures from this social networking platform.

The company’s tagline says, “When it comes to a great idea, you know it when you see it”.

Pinterest – Business and Revenue Model

Pinterest operates with a business model of supplying users with information, ideas, recipes, etc. It provides them with the option of pins and boards to store necessary data and explore later. This platform carries all the information and thoughts that one might need at any moment of their life. Not only Pinterest, but people using this social network can also make money through formal affiliations.

Pinterest’s revenue flows in through advertisements. The company generates revenue through the different types of ads it displays on its site. The ‘Promoted Pin’ model of the campaign was highly successful for the company in revenue generation.

Pinterest – Challenges Faced

Pinterest faced several criticisms over the years. Since it is a photo-sharing platform, it often has to deal with the issue of copyright violations. To tackle this, Pinterest launched a notification system to report such acts. But, this became the centre of controversy when DMCA condemned the company’s action, saying that it seems the company is encouraging users to violate intellectual property rights. Other companies like Getty Images and iStock have also reported copyright violations against Pinterest.

The company paved the way for scammers. These people started using well-known brand names and advertised to offer free gift cards for users. They made the users believe in having clicked the official brand’s link but redirected them to an external site and gathered their personal data.

The Chinese government banned Pinterest without any intimation in March 2017. It was due to some political reasons and for promoting Chinese products. Even India temporarily banned Pinterest in 2016 due to copyright infringement and online piracy.

The employees of Pinterest raised their voices against the company regarding gender and racial discrimination. The company faced a lawsuit against this issue and fixed it by making settlements with employees and improving its work policy.

Pinterest – Funding and Investors

As said earlier, Pinterest struggled with its early fundraising. But, that was not the case once it found its initial investor. Once the company started to grow, many investors came knocking on the doors of Pinterest to provide financial assistance. That way, Pinterest secured $1.5 billion through 26 funding rounds over the years. The company also launched its IPO in April 2019, where it raised roughly around $1.4 billion at a valuation of $12.7 billion. The following are some of the top and most recent funding rounds of Pinterest:

Date	Funding Round	Amount	Name of the Investor
July 14, 2022	Post-IPO Equity	–	Elliott Management
January 1, 2020	Post-IPO Equity	–	Elliott Management
January 28, 2019	Secondary Market	–	Light Street Capital
July 19, 2018	Secondary Market	–	Founders Future
March 10, 2018	Secondary Market	–	–
October 17, 2017	Venture Round	$20M	Brandtech Ventures
September 18, 2017	Secondary Market	–	SharesPost Investments, All Blue Capital
August 10, 2017	Secondary Market	–	Manhattan Venture Partners
June 26, 2017	Secondary Market	–	Biz Stone
June 6, 2017	Venture Round	$150M	Sinai Ventures

Pinterest – Acquisitions

Pinterest has made over 18 acquisitions and here is the list of its most recent acquisitions:

Date	Name of the Company	Amount
June 2, 2022	The Yes	–
December 6, 2021	VOCHI	–
March 9, 2017	Jelly	–
March 8, 2017	Jelly HQ	–
August 23, 2016	Instapaper	–
July 15, 2016	Math Camp	–
June 22, 2016	Tote	–
June 15 2016	Fleksy Inc.	–
May 3, 2016	URX	–
April 21, 2016	Curator & Co	–
October 2013	Hackermeter	–
March 2013	Livestar	–

Pinterest – Users

Pinterest, launched in March 2010, was the fastest site in history to reach 10 million unique monthly visitors and high user engagement metrics. It crossed the 10 million users mark in the year 2012. Soon, in 2015, the platform crossed the amazing mark of 100 million monthly active users. As of the second quarter of 2022, Pinterest had 433 million monthly active users.

Of these numbers, more than 76% of the users are women. Reports claim that only 16% of men and 8% of unspecified category marks the rest of Pinterest users worldwide.

Pinterest – Growth

Pinterest Annual Revenue Worldwide from 2016 to 2021

After defeating the initial financial struggles, Pinterest started rolling out its platform in early 2010. The company managed to bring in around 10,000 users in the first year. The founder, Ben Silbermann, made every effort to increase the user count. In 2011, Pinterest launched the iPhone app, which resulted in more users utilizing this platform.

By the end of 2011, Pinterest became the 10th largest social media network with a weekly visitors count of 11 million. The company grew financially strong along with the growth of its customers. Due to the consistent backing from investors, Pinterest was valued at around $12.7 billion and raised $1.4 billion during its IPO. The growth of this social networking company caught the attention of various big market players. In fact, PayPal tried to acquire Pinterest but revoked its decision later.

Reaching such an enormous height within 12 years isn’t that easy. Pinterest today has around 436 million monthly average users and reported total revenue of over $2.58 billion in the 2021 fiscal year.

Pinterest – Competitors

The following are some of the top competitors of Pinterest:

Snapchat
Instagram
Reddit
Twitter
Facebook
Tumblr

Pinterest – Future Plans

In its recent annual advertiser’s summit, Pinterest announced its plans to start a service closer to the eCommerce platform. This helps the users to shop for the advertised products and services directly from the Pinterest app or site. As the first step to this, the company has introduced API for Shopping and product tagging for Pins. Pinterest wanted to create an engaging and smooth shopping experience for merchants and in turn, for the users as well.

FAQs

What makes Pinterest successful?

Pinterest is a unique photo-sharing platform where users can curate personal pinboards with existing photos and photos uploaded by others.

How do I get people to see my Pinterest?

You will have to do the following things to get your Pins more views:

Pin relevant and trending topics
Upload 3-4 Pins related to the topic with different Title and Description
Do Image SEO by adding relevant keywords in the title and description.
Save Pins to the relevant board
Experiment different pins
Pins with relevant links

What kind of content works on Pinterest?

Mainly the following types of content work better on Pinterest:

Infographics
Guides
Products
Recipes
Quotes

What is the right size for the pins?

Pins in vertical mode work best. The best aspect ratio for the pins is 2:3 or 1:3:5 with a minimum of 600 pixels and 900 pixels wide.

What makes a good Pin?

You can use the following points to make visually attracting pins:

Optimal Size of the Image
High-Quality Image
Correct Logo Placement
Texts in Bold
Promoted Pins

How much it takes to grow on Pinterest?

Generally, it takes 5-6 months to grow on Pinterest with the help of consistent and strategic Pinterest marketing.

September 17, 2022

Dabur: The Success Story of India’s Multinational Ayurvedic Consumer Goods Company

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 Dabur.

Are you aware that FMCG is India’s fourth-largest sector? FMCG’s full form is Fast-Moving Consumer Goods that consist of a wide range of products including food and snacks, beverages, household products, beauty products, clothing, and such things. It is next to impossible to think of a life without the FMCG industry.

Products like cooking oil, honey, biscuits, other snacks, toothpaste, and whatnot are all the basic commodities we need in our daily lives. We all are familiar with this brand right when we were kids, it is the brand that every house uses it. The brand that is dear to every Indian is Dabur.

Dabur is one such multinational consumer manufacturing goods company that creates Ayurvedic medicine and natural consumer products. It is the world’s leading Ayurveda Company and one of the largest FMCG companies in India.

Explore everything about Dabur in this article like Dabur’s key people, mission and vision, business and revenue model, challenges faced, competition, and more.

Dabur – Company Highlights

Company Name	Dabur Ltd
Founder	S. K. Burman
Founded	1884
Headquarters	Ghaziabad, India
Sector	Manufacturing, Consumer Goods
Type	Public
Area Served	Worldwide
Total assets	₹9,354 crores (2020)
Revenue	₹10,800 crores (2022)
Number of Employees	7,740 (2020)
Website	www.dabur.com

Dabur – About
Dabur – Industry
Dabur – Founders and Team
Dabur – Startup Story
Dabur – Mission and Vision
Dabur – Name, Logo, and Tagline
Dabur – Business Model
Dabur – Growth and Revenue Model
Dabur – Challenges/Controversies Faced
Dabur – Investments
Dabur – Mergers, Acquisition, and Shareholders
Dabur – Online and Social Media Presence
Dabur – Advertisements and Social Media Campaigns
Dabur – Competitors
Dabur – Awards and Achievements
Dabur – Future Plans

Dabur – About

As the “Custodian of Ayurveda,” Dabur creates goods for customers across generations and regions by fusing ancient traditional knowledge with cutting-edge science. With revenues of over Rs. 10,800 crores and a market capitalization of over Rs. 100,000 crores, Dabur India Limited is the fourth-largest FMCG company in India.

Dabur is currently the most reputable brand in India and the largest Ayurvedic and Natural Health Care Company in the world, with a collection of over 250 Herbal or Ayurvedic products due to its legacy of quality and experience spanning over 138 years. There are about eight Power Brands with distinct brand identities that make up Dabur’s FMCG portfolio today.

These include Dabur Chyawanprash, Dabur Honey, Dabur PudinHara, Dabur Lal Tail, and Dabur Honitus in the healthcare sector; Dabur Amla and Dabur Red Paste in the personal care sector; and Réal in the food and beverage sector. Furthermore, Vatika is a Global Power Brand.

The brand currently engages in important consumer product categories such as foods, health care, home care, skin care, and oral care. With 6.7 million retail locations and a significant penetration in both urban and rural countries, Dabur has a sizable distribution network.

Dabur’s products are available in over 120 countries across the globe today. Currently, the brand is well recognized in the middle east, SAARC nations, Africa, the US, Europe, and Russia. It is reported that over 27% of Dabur’s overall revenue comes from abroad at the moment.

It is fascinating how the brand from humble beginnings in Kolkata to becoming the world’s leading Ayurveda Company. Dabur has been able to successfully transition from a family-run business to a professionally managed company.

Dabur stands apart from the competition due to its aptitude for innovation and corporate governance, which it consistently sets new benchmarks for. Dabur Group of Companies is NewU, Hobby, and Namaste.

Dabur – Industry

Dabur Ltd. belongs to the FMCG industry. According to estimates, India’s retail market had risen from $840 billion in 2017 to $ 1.1 trillion by 2020, with contemporary trade predicted to grow at a rate of 20–25 percent annually, which will likely increase FMCG businesses’ profits.

Dabur – Founders and Team

Dabur Ltd is founded by Dr. S.K Burman in 1884.

Dr. S.K Burman

Dr. S.K Burman is the founder of Dabur. He started Dabur to treat common people in remote communities efficiently and economically. Dr. Burman addressed the challenge of creating natural treatments for the deadly illnesses of the day, such as cholera, malaria, and plague, with the zeal and fervor of a missionary.

As soon as word of his treatments spread, he gained a reputation as the reliable “Daktar” or physician who developed efficient treatments. And so, the name of his business, Dabur, was derived from the Devanagri translation of Daktar Burman.

Amit Burman

In 2019, Amit Burman was appointed as the Chairman of Dabur India Ltd. He holds a degree of MBA, from the University of Cambridge, and a BSc degree in Industrial Engineering from Lehigh University in Bethlehem, in the United States. He also completed his master’s in Industrial Engineering from Columbia University in the United States.

He began his career in the department of industrial engineering at Dabur, where he was in charge of introducing new machinery, enhancing existing processes, reducing the need for labor, and optimizing product packaging. At Colgate Palmolive in New York, USA, where he worked in the Manufacturing Strategy Department—the company’s internal consultants, Amit gained useful expertise.

Dabur – Startup Story

To talk about the startup story of Dabur, Dr. S.K Burman first launched its mission to distribute health care products in Calcutta, West Bengal in 1884. His ancestors are Punjabi Khatris, and they moved from Punjab to Kolkata. Dr. Burman started to create Ayurvedic medications for conditions like cholera, constipation, and malaria around the middle of the 1880s while working as an Ayurvedic practitioner in Kolkata.

He afterward began to bicycle-sell his medications in Bengal as a licensed doctor. The term “Dabur,” a combination of the words daktar (doctor) and Burman, began to be used by his patients to refer to him and his medications. He later mass-produced his Ayurvedic formulas.

In 1919, C.L Burman son of Dr. Burman set up manufacturing plants and R&D facilities to check the quality of the mass productions. Due to an unpleasant situation with G.C Burman, grandson of Dr. Burman, the factory had to be shifted to Delhi from Calcutta.

In 1986, Dabur became a Public Limited Company and was renamed as Dabur India Ltd. This all came after the reverse merger with Vidogum Limited. It was in 1993 when the brand raised its benchmark by entering the specialized health care area of the cancer treatment plant at Baddi in Himachal Pradesh.

Soon after, the brand expanded and came with a variety of products by partnering with global companies and giving it international status. In 2000, Dabur India Ltd made a turnover of Rs 1,000 crores and established itself as a market leader.

Dabur – Mission and Vision

Dabur's Mission and Vision — Dabur’s Mission and Vision

Dabur’s vision is to be “Dedicated to the health & well-being of every household.”

The brand has seven principles by which they carry out its business. These are Ownership, Passion for winning, teamwork, integrity, people development, consumer focus, and innovation.

Dabur – Name, Logo, and Tagline

Dabur Logo

The name of the brand is derived from Dr. S.K Burman, as the locals used to address him as ‘Daktar’.

Dabur has changed its tagline a few times. The current tagline of Dabur is, “Celebrate Life”. Other most known taglines of Dabur are “Science-based Ayurveda” and “Live better with Dabur“.

The logo of Dabur represents a banyan tree with its trunk forming the shape of three people with arms raised symbolizing celebration and jubilation.

Dabur – Business Model

Dabur is said to operate through three types of business models. Consumer Care Division (CCD), International Business Division (IBD), and Consumer Health Division (CHD) are the three business units that make up the business.

Dabur manufactures a wide range of products. Its Consumer care Division is divided into four classifications named Health care products, hair care products, skin care products, foods, etc.

Dabur’s Healthcare products are categorized into the list of health supplements, digestive, oral care, energizers, women’s health products, and many other similar categories. The health care division of Dabur is most popular for its products named Dabur Amla, Vatika, Almond Oil, Almond Shampoo, etc. Dabur has a presence in the international markets with brands like Dabur Amla and Vatika.

The brand operates 20 cutting-edge production sites all around the world. In addition to the seven factories in Sahibabad (Uttar Pradesh), Jammu Silvassa Alwar Katni Narendrapur Pithampur, and Nasik, eight of these 12 production facilities are situated in India, with Baddi (Himachal Pradesh) and Pantnagar (Uttaranchal) serving as the nation’s two principal manufacturing hubs.

Outside national boundaries, the brand has offices in Dubai, Egypt, Nigeria, Bangladesh, the United States, London, and Nepal.

Dabur has three Subsidiaries namely:

Dabur Research Foundation
Aviva India
H&B Stores Ltd

Dabur CSR Activities

Dr. S.K Burman founded the non-profit Dabur’s Sustainable Development Society (SUNDESH), which strives to carry out charitable work in the fields of health care, education, and other socio-economic endeavors. The corporate social responsibility (CSR) projects of Dabur are driven by SUNDESH.

The brand has also joined many teams from NGOs across the country to undertake and offer special training programs for farmers, villagers, and tribal communities to train them on sustainability and building a greener environment.

The above graph shows the segment distribution of Dabur as per the data published by touchstonemarketanalysis.blogspot.com

Dabur – Growth and Revenue Model

The overseas revenue of Dabur makes up 30% of the total turnover. In the fiscal year that ended on March 31, 2022, the total income of Dabur is Rs 8521.05 crores. The company’s December 2021 Net Sales totaled Rs. 2,941.75 crores, an increase of 7.8% over one year.

The brand’s International Business saw a rise of over 34% in constant currency, advancing it along the growth curve. The MENA business increased by about 49% during the quarter, while Egypt’s business increased by 43%, Namaste by more than 40%, and SAARC’s business increased by 41%.

The above graph shows an estimated revenue distribution of the Dabur as per the data available on Wikipedia

Dabur – Challenges/Controversies Faced

In every business, there are ups and downs, and controversies became a part of it when it is a multinational company. Similar was the case with Dabur. In 2014, when the BJP government revealed the names of those with black money accounts, there was the name of former executive director Pradip Burman.

There were also charges against Dabur Honey, according to a report, that Dabur Honey had added sugar syrup from other companies.

Dabur – Investments

Till now, Dabur has made two investments. The most recent investment by the brand is at Everready industries on 25th April 2022.

Date	Company Name	Funding Round	Amount Invested
October 9, 2019	Melorra	SERIES C	$12 million
April 25, 2022	Eveready Industries	Post-IPO-Equity	–

Dabur – Mergers, Acquisition, and Shareholders

Dabur India has made a total of seven acquisitions. Some of the acquisitions are as follows:

Date	Company Name
June 18, 2010	Fem Care Pharma Ltd.
January 3, 2011	Namaste Laboratories
May 4, 2011	Ajanta Pharma – Counter Energiser Brand 30 Plus
July 19, 2016	Discaria Trading
May 18, 2017	D&A Comestics

As of March 31, 2021, Dabur had 296,439 shareholders in total, and 1,767 425 349 fully paid-up equity shares were owned.

Dabur – Online and Social Media Presence

As the country’s fourth-largest FMCG, Dabur knows how to keep its customers updated through its strong social media presence on major platforms.

Facebook – 41,870 followers

LinkedIn – 743,774 followers

YouTube – 3.59K subscribers

Instagram – 16.8K followers

Dabur – Advertisements and Social Media Campaigns

Last year (2021) to create awareness on the occasion of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Dabur Honey, the brand from Dabur India, launched a campaign called ‘Shuddhata Sabke Liye’.

Dabur pitched this video to promote the ideas of inclusion, empowerment, and equal opportunity for all. It shows how Dabur Honey makes a couple’s life sweeter by helping them make every moment special for one another despite hardship. Because of its purity, Dabur Honey has always played a significant role in people’s life, whether they use it for sweetness, health, or celebration.

The campaign reached great heights because of actor and writer Swanand Kirkire, who gave the voiceover for this video.

Dabur – Competitors

Some of the top competitors of Dabur are:

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL)
Godrej Consumer
Marico
P&G
Colgate
Emami
ITC
Nestle
Sheela Foam
Gillette India

Dabur – Awards and Achievements

Here are some popular awards won by Dabur:

Dabur was ranked among the Iconic Brands of India (2017) by the Economics Times
Dabur has won the award for Best Risk Management Practice in the FMCG category by CNBC
Dabur was also recognized with ZEE Media Family Business Legacy Award
Dabur was also ranked as a top brand in Best Indian Brands (2016)
Dabur ranked 39 in the BT500 ranking of India’s Most Valuable Companies (2016)

Dabur – Future Plans

The company currently reported that it had over 100% growth and contributes to 8.2% of the India FMG business.
The CEO of Dabur, Mohit Malhotra says, “We continue to invest ahead of the curve in expanding our rural footprint. We have expanded our rural coverage by 16%, from 60,000 villages at the end of 2020-21 to 69,000 villages in Q1, 2021-21. We plan to further expand it by 33% to 80,000 villages over the next 2 years.”

Conclusion

Dabur is undoubtedly one of the most well-recognized multinational consumer goods companies. Initiated in 1884 by Dr. S.K Burman in Kolkata, is now well recognized in more than 120 countries across the globe including SAARC countries. In 1986, Dabur went public and was named Dabur India Ltd.

Dabur has many subsidiaries and is a well-known name in the food and consumer care business. Dabur receives 60% revenue from the from consumer care business, 11 % from the food business, and the remaining amount from its international business. The above article contains some essential information about the Dabur company and its journey.

FAQs

How did Dabur get its name?

The founder of Dabur, Dr. S.K. Burman was a qualified physician and was used to sell ayurvedic medicines for some common diseases. His patients started referring to him as a Dabur. They merged the words Daktar (Doctor) and Burman to be named Dabur.

Who is the CEO of Dabur?

The present CEO of Dabur is Mohit Malhotra.

Who is the brand ambassador of Dabur Honey?

The present brand ambassador of Dabur Honey is a south actress Rashmika Mandanna.

What is the logo of Dabur?

The logo of Dabur is a fresh green banyan tree.

September 13, 2022

NetDragon Websoft – World’s First Company to Appoint an AI-Powered Robot as Its CEO

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 NetDragon Websoft.

The technological world keeps setting new records. Recently, the Chinese mobile game developer NetDragon Websoft selected “Tang Yu” as its Rotating CEO. Tang Yu is a virtual human backed by artificial intelligence. A massively multiplayer online game (MMOG, sometimes known as an MMO), is an online video game that has a lot of people on the same server, usually hundreds or thousands. MMOs often include a sizable, ongoing immersive experience, while there are some games that don’t. These games are available on the majority of network-capable platforms, such as mobile phones, gaming consoles, personal computers, etc.

Players can participate and compete with one another on a global scale in MMOs, as well as occasionally engage in important global interactions. They reflect several different video game categories and offer a diversity of gaming styles.

NetDragon Websoft, a China-based organization, creates mobile applications as well as massively multiplayer online games. In 2002, the business unveiled its first product.

Here’s the success story of NetDragon Websoft that covers all about the company, its startup story, founders, competitors, revenue model, acquisitions, and more, you can check ahead!

NetDragon – Company Highlights

Startup Name	NetDragon Websoft Holdings Limited
Headquarters	Fuzhou, China
Industry	Online gaming, mobile internet, online education
Founded	1999
Founder	Dr. Liu Dejian
Revenue	$1.01 billion (2021)
Website	netdragon.com

NetDragon – About and How It Works?
NetDragon – Industry
NetDragon – Headquarters
NetDragon – Founder
NetDragon – Virtual CEO
NetDragon – Startup Story
NetDragon – Mission and Vision
NetDragon – Business and Revenue Model
NetDragon – Education
NetDragon – Employees
NetDragon – Funding and Investors
NetDragon – Investments
NetDragon – Acquisitions
NetDragon – Competitors
NetDragon – Future Plans

NetDragon – About and How It Works?

Operating as an investment holding business, NetDragon Websoft, Inc. creates and manages online games. Online game development, comprising game design, graphics, and programming, as well as online game operation, are the company’s and its subsidiaries main business operations.

Since 2004, NetDragon has also operated its games directly in foreign markets, doing so in Spanish, English, Spanish, and other languages. Way of the Five, Zero Online, Conquer Online, Eudemons Online, and Heroes of Might & Magic Online are some of the current titles available in the Group’s game portfolio. Other games in the portfolio cater to different player types and gameplay interests.

The Group is also working on a new version of Ultima Online in addition to Tian Yuan, CJ7 Online, Disney Fantasy Online, Dungeon Keeper Online, and other games. The company was established in 1999 and has its headquarters in Fuzhou, China.

In recent years, NetDragon has started to develop its online education business with the management’s objective to create the biggest international online learning network and provide genuine comprehensive blended learning services to every school around the globe.

NetDragon – Industry

The market for game creation software is expanding rapidly and is predicted to continue doing so over the coming several years. Game development software aids in the creation, monetization, and distribution of video games for the web, desktop and mobile platforms by gaming studios, independent developers, and educational institutions. These software programmes provide extra features including social features, statistics of user activity, and marketing.

Along with level editing and script compilation, the software tools enable the conversion of 3D textures and models into a game format. It is frequently offered as a pre-packaged software/solution suite that facilitates the creation of 3D, 2D, or both types of games. To help game creators produce material rapidly and effectively, businesses provide platforms or software with a procedural content production feature.

The global pandemic caused by the COVID-19 outbreak has had a significant effect on a number of businesses. People are spending a lot of time on social media, utilising internet-based calling applications, watching material, and playing games as a result of lockdowns in many different nations. The use of better applications and services may become more popular in the long run as a result of this transformation.

The pandemic has had a beneficial effect on the game development software sector since online gaming is becoming more and more popular all over the world. Companies that create mobile games are encouraging consumers to remain inside. During this season, game developers spend a lot of effort creating new games and updating their already current games.

NetDragon – Headquarters

NetDragon Websoft Headquarters Inspired by Star Trek

There are some crazed “Star Trek” fans throughout the world, but the NetDragon Websoft office in China takes fanaticism to a whole different extreme. Since Dejian, the creator of NetDragon, is reportedly a major “Star Trek” fan, the company’s headquarters is designed to resemble an Enterprise of the same. Dejian graduated from the University of Kansas and is on the board of directors for the Chinese online giant Baidu.

NetDragon – Founder

In 1999, Dr. Liu Dejian founded NetDragon Websoft.

Dr. Liu Dejian, the founder and chairman of NetDragon, committed $500,000 to build the centre and fund preliminary operations. The money came from one of the numerous businesses he controls, Digital Train Limited.

Liu Dejian

The invention of Disciplined Design Methodology is credited to Dr. Liu. One of China’s top online gaming businesses, NetDragon Websoft Holding Ltd., is founded by him. In 2007, NetDragon Websoft debuted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Liu received the Special Allowance Expert title from the Chinese State Council in 2015. With more than 65 million registered overseas users, NetDragon has expanded its product line to more than 180 countries and 10 languages under his direction. The largest M&A deal in Chinese internet history at the moment occurred in 2013 when NetDragon announced the sale of its 91 Wireless to Baidu for 1.9 billion USD.

Liu established Huayu Education in 2010, a NetDragon wholly-owned subsidiary. Huayu combines cutting-edge mobile internet technologies with resources for education from across the world. Huayu focuses on K–12 and ongoing education for students worldwide. Huayu Education just won a Smart Media Award from Academics’ Choice for creating 101 Education, a high-calibre product that makes it easier for instructors to plan courses. Liu has received the highest degree of certification available from the China Association of Science and Technology: senior engineer.

At Beijing Normal University, he serves as co-dean and chair of the Council for the Smart Learning Institute. He has also been invited to serve as an adjunct lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, where he co-teaches a course on Next Generation Design: Methods and Heuristics with Professor Chris Dede.

NetDragon – Virtual CEO

On September 1, 2022, NetDragon Websoft announced its CEO named “Ms Tang Yu”, an artificial intelligence-powered virtual humanoid robot as the Rotating CEO of the firm.

NetDragon stated that it hopes to “pioneer the use of Artificial Intelligence to alter management teams and catapult production performance to a new level” by placing a virtual humanoid at the top of its C-suite. The virtual robot CEO is a symbol of NetDragon’s “AI + management” methodology and is seen as a significant step toward the organisation’s strategy of becoming a “Metaverse company.”

Dr. Liu, the founder of NetDragon, claims that the new virtual robot CEO is no joke. She is a component of his company’s current acceptance of the potential tomorrow.

“We believe AI is the future of corporate management, and our appointment of Ms. Tang Yu represents our commitment to truly embrace the use of AI to transform the way we operate our business, and ultimately drive our future strategic growth,” Dr. Liu said in a statement.

Ms. Tang Yu has certain tasks, which NetDragon has outlined.

“She will streamline process flow, enhance quality of work tasks, and improve speed of execution,” the company said. She’ll also serve as a “real-time data hub and analytical tool to support rational decision-making in daily operations,” while enabling a more effective risk management system. She’s also expected to play a critical role in the “development of talents and ensuring a fair and efficient workplace for all employees.”

The company hasn’t yet unveiled a physical representation of Ms. Tang Yu. In accordance with a statement from the firm, Tang Yu will enhance decision-making during regular business operations and offer a better approach to risk management. She will serve the board as genuine analytics software and the database server as well. Other responsibilities of Tang Yu include ensuring that the staff work in a fair atmosphere.

Ms. Tang Yu “will enable us to attract a much broader base of talents worldwide and put us in a position to achieve bigger goals,” Dr. Liu said.

NetDragon – Startup Story

In China’s internet gaming and internet sectors, NetDragon is a key pioneer and guiding genius. It was founded in 1999 and is a leader in cutting-edge Research and innovation as well as a vertically integrated MMORPG developer and operator. In 2002, the firm released “Monster & Me,” their first independently developed online game. Other releases included “Eudemons Online,” “Conquer Online,” and “Zero Online.”

Meanwhile, the firm has consecutively released a range of mobile games, including “War of Gods,” “Warring States,” and “Crazy Horde,” drawing on their years of expertise in R&D and game operation. They were also China’s first company to directly operate titles in foreign markets, doing so in English, Arabic, Spanish, and other languages starting in 2003.

Over the years, NetDragon has established a track record of success, incubating online gaming and mobile internet ventures, including the largest and most prominent smartphone service platform in China, 91 Wireless, and the No. 1 Chinese online game portal, 17173.com.

NetDragon – Mission and Vision

NetDragon’s mission statement says, ” to promote education development and innovation in the internet and mobile education industry.”

NetDragon – Business and Revenue Model

NetDragon Websoft Revenue Growth (FY20-FY21)

NetDragon’s business and revenue model is divided into four segments: –

Gaming – In House Game & Engine Development, Oversea Marketing, and Game License
Mobile – 91 Open Mobile Platform, Application Development
Innovation – 91kt.com (with Cartoon Network), Digital Publishing, Outsource Platform
Education – Education sites, Education e-books and apps, Mobile School

In 2021, the company’s revenue increased by 14.6% YoY, reaching $1.01 billion (RMB7.0 billion) as both gaming and education businesses continued to grow strongly. The company’s revenue from the games business stood at $525 million (RMB3.6 billion) and revenue from the education business was recorded to be $466 million (RMB3.2 billion).

NetDragon – Education

In an effort to create “the greatest learning community internationally,” NetDragon Websoft began becoming involved in education in 2010. Among the purchases the company has made in this area are:

The establishment of the UNT-NetDragon Digital Research Centre through a collaboration with the University of North Texas.
On April 8, 2018, NetDragon purchased Edmodo.
On July 3, 2017, NetDragon made the announcement that it has purchased JumpStart Games, an American publisher of educational software.
Additionally, in 2015, NetDragon purchased a 100% share in the UK-listed Promethean Limited.

The company’s education revenue in 2021 increased by 32.2% YoY. This was the highest growth that the company had seen in the past four years.

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NetDragon – Employees

Ben Yam – Chief Financial Officer
Hongmin Zhang – Brand Director
Maggie Zhou – Senior Director of Investor Relations
Tammy Fu – Director of Strategy and Business Development
Christina Jin – Sale Manager
Chuck Huang – UE Section Manager
Edmodo Classroom – Production Manager
Justin Chen – Senior Design Manager
Romeo Hong – Senior Manager of Strategy and Business Development
Susan Jiang – Senior Manager

NetDragon – Funding and Investors

Date	Round	Amount	Lead Investors
Feb 8, 2015	Post-IPO-Equity	$52.2M	IDG Capital
Jan 1, 2007	Series B	–	–
Oct 1, 2004	Series A	$2M	IDG Capital

NetDragon – Investments

Date	Organization Name	Round	Amount
Sep 1, 2022	Rokid	Venture Round	$40M
Nov 15, 2018	Anhui Xueyun Education Technology	Corporate Round	–

NetDragon – Acquisitions

Acquiree Name	About Acquiree	Date	Amount
Edmodo	Edmodo is a global education network that connects all learners with the people and resources they need to reach their full potential.	Apr 8, 2018	$137.5M
JumpStart	JumpStart creates a virtual environment that fosters education for children and families.	Jun 3, 2017	–
cherrypicks alpha	cherrypicks alpha is a Hong Kong-based mobile developer specialising in disruptive online-to-offline mobile marketing platforms.	Apr 25, 2016	$6M
Promethean	Promethean delivers interactive learning technology, creating innovative education solutions, and virtual classroom solutions.	Nov 3, 2015	$130M
ChiVox Co., Ltd.	ChiVox Co., Ltd. is an intelligent voice and speech technology provider in China.	Jun 4, 2015	–
Fujian TianDi	Fujian TianDi is a 3D Technology company.	May 7, 2010	–

NetDragon – Competitors

NetEase, Sohu, Jagex, Voodoo, and the Dyrt are potential competitors for NetDragon Websoft.

NetDragon – Future Plans

To imagine modern technologies without artificial intelligence would not make much sense. Therefore, Dr. Liu, the company’s originator, highlights the significance of this upswing in the business.

According to Dr. Liu, the firm thinks artificial intelligence is the future of corporate leadership. The firm’s hiring of Ms. Tang Yu demonstrates its resolve to really adopt the application of AI to modify the way we run our organisation and eventually drive our appropriate development and growth.

As they gradually transition to a metaverse-based working community, he said that he is looking ahead and the firm will continue to expand on its algorithms behind Tang Yu to build a fully accessible, engaging, and highly transparent management system, which will enable everyone to attract a much broader base of skills and abilities globally and set the team up to accomplish higher ambitions.

FAQs

What is NetDragon?

NetDragon is a publicly traded company based in China that develops and operates online and mobile games as well as educational platforms. Its games include web-based games, mobile games, PC games, and e-sports games.

Where is NetDragon located?

NetDragon Websoft has its headquarters in Fuzhou, China.

Who is the CEO of NetDragon?

On September 1, 2022, NetDragon Websoft named “Ms Tang Yu”, an artificial intelligence-powered virtual humanoid robot as the Rotating CEO of the firm. NetDragon Websoft is the first company in the world to have appointed an AI-powered female bot as its CEO.

Who owns net dragon?

Dr. Liu Dejian is the founder and chairman of NetDragon. He provided $500,000 to build the centre and fund the preliminary operations of the company. The money came from one of the numerous businesses he controls, Digital Train Limited.

Which games are offered by NetDragon?

NetDragon’s games portfolio consists of a wide range of games that interest various kinds of players. These include Way of the Five, Zero Online, Conquer Online, Eudemons Online, and Heroes of Might & Magic Online.

How much did Edmodo sell for?

NetDragon Websoft, a Chinese holding company bought Edmodo, one of the largest online communities for students and teachers in the world for $137.5 million in April 2018.

September 13, 2022

Aurobindo Pharma Limited – Success Story of the Leading Generics Maker in India

Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Aurobindo Pharma Limited.

It is hard to imagine if there were no pharmaceutical manufacturing companies. Then how would we have got the basic drugs like painkillers, antibiotics, anti-allergic tablets, or any other form of medication?

They say, health is wealth, and it is a fundamental need of every society. Thanks to these pharmaceutical manufacturing companies, they ensure that effective drugs can help enhance a person’s health and improve the overall quality of life.

Pharma company like Aurobindo Pharma Limited founded in 1986, is aiding society with their high-quality generic pharmaceuticals and APIs. Hyderabad’s HITEC City serves as the corporate headquarters for this worldwide pharmaceutical manufacturing company.

Know more about Aurobindo Pharma like its history and evolution, business model, revenue model, competitors, and much more mentioned in this article further.

Aurobindo Pharma – Company Highlights

Startup Name	Aurobindo Pharma Limited
Headquarters	Hyderabad, Telangana, India
Sector	Pharmaceutical Manufacturing
Type	Public
Founder	P. V. Ramprasad Reddy, K. Nityananda Reddy
Founded	1986
Revenue	$2.9 billion (FY22)
Net Worth	$3.08 billion (FY22)
Website	aurobindo.com

Aurobindo Pharma – About
Aurobindo Pharma – Industry
Aurobindo Pharma – Founders
Aurobindo Pharma – Startup Story
Aurobindo Pharma – Mission and Vision
Aurobindo Pharma – Name, Tagline, and Logo
Aurobindo Pharma – Business Model
Aurobindo Pharma – Revenue Model
Aurobindo Pharma – Challenges/ Controversies
Aurobindo Pharma – Mergers and Acquisitions
Aurobindo Pharma – Awards and Achievements
Aurobindo Pharma – Competitors
Aurobindo Pharma – Future Plans

Aurobindo Pharma – About

The company mainly produces generic medications and active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs). In 1992, Aurobindo Pharma went public, and in 1995, it listed its shares on the Indian stock exchanges. Aurobindo Pharma is the industry leader in semi-synthetic penicillins and also has a foothold in important therapeutic areas including gastroenterology, neurosciences, cardiovascular disease (CVS), antiretrovirals, and antibiotics. All of these products are marketed in over 150 countries. It is R&D-focused, which offers a variety of products, and has manufacturing sites spread across numerous nations.

The company also entered the lucrative speciality generic formulations area because of its affordable production capabilities and a few devoted clients. Presently, Aurobindo Pharma is ranked among the top ten pharmaceutical firms in India based on consolidated sales.

The company operates in-house R&D for the quick filing of patents, Drug Master Files (DMFs), Abbreviated New Drug Applications (ANDAs), and Formulation Dossiers across the globe. Multiple facilities are approved by leading regulatory agencies, including USFDA, EU GMP, UK MHRA, South Africa-MCC, Health Canada, WHO, and Brazil ANVISA. In addition, one of the top DMFs and ANDAs filers from India is Aurobindo Pharma.

Aurobindo Pharma – Industry

The Indian pharma industry has been seeing a tremendous growth rate in the last five years. As per reports, the Indian pharmaceutical market has been growing at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of more than 15% over the last five years. According to the Indian Economic Survey 2021, the growth is expected to be three times faster in the coming decade. The current market size for pharmaceuticals in India is $41 billion, which is expected to reach $65 billion by 2024 and $130 billion by 2030.

Aurobindo Pharma – Founders

Aurobindo Pharma was founded by P.V. Ramprasad Reddy and K. Nityananda Reddy in 1986.

P.V. Ramprasad Reddy

P.V. Ramprasad Reddy is an Indian businessman and one of the founders of Aurobindo Pharma. He holds a degree in Commerce. Mr Ramprasad Reddy is responsible for taking care of strategic planning for the company. He held senior positions in several pharmaceutical firms before founding Aurobindo Pharma in 1986.

Mr Ramprasad Reddy was placed No. 27 in India and No. 688 globally in the 2016 Forbes list of Indian billionaires, with a net worth of $2.5 billion. Besides this, he was also listed as one of the top 35 figures in the pharmaceutical sector by World Pharmaceutical Frontiers in 2008.

K. Nityananda Reddy

Along with being the founder of Aurobindo Pharma, K. Nityananda Reddy serves as the Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Aurobindo Pharma. He has a Master’s degree in Science specialising in Chemistry. K. Nityananda oversees the overall operations of the Company and knows manufacturing technologies.

Aurobindo Pharma – Startup Story

The company was first started on 26th December 1896 as a private limited company. Its business took off in Puducherry in 1988–1989 with a single unit producing semi-synthetic penicillin (SSP).

Within a few years, Aurobindo established another facility at Pashmylaram, close to Hyderabad, to produce CMIC Chloride, a bulk drug intermediate.

In 1992, Aurobindo Pharma went public, and in 1995, it floated its shares on the Indian stock market. Later on, the company made an alliance with a UK-based company, Glaxo (India) to expand its business operations across UK boundaries. In 2001, it launched an exclusive anti-viral branch called Immune with the goal of educating and treating HIV/AIDS patients in the nation using preventative medications.

In 2005, Aurobindo strategically entered the high-end markets of the USA and Europe with generic formulations by taking part in the PEPFAR program, which was started by the US government. After five years, the company signed licencing and supply contracts with AstraZeneca, one of the top biopharmaceutical firms in the world, to provide many solid dosage and sterile products for developing countries.

It was in 2019, that Aurobindo started the establishment of a production plant for oral solids in Taizhou, China. In recent years, the company has made many establishments across other countries.

Aurobindo Pharma – Mission and Vision

The mission of Aurobindo Pharma is, “To become the most valued Pharma partner to the World Pharma fraternity by continuously researching, developing and manufacturing a wide range of pharmaceutical products that comply with the highest regulatory standards.”

Aurobindo’s vision reads, “To become a leading and an admired global pharma company, ranked in the top 25 by 2030”

Aurobindo Pharma – Name, Tagline, and Logo

Aurobindo Pharma – Logo and Tagline

The tagline of Aurobindo Pharma is, “Committed to healthier life!”

Aurobindo Pharma – Business Model

The business model of Aurobindo Pharma consists of three segments:

Generics/ Branded Generics
Product Out Licensing
Contract Manufacturing

The business of Aurobindo is present in over 150 countries. It has eight key formulation facilities in India and one each in US and Brazil.

Some of the different formulations offered by Aurobindo are:

Anti-bacterial like Penams, SSPS & Combinations, Quinolones
Central Nervous System (CNS) products like Anti-Alzheimers, Anti-Depressants
Cardiovascular (CVS) Products like Anti-Platelets, Beta Blockers, ACE Inhibitors
Other products like Anti Viral, Anti-Diabetics, Anti-Fungals, etc.

Aurobindo’s business includes a vertical integration that offers cutting-edge solutions. Its cost-effective medication development and significant manufacturing support help in the expansion from discovery to development and commercialization.

As mentioned, Aurobindo’s R&D Center has created goods and submitted over 200 ANDAs, around 124 product dossiers in the EU, and several dossiers in other nations, including Brazil, South Africa, Australia, and China. A multidisciplinary team of over 700 scientists working for excellence is housed in over 13,000 square metres at its R&D Center in Hyderabad.

Another key business unit of Aurobindo is AuroZymes. It is a biocatalysts division of Aurobindo Pharma Ltd. The biocatalysts are created and produced by AuroZymes for usage in the chemical and pharmaceutical industry. These biocatalysts were first created for internal usage, however, they are now accessible to Aurobindo’s clients. Through AuroZymes, Aurobindo helps develops a range of services to increase their client’s production as per their requirement.

AuroSource is also a crucial aspect of Aurobindo Pharma. It is the custom research and manufacturing division of Aurobindo. Through AuroSource, the company offers customer-centric project-based chemistry services.

Aurobindo Pharma’s business operations also include the subsidiary division of Aurobindo Pharma, Auro Peptides Ltd. It offers cutting-edge solutions from research to development and commercialization and cost-effective drug manufacturing.

Aurobindo Pharma is also known for its great CSR activities. The company has established an agency, Aurobindo Pharma Foundation in order to implement its welfare activities. Its welfare activities have proved to be beneficial for lakhs of individuals.

Aurobindo’s CSR Activities

Many areas of sustainable assistance are covered by Aurobindo’s sustainability charter in favour of preventive healthcare like making safe drinking water available, encouraging education, eradicating hunger, poverty, and malnutrition, environmental sustainability, setting up old-ages homes for elderly people, maintaining ecological balance, conversing natural resources, and many more.

Aurobindo Pharma Foundation

Through its foundation, the company has set up 70 Reverse Osmosis (RO) Water Purification Plant in many locations. It has also constructed hundreds of modern toilets in various government schools, colleges, stadiums, etc in Hyderabad and Telangana states. To create Open Defecation Free communities (ODF), the Aurobindo Pharma Foundation has backed the Integrated Household Latrine (IHHL) initiative in some states’ villages.

Aurobindo Pharma – Revenue Model

Aurobindo Pharma Limited Revenue from FY18 to FY22

It is reported that Aurobindo Pharma generates revenue by exporting its products to over 155 countries across the globe. Through this, around 90% of the company’s revenues are derived from international operations. As per the company’s annual report 2021-22, 85% of total revenue comes from formulations and the other 15% is from APIs. Aurobindo Pharma Limited reported revenue of 23,455.5 crore INR ($2.9 billion) for FY22.

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Aurobindo Pharma – Challenges/ Controversies

One of the biggest challenges for Aurobindo was in the year 2019. The issue was when the US Food and Medicine Administration sent Aurobindo a warning notice, following an inspection of Aurobindo Pharma Limited’s Pydibhimavaram, Ranasthalam (Mandal), Srikakulam District, Andhra Pradesh drug manufacturing plant. The warning letter stated that its API’s manufacturing process was faulted and had significant deviations from current good manufacturing practices (CGMP).

In 2018, another challenge for Aurobindo was when the Dutch documentary television show ‘Zembla’ featured their manufacturing plant in Hyderabad. The show described charges brought against the business for allegedly harming the environment and providing inadequate working conditions for its employees in Hyderabad, India.

Aurobindo Pharma – Mergers and Acquisitions

Seven businesses have been acquired by Aurobindo Pharma. Veritaz was their most recent purchase, made on March 28, 2022. They paid 171 crore INR ($22.4 million) to purchase Veritaz. Veritaz is a Hyderabad-based company that offers products in anti-infective and pain-management therapeutic areas.

Recently, in August 2022, the company announced that it has completed the acquisition of 51% equity shares in GLS Pharma Limited for 28.05 crore INR. GLS Pharma operates in the oncology business and has become a subsidiary of Aurobindo Pharma. Aurobindo Pharma has an open call to buy the rest of the 49% stake in the company after three years but before five years from the current acquisition.

The acquisition details of Aurobindo Pharma are listed below:

Date	Acquiree Name	Amount
March 28, 2022	Veritaz	$22.4 million
September 6, 2018	Sandoz International	$900 million
January 9, 2017	Generis Farmacêutica	$142.9 million
November 12, 2014	Natrol	$133 million
September 13, 2013	Silicon Life Sciences	—
September 13, 2013	Hyacinths Pharma	—
August 17, 2009	Trident Life Sciences	$27.9 million

Aurobindo Pharma – Awards and Achievements

The awards and achievements of Aurobindo Pharma are:

At the Global Generics & Biosimilars Awards 2019, which were held in Frankfurt, Germany, Aurobindo won two prizes; Company of the Year and Acquisition of the Year.
Aurobindo Pharma received the “Outstanding Export Performance Award” from the Pharmaceuticals Export Promotion Council of India for the year 2008-09.
The State Labour Department of the Government of Andhra Pradesh awarded Aurobindo the ‘Best Management Award’ in 2005.

Aurobindo Pharma – Competitors

The top competitors of Aurobindo are:

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries
Divi’s Laboratories
Cipla Limited
Torrent Pharma
Lupin Ltd.
Gland Pharma Ltd.
Abbott India
Alkem Lab
Zydus Lifesciences Ltd.
Ajanta Pharma
Pfizer
Glenmark Pharma Ltd.

Aurobindo Pharma – Future Plans

The company announced through its annual report 2021-22 that it intends to broaden its product line with high-value cancer, hormone, biosimilar, and innovative drug delivery methods including depot injections, inhalers, patches, and films. Given that the generic medication industry in these nations is very tiny, it has also set its sights on geographic development in new areas including Poland, Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, Portugal, and France.

To increase its position in the hospital sector, the pharmaceutical company is also constructing an injectable plant specifically for Europe and emerging countries. It will soon begin submitting novel injectable drugs in FY23, with commercialization beginning as soon as in FY24.

Here’s what the Vice Chairman and Managing Director, K. Nithyananda Reddy say about global expansion, “We also intend to transfer a few products from Europe to the China facility. With a total target of reaching 40 products in China, if we are successful in realising our plans then there should be significant accretion to both our topline and bottom-line spreads”

FAQs

Who founded Aurobindo Pharma?

Aurobindo Pharma was founded by P. V. Ramprasad Reddy and K. Nityananda Reddy in the year 1986.

Where is the company Aurobindo located?

Aurobindo Pharma has its headquarters in Hyderabad, Telangana, India.

What is Aurobindo Pharma’s revenue 2022?

Aurobindo Pharma Limited reported revenue of $2.9 billion for FY22.

Is Aurobindo a generic?

Aurobindo Pharma is an Indian multinational pharmaceutical manufacturing company which is one of the largest producers of generic medicines in the world.

Which pharma company is at the top in India?

Top pharma companies in India are:

Aurobindo Pharma Limited
Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories
Sun Pharmaceutical Industries
Divi’s Laboratories
Torrent Pharma
Abbott India Ltd.
Cipla Limited

September 9, 2022

Simpliv Learning Success Story | How This Online Learning Platform Is Transforming Lives Through Education?

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 Simpliv Learning.

The rise of digital usage has made everything available online like shopping, payment, an education. Yes, online education is a big thing now. Online education is an emerging field and its growth is seen after the pandemic crisis when lockdowns made everyone sit at home. It was seen that digital education was of utmost preference at that time.

Education is the basic right of every human being. Without education, one cannot significantly contribute to their family and society. This way, a lot of companies have embraced technologies to enable online learning platforms to become a reality. An online learning platform has huge potential. There are a lot of benefits that online learning provides to its students. There’s flexibility, a wider range of courses, a customised learning platform, and so on.

The American-based company, Simpliv Learning is an online learning and teaching platform that offers training on various topics and programmes, making them easily available to everyone. The company was founded in 2017 and has its headquarters in Fremont, California, USA.

Discover all about Simpliv Learning in this article. We have covered aspects like Simpliv Learning’s industry details, its founders, key business operations, revenue model, and much more.

Simpliv Learning – Company Highlights

Headquarters	California, USA
Sector	E-Learning Providers, EdTech
Founder	Shahanshah Manzoor
Founded	2017
Revenue	$14.2 million
Legal Name	Simpliv LLC
Website	www.simplivlearning.com

Simpliv Learning – About and How it works?
Simpliv Learning – Industry
Simpliv Learning – Founder
Simpliv Learning – Name, Logo, and Tagline
Simpliv Learning – Mission and Vision
Simpliv Learning – Business & Revenue Model
Simpliv Learning – Growth
Simpliv Learning – Funding and Investors
Simpliv Learning – Challenges Faced
Simpliv Learning – Competitors
Simpliv Learning – Future Plans

Simpliv Learning – About and How it works?

Simpliv is a worldwide online learning marketplace that offers online training on a wide range of topics to help people alter their life. Its online platform is a dynamic web-based platform that has massive learning and teaching opportunity for students and institutions through its cost-effective courses. Their courses and programs are available to everyone who want to study, whether in management, technology, science, or any other field of interest.

Simpliv is accessible, affordable, and convenient with ever-evolving industry trends. The company has made its learning platform in a way that has developed learning packages that can deliver the necessary information in a reasonable amount of time and money. Simpliv recognises shifting demands and enables global learners to evaluate their technical abilities by linking learning to important business objectives and bridging skill shortages in many business domains such as IT, Marketing, Commerce, Business Development, and much more.

It also invites individuals to become mentors on its platform. In addition, Simpliv helps to sharpen a mentor’s teaching skills to expand their knowledge. These individuals can become a part of the community by sharing their area of interest and uploading a video of their sample lecture on its platform.

Simpliv Learning – Industry

No doubt, online education holds a great future as the reports suggest that the global EdTech and Smart Classrooms’ Market industry is expected to develop at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.2% from $125.3 billion in 2022 to $232.9 billion by 2027.

Simpliv Learning – Founder

Simpliv Learning was founded by Shahanshah Manzoor in 2017.

Shahanshah Manzoor

Shahanshah Manzoor was born in Bareilly, Uttar Pradesh, India on July 12, 1981. Shahanshah is a graduate of Bachelor of Science from Mahatma Jyotiba Phule (MJP) Rohilkhand University. After that, he did a Master of Science in Maths from Aligarh Muslim University. He also holds a Master’s degree in Computer Application from Bangalore University. He has over 15 years of expertise in several businesses and has consistently advocated for equal access to education.

Along with the founder of Simpliv, Manzoor is also one of the founding members of Traininng.com LLC which offers world-class online professional training in the areas of regulatory compliance and healthcare. His entrepreneurial journey started with NetZealous, a provider of Innovative Professional Training in areas like IT, Healthcare, HR, and Regulatory Compliance, where he is currently serving as the CEO. Manzoor is also associated with S2M Trainings as its Chairman. He is also the co-founder of PlanUREvents, a training provider in compliance training for the industries like medical devices drugs & biologics/pharmaceuticals, clinical and laboratory, food, banking and financial services, aerospace and defence, trade & logistics, construction, automobile, energy, environmental and much more.

Shahanshah Manzoor’s business triumphs and commitment to bringing worldwide education for learning have been reported by various high-tier news outlets, including the Deccan Chronicle, DNA India, LiveMint, Midday, Business World, and others.

Simpliv Learning – Name, Logo, and Tagline

Simpliv Learning Logo

The company in India is registered as “Simpliv Services India Pvt Ltd”. In the USA, the company is known as, “Simpliv LLC”

Simpliv Learning goes with the tagline, “Start Teaching and Learning in Simple Way.”

Simpliv Learning – Mission and Vision

The vision statement of Simpliv is, “To transform lives by providing the best learning and teaching experience to maximize the potential of the learners”.

Simpliv Learning aims to provide affordable education to every person around the globe. They desire to make professional online courses available, by fitting the students to respective expert instructors in the specified field. Just as how technology is ever-changing, Simpliv believes that partnering with curious learners, educators, and institutions, can help them thrive in the ever-changing competitive environment.

Simpliv Learning – Business & Revenue Model

Presently, Simpliv’s business operations are based on two models – B2B and B2C.

Its B2B model involves offering training courses to corporates such as IT, Consultancy, Universities, and Colleges. Till now, the company has tied up with Accenture, Apple, Capgemini, NASA, Comcast, Dell, HP, Siemens, Equifax, and more. Furthermore, Simpliv’s business operations also offer courses to anyone interested in their learning platform. These courses are designed for the 18 to 25, 26 to 34, 35 to 45, and 46 to 60 age groups.

The revenue stream of Simpliv comes from its affiliate programs. These programs are designed to offer high-quality courses to their audience by top industry experts across the Globe. These courses are all trending ones in categories like Technology, Leadership, Personal Development, Productivity tools, Lifestyle, Music, Photography, and more.

Simpliv Learning – Growth

Simpliv Learning saw a 1000% growth in this year’s first quarter on its online learning platform as compared to the previous year. Due to this, the company’s revenue growth has also doubled in the last three months. There is also a 46% employee growth in Simpliv.

The company has made an estimated revenue of $14.2 million this year.

Simpliv Learning – Funding and Investors

As of now, the company has not raised any funds. It is completely bootstrapped.

Simpliv Learning – Challenges Faced

When Covid-19 hit the world, many startups were shut down. But, Simpliv saw an opportunity and found a way to overcome the difficulties. Simpliv was determined and sent out the message that this was an excellent time for learners to improve their abilities because they would be spending the majority of their time at home. The pricing structure offered by the company has always been its advantage and it made the most of it. Simpliv positioned itself as a brand that is less costly, yet viable. The company made itself an alternative to some of the market’s large brands, which offered expensive courses.

Simpliv Learning – Competitors

With many online education providers in the market today, Simpliv has many competitors. Some of the top competitors are:

Udemy
edX
Coursera
Edureka
Codeacademy
iHASCO
DataCamp
LinkedIn Learning
Hubspot Academy
Skillshare
Plan Academy

Simpliv Learning – Future Plans

Presently, Simpliv is available in more than 180 countries. Besides this, the company is further planning to expand to become a leader in the E-learning market. The company also intends to improve the learning and teaching experience to maximise students’ potential. With this objective in mind, Simpliv Learning is confident and sees itself in this business for a long time, which is expected to develop at an exponential rate for many years to come, pandemic or no pandemic.

FAQs

What is Simpliv Learning?

Simpliv Learning is an online learning marketplace that offers online courses on a wide range of topics like web development, IT and Software, Writing, Marketing, and more.

Who is the founder of Simpliv Learning?

Shahanshah Manzoor is the founder and Managing Director at Simpliv Learning.

Where are the headquarters of Simpliv Learning?

Simliv Learning is headquartered in Fremont, California, USA.

When did Simpliv Learning start?

Simpliv Learning was founded in the year 2017.

September 6, 2022

Swaarm – Performance-Based Tracking Platform to Optimize Marketing Campaigns
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 Swaarm.

Accelerating the business growth to reach a new height is the consistent goal of every business. As the most popular business slogan says “Customer is the King”, every business desperately targets their customers to grow. Swaarm is a performance-based tracking platform that empowers digital marketing agencies, advertisers and partners across all geographies to manage, track, analyze, automate and optimize their marketing campaigns at scale.

Read the startup story of Swaarm, its founders, Services, marketing, and growth.

Swaarm – Company Highlights

Startup Name Swaarm

Headquarters Berlin

Industry Performance Marketing Management

Founder Yogeeta Chainani and Alexandru Dumitru

Founded 2020

Website swaarm.com

Swaarm – About
Swaarm – Founders and Team
Swaarm – The Idea and Startup Story
Swaarm – Mission & Vision
Swaarm – Services and USP
Swaarm – Growth
Swaarm – Recognitions and Achievements

Swaarm – About

Swaarm is a performance-based tracking platform that empowers digital marketing agencies, advertisers and partners across all GEOs to manage, track, analyze, automate and optimize their marketing campaigns at scale. Its intuitive platform helps partner affiliate networks and agencies of all sizes benefit from the power of automation to grow their business at scale.

Today’s business landscape is dynamic in nature, amidst which the performance marketing ecosystem has been constantly evolving. Against this backdrop, Swaarm continue to work towards building tools that simplify marketers’ day-to-day tasks. One such product is Explorer, which allows marketers to study data in real-time as they need and gain access to critical insights for daily advertising campaign operations faster than any other platform.

To help Swaarm’s clients navigate the changes within the industry and its growing complexity with ease, it offers Privacy Enabled Attribution (PEA Chain)- a powerful tool that empowers marketers to continue capturing campaign and traffic sources throughout the whole advertising network chain in-line with Apple’s privacy regulations. Focusing on product innovations in line with important industry developments, especially those which involve regulatory changes, is its strong point. For example, Swaarm developed the PEA Chain soon after Apple revealed it would be restricting access to the IDFA on iOS 14.

Swaarm – Founders and Team

Alexandru Dumitru and Yogeeta Chainani are the co-founders of Swaarm. They have been working together for over six years.

Yogeeta Chainani – Co-founder of Swaarm

Yogeeta Chainani, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer in her current role drives product innovation, operations and Human Resources. Prior to establishing Swaarm, from 2019 onwards, Yogeeta held the position of the Chief Product Officer at WeQ Global, a leading mobile advertising company. Her other corporate roles include several product leadership roles, at both Ocono and Crobo GmbH (a mobile marketing and user acquisition company). In 2013, she worked as a Quality Assurance Engineer at HERE, a Nokia company. She started her career as an Assistant System Engineer at TCS in Mumbai. Yogeeta holds a Dual Masters in Business Administration and Engineering, Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft Berlin.

Mircea Alexandru Dumitru – Co-founder of Swaarm

As the Co-Founder & CTO at Swaarm, Mircea Alexandru Dumitru, focuses on distributed systems that handle billions of events per day and process tens of Terabytes of data. Previously, he was a Data & Delivery Leader Engineer at WeQ Global and a Senior Software Engineer at rasdaman GmbH. Until 2016, he was also a Managing Partner at Flanche Creative Labs. Additionally, Mircea is an open-source contributor and works with the European Space Agency and ECMWF. He holds Bachelors and Integrated PhD degree in Computer Science, Jacobs University Bremen, Germany.

Yogeeta and Alexandru had a very clear idea about what kind of a company they wanted to build and what they wanted to achieve with their venture. They wanted their company to be an employer of choice, one which that empowers its people; the best performance marketing and tracking platform for their clients and wanted to build a sustainable business that will lead innovation within the marketing tech space from day one.

Ultimately, Swaarm aims to provide an empowering and challenging environment where people who are driven to ask the hard questions, solve the toughest challenges, and be a part of a close-knit team can thrive.

Swaarm – The Idea and Startup Story

The biggest challenge for any marketer or a business often revolves around the complexity of advertising management especially when marketers are managing multiple channels and campaigns than ever before. For instance, managing 10,000 campaigns across 10 publishers and 10 sub-publishers would require analysis of million data points which are often spread across various spreadsheets/pivot tables.

To offer clients a truly customer-centric approach, it is important to understand the intricate hurdles marketers face during their daily operations. The co-founders built Swaarm because they had to work with multiple tools, including tracking products, for years – and those tools were all tricky to use. They were never provided the full picture, it was never a simple process, and platforms didn’t innovate to solve specific issues and adapt to a rapidly changing ecosystem. To make matters worse, these tools that failed to provide for their needs were still extremely expensive. This inspired the co-founders of Swaarm to develop the most customer-centric platform that offers solutions to these industry-wide problems.

From day one, Swaarm was created by listening to its client’s needs. They shadowed their clients to identify the pain points of day-to-day operations. This allowed the team to perfect the platform over time with an innovative approach to all features. This has helped Swaarm achieve a critical goal: to provide a solution that enables customers of sizes to automate repetitive tasks and make better decisions in a faster way based on the data insights.

Swaarm’s co-founders understand that growth is critical and that the business can be scaled with the right tools. No two businesses are the same, so a one-size-fits-all approach won’t give you everything you need. The platform’s adaptability is its greatest strength, making Swaarm a more powerful solution for all clients.

The founding team observed that many marketers were spending the majority of their time cleaning and analyzing data instead of focusing on important aspects of strategy, planning and creativity. This realization inspired them to build Swaarm – and by helping clients offload the routine, manual chores, they have managed to give them back the time and resources to focus on more business-critical work.

Swaarm – Mission & Vision

Its mission is to provide a technology, which will genuinely help its clients grow their business at scale by making each action faster, simpler and better. The company believes in co-creation and open innovative thinking to achieve customer value.

Since entering the market, Swaarm has earned the trust of clients and their businesses around the world in a very short time. It achieved this by staying true to four core values:
- Offering a premium solution at an affordable price thanks to its unique and hyper-efficient infrastructure
- Ensuring data reliability with its comprehensive data display
- Offering flexibility by constantly developing its products in line with client’s needs
- Providing a solution that is easy to use, making actions faster and more efficient
Swaarm – Services and USP

Swaarm Platform

Since inception, it has earned the trust of its clients such as Clearpier, Spyke Media and Apptrust amongst others, and their businesses around the world. Its strength and key differentiations lies in staying true to its four key values-
- Ease of use – Swaarm’s extensive reporting features makes them a single source of performance marketing truth. With all the data in one place, they empower marketers to measure, optimize and automate the marketing efforts – all from one dashboard. Its intuitive, easy-to-use platform appeals to developers and marketers alike, and its automation rules makes campaign optimization accessible to everyone.
- Affordability – It helps businesses ranging from leading global partners to boutique agencies optimize their campaigns- save time and money. Swaarm’s unique and hyper-efficient tech infrastructure allows them to offer clients a premium platform at a fraction of the cost, unlike other tracking platforms.
- Data reliability – The platform empowers businesses to get ahead of the curve with its comprehensive data display, helping them discover patterns, trends, and business opportunities. It also offers the highest level of platform stability in the industry – all while upholding strict global data privacy protection laws to help businesses continuity. Swaarm caters to the needs of both individual marketers who can navigate through tons of data with a few clicks and data savvy enterprises that can use the integrated data science tools to deep dive into the granularities.
  Swaarm is also the only platform in the market that offers the capability for its clients to adapt its technology to the clients needs. Its customers can modify, filter, and enhance events in real-time using code-snippets in a Turing-complete language.
Swaarm Product

Another powerful feature is the set up of automation rules which automates processes which otherwise would need manual intervention by account managers. By applying such automation rules, customers can free up to 40% of their working time and in return allow their account managers to focus on actual value creating tasks such as business development and relationship management.

Right from onboarding to daily operations, Swaarm offers unparalleled customer support services at the highest standard that compliments the innovative tools and technology to help its clients scale up their business. All of Swaarm’s onboarding sessions are personalized to each of its client’s needs to ensure a smooth set up process.

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Swaarm – Growth

While headquartered out of Berlin (Germany), Swaarm has teams working out from India, Germany, Denmark and Lithuania. In fact, it caters globally in all time zones since its team is spread in such a manner.

Businesses of all sizes from leading brands to boutique agencies in India including Vytomy, Aragma and ZinkAds as well as international players like Clearpier (Canada), Apptrust (Poland), Spyke Media (Germany), Luns.io (Israel) use Swaarm to simplify & optimize their campaigns and accelerate business growth.

Its co-founders believe that Swaarm is steadily walking on a path to become the default platform of choice for performance marketers. Their aim is to run an open platform that offers superior support to their customers. They plan to do so by consistently channelising their energies towards developing and innovating ways to empower their customers.

Swaarm will gradually expand its footprints in newer regions and keep educating the marketers on how a tracking platform should fuel their business by taking away complex data heavy tasks to make room for more strategic topics.

Swaarm – Recognitions and Achievements
- Swaarm was awarded “Best Ease of Use” and “Best Value” by Capterra (2021)– the world’s leading software discovery and review platform
- Honored with a 4.9 Star Review Rating on Capterra
- App Growth Awards 2021 – Finalist in the category App Analytics Platform
FAQs

When was Swaarm founded?

Swaarm was founded in 2020.

Who is the founder of Swaarm?

Yogeeta Chainani and Alexandru Dumitru are the co-founders of Swaarm.

What are the services offered by Swaarm?

Swaarm offers Performance-based marketing solutions that include tracking, automating, and optimizing marketing decisions to help businesses grow and scale.
September 6, 2022

Startup Name	Swaarm
Headquarters	Berlin
Industry	Performance Marketing Management
Founder	Yogeeta Chainani and Alexandru Dumitru
Founded	2020
Website	swaarm.com

Darwinbox Success Story | How is This HR Tech Startup Revolutionizing the Human Resource Industry?

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 Darwinbox.

The human resource department is present in every organisation. Its role is crucial for keeping an organisation balanced as they take care of its employee hiring process, performance appraisal, and payroll and determines what different policies and strategies should be applied in contributing to the success of an organisation.

To elaborate broadly, human resource management can have multiple responsibilities and functions to carry out. Over the years, human resource management (HRM) has evolved to adapt to the changing needs of employees in a company.

Today, top companies have special Human Resource Management Software to keep things in a systematic manner and efficiently aid in the data management of employees and various other HR processes. Moreover, it is the HR tech that the companies are embracing to bring a new change in the work culture.

Darwinbox is one of the leading cloud-based Human Resource Management Software (HRMS). The company has its headquarters in Hyderabad with various other offices located across India, and other countries like Singapore, Kuala Lumpur Jakarta, Manila, Bangkok, UAE, and the USA.

Read on further to know about Darwinbox’s industry details, founders, business and revenue model, funding and investors, and many more.

Darwinbox – Company Highlights

Startup Name	Darwinbox
Headquarters	Hyderabad, India
Sector	HRMS, IT services and IT Consulting
Founder	Chaitanya Peddi, Jayant Paleti and Rohit Chennamaneni
Founded	2015
Type	Private
Valuation	$1.07 billion
Revenue	$6.36 million (2020)
Website	darwinbox.com

Darwinbox – About and How Does It Work?
Darwinbox – Industry
Darwinbox – Founders
Darwinbox – Startup Story
Darwinbox – Name, Logo, and Tagline
Darwinbox – Mission and Vision
Darwinbox – Business and Revenue Model
Darwinbox – Funding and Investors
Darwinbox – Awards and Achievements
Darwinbox – Competitors
Darwinbox – Future Plans

Darwinbox – About and How Does It Work?

Founded in 2015, Darwinbox is a SaaS platform engaged in providing a better, simpler, and mobile-first HR Tech experience driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning, and empowers workers across the full lifecycle (hire-to-retire).

At present times, the company serves over 650 enterprises including Adani, Kopi Kenangan, MatchMove, Mahindra, Bank BTPN, TVS, Shakey’s, JSW, Bank Danamon, Nivea, Swiggy, Tokopedia, JG Summit Group, NutriAsia, Indorama, and others, and have over 1.5 million workers in 90+ countries.

Darwinbox has a new-age platform designed to provide enterprises with automated day-to-day HR processes that simplify human interactions and deliver quality insights to help build better workplaces both for the organisation and employees.

Darwinbox – Industry

Darwinbox belongs to the IT services and IT consulting industry. All of us are aware that the IT industry is like the backbone of any company, without which no company can stand tall and strong. It is reported that the marketplace for technology and information technology consulting services in India is projected to be worth $48 billion, accounting for approximately 20% of the overall worldwide consulting industry.

According to the latest Emeregen Research, the global Human Capital Management market size was $18.04 billion in 2020 and it is expected to deliver a revenue CAGR of 7.9% till the year 2028.

Darwinbox – Founders

Chaitanya Peddi, Jayant Paleti, and Rohit Chennamaneni are the founders of Darwinbox.

Chaitanya Peddi

Chaitanya Peddi is one of the three founders of Darwinbox and is presently performing as its Product Head. Before starting the journey with Darwinbox, Chaitanya worked as a consultant at Ernst & Young in their Business Advisory Services division. His first company, where he worked as an Analyst in Product Development was Verizon Communications. Chaitanya has an MBA degree in Human Resources from XLRI, Jamshedpur.

Jayant Paleti

Jayant Paleti co-founded Darwinbox in 2015. He presently is the Head of the Sales department at Darwinbox. Jayant got his B.Tech degree from the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Afterwards, he got an MBA degree in finance from the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow. He has been associated with EY (Ernst & Young) for almost four years. Prior to this, he worked at Deloitte for one year. Jayant started by working as a Business Analyst at Modelytics.

Rohit Chennamaneni

Rohit Chennamaneni is the co-founder of Darwinbox and is also currently the head of its operations. Before co-founding Darwinbox, he worked with Google, and McKinsey & Company. He was also an intern at Procter and Gamble. Rohit graduated from the Vellore Institute of Technology and holds an MBA degree from the Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow. He worked in areas such as sales, operations, human resources, and leadership development.

Darwinbox – Startup Story

While working in a corporate firm, Jayant Paleti realised that his company lacked systematic functioning to provide a one-stop solution for the HR department. Soon after, he got over a discussion with Chaitanya and Rohit only to find a common observation that how companies did not have a good HR system. This was an opportunity that spurred the three friends to meet up every day over many rounds of coffee and tea at a local restaurant in Hyderabad.

The three founders worked day and night to study the HR tech market in India to learn about the already available products so that they can come up with a new one. Through many challenges and competition, the Telugu trio experimented with many products intending to launch a product that is more than just a provider of HR solutions by including additional services like asset management, insurance, and digital education.

Darwinbox initially started with one of the most required HR functions by every organisation – attendance and payroll solutions. To add, the founders used their own savings when Darwinbox was established in 2015.

After months of hard work, the company finally raised seed funding in 2016. They raised around Rs 4 crores from investors like Endiya Partners, 3One4 Capital, and many others.

Today, Darwinbox is regarded as the 84th Indian business to join the billion-dollar club, which also includes freshly minted unicorns such as Analytics SaaS and Edtech venture LEAD School.

Darwinbox – Name, Logo, and Tagline

Darwinbox Logo

The Darwinbox logo can be defined as a basic but eye-catching logo. It comprises the box symbol, which is intended to be used as Darwinbox’s symbol, followed by the company name in its trademark blue and black colour combination.

Darwinbox – Mission and Vision

The vision of Darwinbox is, “Building A Leading Technology Brand From Asia For The World.”

Darwinbox – Business and Revenue Model

Darwinbox’s business operates on a SaaS model that offers solutions related to the HR needs of an enterprise across the employee life cycle, which includes the six HR modules – payroll, recruitment, employee engagement, talent management, people analytics, and core operations like attendance, leave, etc.

The company’s core business operations are to engage and empower employees while automating and streamlining all HR functions. Some of the products & solutions offered by Darwinbox are:

Employee Onboarding
Employee helpdesk
Time & Attendance
Payroll
HRMS Suite
Talent Management Suite
Performance Management
Travel & Expense
Compensation Suite
Remote Work Suite

Darwinbox has been involved in bringing some innovations to assign employees with much more convenience and allow them to find time to do other things. In short, the company’s business also involves providing the best possible user experience to its customers. To name a few, Darwinbox has launched the following creations:

Mobile HRMS – To help employees on the go with its Mobile-first HR technology.
A.I in HR – With the help of Artificial Intelligence, Darwinbox helps to deliver even more insightful decision-making skills.
Multi-language support – As a global company, Darwinbox’s platform is built in a way that supports multiple languages.
Darwinbox Studio – Provides 200+ seamless integrations to have a secure way of data management. Clients such as Swiggy, Emcure, Kotak Life Insurance, cult.fit, Tata Cliq among others uses Darwinbox Studio.
HRMS on WhatsApp – To help employees receive notifications for events, leave, attendance, rewards, and recognition through WhatsApp. Darwinbox is the first ever to come up with HRMS to integrate with WhatsApp for Business.

The revenue of Darwinbox stood at $30 million in 2022. The company has announced that its revenue has doubled in comparison to the previous year. Most of its revenue, about 75% is generated from its business in India and 25% from other countries in Asia and the Middle East. It is the only Indian unicorn whose revenue is mainly from India.

Darwinbox – Funding and Investors

Darwinbox has received a total of $107 million in investment over seven rounds. Their most recent funding came in the form of a Series D round on January 24, 2022. The company has received funding from 11 investors. The most recent investors are SCB 10X and Lightspeed India Partners.

The list of funding and investors of Darwinbox is given below:

Date	Funding Round	Amount Raised	Lead Investor
January 24, 2022	Series D	$72 million	TCV
January 18, 2021	Series C	$15 million	Salesforce Ventures
September 25, 2019	Series B	$15 million	Sequoia Capital India
January 1, 2019	Venture Round	–	iLabs Capital
June 20, 2017	Series A	$4 million	Lightspeed India Partners
July 26, 2016	Seed Round	$500K	–
July 1, 2016	Seed Round	$547K	Endiya Partners

Darwinbox – Awards and Achievements

Darwinbox has won the following awards:

Customers’ Choice in the 2022 Gartner® Peer Insights™ ‘Voice of the Customer Report for Cloud HCM Suites.
‘Rising Star’ and as a product with the ‘Great User Experience’ award by Finances Online (2017).

Darwinbox – Competitors

Darwinbox competes with the following list of competitors:

SAP
Oracle
Ramco Systems
Adrenalin eSystems
PeopleStrong
ADP
Workday Human Capital Management
Zoho

Darwinbox – Future Plans

The company is planning to expand its operations globally, starting in the USA. Along with its global expansion, Darwinbox further plans to accelerate its product development. It also expects to generate 35% of its total revenue from each of its Indian and Southeast Asia business operations in the future.

“We are looking to enter the US markets this year. It will be a super force multiplier, but could become a substantial contributor to revenue in the next three-four years,” said Jayant Paleti, co-founder and Head of Sales at Darwinbox.

“We will probably get there ($100 million annual revenue) in the next two or two-and-a-half years, and after that IPO is a possibility,” Jayant further said.

FAQs

What does Darwinbox company do?

Darwinbox is one of India’s leading cloud-based Human Resource Management Software. The company offers HR Tech experience driven by Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning and empowers workers across the full lifecycle (hire-to-retire).

Who owns Darwinbox?

The owners of Darwinbox are Chaitanya Peddi, Jayant Paleti and Rohit Chennamaneni.

Is Darwinbox a unicorn?

Darwinbox turned into a unicorn startup after raising $72 million in a Series D funding round on 24th January 2022.

Who invested in Darwinbox?

Darwinbox has eleven investors out of which the most recent investors are SCB 10X, Lightspeed India Partners, and TCV.

How much funding has Darwinbox raised to date?

Darwinbox has raised a total of $107 million as of August 2022.

September 3, 2022