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 Powerhouse91.
E-commerce has reached a mature stage in India and talking about e-commerce we are not just talking about e-commerce giants like Amazon, Flipkart, or Myntra. There are thousands of smaller e-commerce companies that have cropped up in India. In total there are over 19,000 e-commerce companies in India today. But despite the boom in the e-commerce sector, it is not easy for e-commerce companies to become successful and grow. This is where the e-commerce roll-up companies come into the picture. Though the concept of e-commerce roll up is still in its initial stage in India, it is gaining popularity fast.
E-commerce roll-up companies acquire e-commerce companies with the goal of scaling them up and making these brands profitable. However, e-commerce roll-up is not like takeovers. While in the case of takeovers the acquired brands lose their identity, in the case of roll-up e-commerce, the acquired brands do not lose their identity. This is the story of Powerhouse91, one of the pioneer roll-up e-commerce companies in India.
Roll-up e-commerce was started by the US-based Company Thrasio. Thrasio was the first of its kind that started acquiring the popular brands sold on Amazon, that were owned by small businesses. With the growth of e-commerce companies in India, roll-up e-commerce is slowly picking up in India too. PowerHouse 91 is one of the first movers in this sector in India.
Powerhouse 91 acquires promising yet smaller e-commerce brands and scales them up. Smaller e-commerce brands often face many challenges. From working capital challenges to tough competition and rising advertisement costs, there is a lot to manage. Powerhouse91 uses growth capital, shared resources, and deep eCommerce-focused optimizations to grow the acquired brands and take them to the next level. All in all, powerhouse91 is all set to transform smaller e-commerce companies into big brands.
Powerhouse91 evaluates the businesses on the basis of the data like review data around sales, costs, marketing, and supply chain. When a brand meets the required criteria, Powerhouse91 proposes to acquire it by paying a multiple of its profits. The payment made by Powerhouse against acquisition varies from business to business.
Presently Powerhouse91 has acquired businesses including personal care brands, sports/fitness, and general wellness brands. As per the founders, the company has developed deep optimization techniques across various aspects like marketing, supply chain management, and product development, which helps it scale the acquired businesses.
Regarding the criteria for selection of a business, Powerhouse91 founder Aqib Mohammad said, “We look at fast-growing evergreen categories doing at least Rs 100+ crores in online GMV each, with further acquisitions and product launches across emerging categories such as home & kitchen, gardening & outdoors, and personal care to name a few. While the company is flexible in terms of revenue size and category of the brand for its acquisitions, product quality, and genuine customer love are the most critical factors in Powerhouse91’s decision-making process,”
Powerhouse91 – Founders
Powerhouse91 was founded in the year 2021 by Aqib Mohammed, Shashwat Diesh, and Nikhil Agarwal.
Aqib Mohammed
Powerhouse91 founder Aqib Mohammad is an IIT Roorkee graduate, and a serial entrepreneur. In 2015 Aqib co-founded Xolvr.com, an edtech startup dedicated to assisting students from classes 6-10. In November 2016, Powerhouse91 got acquired by Hyderabad-based ed-tech company Next Education India Pvt. Ltd. In 2018, Aqib co-founded feminine hygiene brand ‘Azah’ along with his ex-Snap Deal colleague Shashwat Diesh, and is still associated with the company as a co-founder. In 2021, Aqib along with Shashwat Diesh and Nikhil Agarwal founded Powerhouse91. Other than being an entrepreneur Aqib has also been associated with companies such as Next Education India Pvt. Ltd, Mobiport Inc., and Effy, as a tech guy.
Shashwat Diesh
An engineer by education, Shaswat started his career at Olacabs as an operations manager in 2013. In 2015, Shaswat joined Snapdeal, where he worked as the project manager of Snapdeal’s C2C platform Shopo. In 2016, Shashwat went on to co-found hyper-local digital OOH advertising platform Vheeler. Vheeler had a unique concept where ads were displayed on intra-city cabs, and the advertisements kept changing based on the location of the cab. Shaswat also co-founded Flossy, an FMCG startup that dealt in Sugar confectionery. In 2018, Shaswat co-founded Azah with Aqib, and later the duo founded Powerhouse91 in 2021.
Powerhouse91 Founders, Shashwat Diesh (left) and Aqib Mohammed(right)
Nikhil Agarwal
Powerhouse91 founder Nikhil Agarwal
Nikhil is a chartered accountant who has worked with brands like ABN AMRO, Standard Chartered Bank, and Bharti Enterprise. In 2018, Nikhil joined OYO as head of Corporate Development. Nikhil joined Powerhouse91 in 2021.
Powerhouse91 – Tagline & Logo
Powerhouse91’s tagline says, “We buy E-commerce Brands in India and take them to the Next Level.”
As per the company’s website, Powerhouse91’s Vision is to build the Next-Generation Global Consumer Brands by bringing in their expertise to scale. The company’s mission is, “to help e-commerce brands achieve their full potential while creating delight in millions of customers’ lives.”
Being a roll-up e-commerce platform, Powerhouse91 finds out high potential businesses and acquires them for a mutually agreed-upon sum of payment. As informed by the company, 70% to 80% of the payment is made in cash, at the time of signing of the final agreement. The remaining 20-30% of the payment is made based on the future performance of the acquired brand within a stipulated period of time.
Powerhouse91’s revenue model is simple. The company’s revenue comes from the revenue generated from the acquired businesses.
“We grow the brands, and we recover the value we invested in the brands,” says co-founder Aqib speaking about Powerhouse91’s revenue sources.
Powerhouse91 has raised 3 rounds of funding to date. Here are the funding details of Powerhouse91.
Date
Transaction Name
Money Raised
Lead Investor
August 31, 2021
Seed Round
–
FJ Labs
June 30, 2021
Seed Round
–
Crossbeam Venture Partners
February 27, 2021
Seed Round
–
Titan Capital
Powerhouse91 – Competitors
Though Roll-up e-commerce is new to India several companies have come up in this category. Here are some of the competitors of Powerhouse91:
Mensa Brands
Founded by ex Myntra CEO Ananth Narayanan, Mensa Brands is a Unicorn Company. Mensa Brands acquires local companies operating in Fashion, Beauty, and Personal Care Categories.
GlobalBees
Founded by Nitin Agarwal and Supam Maheswari, GlobalBees is yet another player in the roll-up e-commerce space that attained the unicorn status. GlobalBees acquires startups across categories like beauty, personal care, home & kitchen, food, nutrition, sports, lifestyle, etc.
10Club
10 Club was Founded in the year 2020 by Ex Lamudi CEO Bhavna Suresh, 22feet co-founder Deepak Nair, and Class 5 Global co-founder Joel Ayala. Similar to Powerhouse91, 10 Club also acquires e-commerce businesses that are popular across sites like Amazon and Myntra.
GOAT Brand Labs
Founded by seasoned entrepreneurs Rishi Vasudev and Rameswar Misra Goat Brand Labs acquires digital-first D2C brands in the lifestyle space.
EvenFlow
EvenFlow was founded in 2021 by ex-Uber executives Pulkit Chhabra andUtsav Agarwal. This is yet another player that acquires e-commerce businesses and scales them up.
Upscalio
Based in Gurugram, Upscalio was also founded in 2021. The founders of this roll-up e-commerce startup are Gautam Kshatriya (former McKinsey & Company consultant), Saaim Khan( ex Bain &Company consultant), and Nitin Agarwal (former Disney Hotstar and Purplle marketing and growth executive).
Powerhouse91 – Growth & Future Plans
Powerhouse91 has acquired around 20 brands to date. In an interview given in the year 2021, Powerhouse91 founder Aqib Mohammed and Shashwat Diesh said that the startup is aiming to grow its revenue to Rs 500 crore annually till 2024. The company has plans to acquire more brands from different categories. Powerhouse91 has developed many tools, processes, and frameworks that are used to grow the acquired brands 15 to 20 times within around five years.
While the company is still very new and exact data about Powerhouse91’s revenue is not revealed, as per the founders, that they have been successful in turning the acquired brands successful.
Powerhouse91 – FAQs
Who Invested in Powerhouse91?
Powerhouse91 has raised funding from Investors like Titan Capital, Crossbeam Venture Partners, and FJ Labs. Individual Investors Haresh Chawla, Maninder Gulati, Varun Alagh, and Sujay Tyle have also invested in the company.
How much funding has Powerhouse91 raised to date?
Though the exact amount of funding received is not known, Powerhouse 91 has raised 3 rounds of funding since its inception.
Who are the founders of Powerhouse91?
Aqib Mohammed, Shashwat Diesh, and Nikhil Agarwal are the founders of Powerhouse91.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verifiedinformation ondifferent startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by ScoutMyTrip.
Road trips have a different charm altogether. Stopping by to click photos, trying local food on the way, and those endless chit-chats—what could be more endearing? The experience gets even better and hassle-free when there is proper guidance for making the most of one’s trip: what to see on the way, where to refuel, where the nearest viewpoint is, etc.
ScoutMyTrip, a Mumbai-based startup, is doing exactly this. The startup plans the nitty-gritty details of your road trip to make it a cherishable experience. Here’s all you need to know about ScoutMyTrip, its founders and team, startup story, business and revenue model, funding and investors, name, logo,, competitors, advisors, challenges, future plans, and more.
It is a road trip planner which conflates human intelligence with artificial intelligence to help plan the perfect road trip for individuals. ScoutMyTrip works for all sorts of outings, from short weekend travels to long excursions.
With artificial intelligence, customers can create an itinerary containing the information necessary for their road trip—gas stations, toilets, restaurants, hotels to stay in, and points of interest. The human intelligence aspect brings in the ability to personalize the information as per one’s needs.
ScoutMyTrip envisions making road trips the preferred means of vacation.
An industry first product has been introduced where a Scout (travel expert for the specific region) is virtually assisting the customer throughout the journey (before and during the trip). The Scouts give you the regional flavor and make one’s holiday joyous. We call this ‘Mark and Embark’! Our team is hard at work in building great tech and striving for customer delight each time.
ScoutMyTrip – Industry Details
As far as the market is concerned, the road-tripping industry is a subset of a much larger travel domain.
“Our total addressable market is pegged at $6.6B with 33 million leisure road trips in one calendar year. This is growing at a very fast rate and we expect it to double in 3 years time. Globally, this market stands at $100B which is really what we are after; but we want to establish ourselves well in the subcontinent which is why we have started operations in Nepal and Bhutan as well” says Vineet.
ScoutMyTrip – Founders And Team
Deepak Ananth and Vineet Rajan are the founders of ScoutMyTrip.
Deepak Ananth is the CEO and Co-founder of ScoutMyTrip. He is an Electronics graduate and had been in the corporate space for a really long time, his last assignment being with Verifone as a Director for South-East Asia. Ananth is also known as a storyteller, who loves to travel and sip on fine scotch and old monk. Ananth has a Royal Enfield 500cc bike, and his favorite trip is from Mumbai to Shillong and back.
Vineet Rajan
Vineet Rajan was the Co-founder and CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) of ScoutMyTrip. Vineet is a Computer Science graduate and has an MBA. Vineet has been involved with various startups throughout his career, and currently works as a Marketing Leader at SAP. After leaving ScoutMyTrip in April 2021 as an Advisor, Rajan joined Shop101 as the Head of Marketing Communications & Organic Growth. Vineet left the Co-founder position of the company in June 2020 and then remained an Advisor for the company before stepping down from that too.
Deepak and Vineet met each other during a road trip organized by a bikers’ club they were part of. They also held official positions in one of the most sought-after Royal Enfield groups. This gave them a chance to collaborate in non-professional capacities. Their thoughts resonated since both wanted to do something unique in the domain of road trips, thus deliberating over possible ideas in 2015.
In terms of workload, Deepak has been responsible for the overall strategy and public relations while Vineet looked into the marketing and sales segment. Soumen Bhowmick serves as the Head of Business Development.
Neeraj Sinha was the CTO and used to manage everything to do with tech. Neeraj Sinha worked at a prestigious company, with excellent remuneration and an experience worth mentioning, but he left all of it just because of his love for travelling, which was fulfilled when he joined ScoutMyTrip after working for around 14 years with the same organisation. Though his father was in the Railways, he had seen the real struggle, as per several interviews, where he stated that his father was left with hardly any money in the middle of the month. This was what drove him away from the government sector jobs, thereby placing him in the private sector. Neeraj started with some odd jobs like that of the EDP Operator but he eventually pursued an MCA degree from IGNOU, and then he never looked back. Sinha soon joined Sopra Steria, then known as Xansa, as a Software Engineer in 2002.
In 2015, we had started talking about putting our collective experience of road tripping so many kilometers into a tech product which can help other travelers. So a ‘road trip’ called ScoutMyTrip began! Building a work drives us – and that is the common area of interest for us. Our team sticks with us; because of the independence we give them in their working style. We measure results; and not the means.
ScoutMyTrip – Startup Story | How It Began?
Both Deepak and Vineet happen to be road trip aficionados. It was this love which inspired them to conceive ScoutMyTrip with a view to guide road-trippers on making the most out of leisurely travels.
We picked this idea because both of us love road trips. Having road tripped on the iconic Royal Enfield bikes in India with over 600,000 kilometers between us; we decided to build a solution that will help people road trip better. Because not everyone will have the knowledge of roads as we would do.
While maps have been the traditional go-to for navigational requirements, ScoutMyTrip is building a new category in road trip planning. The ideation process for ScoutMyTrip started back in late 2015.
ScoutMyTrip has been designed after taking suggestions from men and women consumed by wanderlust (not limited to bikers) and scouts to make the product more customer-centric. The product’s features are the results of the feedback from more than 500 fellow travelers and Scouts. The ScoutMyTrip team carried out a survey involving over 1000 people (including individuals not too inclined towards travelling) to cover every possible scenario. This is imperative given the dynamics of the decision-making process when it comes to travelling. The team also reached out to members of various travel clubs in India. The intimate discussions with these travel communities have been pivotal in onboarding travel experts for helping others.
Some of the first people we spoke to about ScoutMyTrip were all kicked. From investors, the biking community, travel forums and everyone around. We did, however, get a sense that we would have to establish ourselves very quickly; and hence we started seed funded the company in 2016.
Since the startup emphasized having seasoned travelers help plan trips, it wanted to have the essence of a ‘guide’ in its name. After much consideration, the name ScoutMyTrip was finalized for it captured this essence through ‘Scout’.
ScoutMyTrip Logo
The Logo shows an inverted magnifying glass and signifies a bird pecking when seen straight (birds usually symbolize freedom). The road in the center is symbolic of travelling. The three colors represent the brand’s values—community, safety and fun.
A lot of thought has gone into the logo. A good friend Kirtee understood our requirements and came up with that effective logo. We still sometimes joke about how much we troubled her for the logo but wherever we go, we get great feedback on the logo and that is always music to the ears of any founder.
ScoutMyTrip is a freemium product. Customer can sign up for free on the website and can plan their road trips using the planner for a lifetime. The planner allows the user to add 25-way points (Google allows you just 10) on their route. It suggests places to stay and eat, gas stations, and things to do—all under one platform.
Customers can choose to pay a premium in case they would like assistance with their planning. They are then assigned Scouts who help not just in building itineraries but also by providing virtual assistance throughout the trip.
ScoutMyTrip from the beginning has followed a very community-centric approach. Be it a community of travelers or that of Scouts. It’s always about the people with technology which revolves around it. Scouts are the key differentiator for us. We’re a marketplace of travel experts who curate the best on the road experiences.
ScoutMyTrip has partnered with travel experts and individuals from different parts of India. These skilled individuals know the local haunts, have adequate knowledge about different places to visit and are the best people to reach out to for a well-planned road trip. ScoutMyTrip has a reach all over India and also services Indian travelers visiting Nepal and Bhutan.
The company has scaled quite a few times – from being just another travel agency to doing marketing campaigns for travel brands and now fully focusing on helping people plan awesome road trips.
Itinerary Created by ScoutMyTrip
ScoutMyTrip – Revenue Model
ScoutMyTrip has a well-planned revenue model and earns revenue from the following sources:
Hiring a Scout: When a traveler contacts an expert (Scout), ScoutMyTrip earns a percentage of the planning fee. The rates vary from Rs. 2000 to Rs. 9000 and can go up to Rs. 50,000 for custom trips and itineraries.
Platform integrations: The planner can be integrated with other travel websites for a wholesome user experience.
Corporate tie-ups and group tours: ScoutMyTrip has been successfully doing this for more than a year now and has organized over 500 group road trips for individuals and corporate houses.
Road trip packages: Once the trips are planned, the ScoutMyTrip Experience team bundles the following as part of the package:
ScoutMyTrip raised seed funding from Z Nation Lab in April 2017.
Funding Date
Funding Stage
Funding Amount
Investors
April 2017
Angel Round
Undisclosed
Z Nation Lab
ScoutMyTrip – User Acquisition
ScoutMyTrip was launched for insider access or closed beta in October 2016. It got its first 5000 signups in one month and there has been no looking back ever since. ScoutMyTrip had incidentally launched its blog much before the website came into existence. This allowed the company to build communication with its target customers. Through its blogs, the team was able to expound the vision for its product to an eagerly awaiting consumer base.
Content marketing has been a driver for ScoutMyTrip. The company has approximately 90 % of its users coming through social media platforms powered by influencers already a part of the ScoutMyTrip community. Word of mouth publicity also has been a good contributor for ScoutMyTrip with around 10% of user acquisition from this stream.
The majority of spending by ScoutMyTrip in the marketing space are on Facebook and Instagram advertising. A lot more time is vested on SEO and building great content which markets itself.
ScoutMyTrip takes pride in being a content-driven brand and has taken ownership of three intellectual properties to keep in touch with its focus group—the travel enthusiasts.
The Great Indian Food Trip: The Great Indian Food Trip is an exploratory drive-by ScoutMyTrip through the hinterlands of India for rediscovering some of the most iconic and largely lost gems of Indian cuisine.
The Highest Blogger Meet: The idea here is to take influential bloggers from different walks of life to the highest motorable roads in the world. On those roads, ScoutMyTrip hosts a blogger meet, setting a record in terms of altitude each time. The last successful attempt was at Khardung La in partnership with OYO Rooms.
#AageSeRight: A viral sensation on Instagram that is common amongst road trippers. AageSeRight is a Hindi phrase used as a response when asking for directions; ScoutMyTrip was able to create a medium of brand recall through this hashtag.
Deepak and Vineet had the most modest upbringing, belonging to middle-class Indian families. Deepak had been working in corporate roles (at senior positions in reputed companies) for over 20 years before ScoutMyTrip. Vineet had an entrepreneurial mindset throughout his career but his only brush was by being a member of an established startup. As a result, launching a startup was no less than a challenge due to lack of prior experience as told by Vineet.
Whether such a platform would find a place and apprehensions about them treading the right path plagued the founders in the initial phase.
Our families were very supportive. Parents who heard us out asked the right questions and then wholeheartedly supported us, spouses who stood by us, ready to fight the same battles along with us, helped to make our minds up, much easier.
ScoutMyTrip – Competitors
As Vineet says, the biggest competitors are the airlines and railways, which make up for over 80% of all travel spends in India. Google Maps is a formidable opponent given its reach and popularity when it comes to navigation.
Globally, ScoutMyTrip faces resistance from Road Trippers and Furkot, which are slowly building their presence in India. Desi competitors include Easy Roads and Highway Delite. However, the highly experienced Scouts associated with ScoutMyTrip are its USP and the major differentiator from its competitors.
We are different in terms of us being a very community driven space where our Scouts are the USP to ScoutMyTrip. We encourage road trips for everyone and plan it keeping in mind the likes of our customers.
ScoutMyTrip – Advisors And Mentors
ScoutMyTrip’s investor, Z Nation Labs, is also its primary mentor.
We get great support, industry connects and advice from the leadership team of Z Nation labs which includes Amit Jain, Anup Mehta and Neha Jain.
After being incubated by NASSCOM’s 10,000 Startups initiative and the Maharashtra State Innovation Society, ScoutMyTrip is getting regular support from its team as well.
ScoutMyTrip – Awards
ScoutMyTrip has had its fair share of recognition including the recent incubation by NASSCOM’s 10,000 startups initiative. The honors bestowed on ScoutMyTrip in 2019 are:
April 2019 – Selected as one of the Top Startups by NASSCOM as part of the 10,000 Startups Program.
March 2019 – Recognized by Startup India / DIPP.
February 2019 –Winners of the Maharashtra Startup Week by the Govt. of Maharashtra.
January 2019 – Entrepreneur India listed ScoutMyTrip as the top 50 startups to watch out for in 2019.
July 2019 – ScoutMyTrip won the Conquest 2019 startup challenge by BITS Pilani which opened new doors in terms of partnerships and investor connections.
August 2019 – ScoutMyTrip was invited by DIGITARAYA x tiket.com accelerator programme for expansion into SE Asia.
ScoutMyTrip Founders Receiving Award at Maharashtra Startup Week
Earlier Awards include being chosen as one of the top 20 travel tech startups by FICCI in 2017, Top 10 startups in India (Silicon India), and many more.
ScoutMyTrip – Future Plans
ScoutMyTrip has received a positive response from the traveler community; it has partnered with reputed brands to maintain the flow. Over the last two years, ScoutMyTrip has been aggressively improving its Scout and agent network to service the ever-increasing customer requirements. The company’s business partners include Treebo Hotels, OYO, Agoda, Booking.com, MyChoize self-drive cars, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Honda Cars India to name a few.
Over the next 1-2 years, ScoutMytrip is looking at consolidating the Indian market where there is a churn in the making as observed by its team.
For its long-term vision, ScoutMyTrip aspires to be present in every aspect of a road trip. The ScoutMyTrip team has christened this plan as ‘Dashboard to Dhabha’, where the idea is to integrate ScoutMyTrip into cars to make it easier for car owners to conceive a journey. This comprises showing recommendations of other roadtrippers, real and live assistance from Scouts all over the country, detours to explore the countryside, and other provisions. This shall enable ScoutMyTrip to create an extensive database which would then be used to provide up to date, real-time information in assisting holidaymakers.
After spending a week in Indonesia understanding the travel and tourism industry, the co-founders are considering expansion into a new market next year. They are in discussions with partners to venture into the SE Asian markets and provide a full suite of services not limited to hotels, flights, and last mile connectivity for trips.
It is hard to navigate through the maze and there is a long way before we as a country make it simpler for startups. And advice is not easy to come by, we had to learn a lot of it ourselves- Vineet Raja
Deepak Ananth and Vineet Rajan were the founders of ScoutMyTrip. Rajan left the company in 2021.
What is ScoutMyTrip?
It is an Indias trip planner, which conflates human intelligence with artificial intelligence to help plan the perfect road trip for individuals. ScoutMyTrip works for all sorts of outings, from short weekend travels to long excursions.
What is ScoutMyTrip Business Model?
ScoutMyTrip is a freemium product. Here, the customers can sign up for free on the website and can plan their road trips using the planner for a lifetime. The planner allows the user to add 25-way points (Google allows you just 10) on their route. It suggests places to stay and eat, gas stations, and things to do—all under one platform.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Future Group.
Supermarkets in India are unusual in various aspects, owing mostly to the range of customers and, as a result, the retail sector’s different distribution strategies. The food business in India works throughout channels, from mom-and-pop shops to major supermarkets to online grocery stores.
We all have heard about the Big Bazar, one of the largest Indian retail chains of hypermarkets. All groceries, food, clothing, and retail stores are united underneath one rooftop. The retail chain of the company was founded by Kishore Biyani’s parent firm, Future Group, which is well-known in the Indian fashion and retail sectors.
Kishore Biyani founded the Future Group, an Indian firm headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. With prominent grocery chains like Big Bazaar, as well as lifestyle outlets like Brand Factory and Central, the firm is well-known in the Indian fashion and retail industries.
Future Group, an Indian conglomerate, is well-known in the Indian fashion industries and retail, including prominent supermarket chains such as Big Bazaar, as well as lifestyle boutiques such as Brand Factory. The company is also well-known in the FMGC and integrated foods production industries.
Future Group is a business conglomerate that manages practically all of its operations through its several operational entities depending on target industries. For instance, its retail business segment, Future Retail Limited, operates retail hypermarket or supermarket chains Big Bazaar (now owned by Reliance), FBB, Food Hall, Food Bazaar, Hometown, and others, while its clothing and fashion outlets Central, Brand Factory, and Planet Sports are run by another one of its business units, Future Lifestyle Fashions Limited. Furniture is sold at HomeTown stores around the country as well as digitally.
The Future Group also advertises its style and sporting brands such as Indigo Nation, Lombard, Spalding Bare, and FMCGs such as Clean Mate, Tasty Treat, Fresh, Ektaa, & Pure, Sach, Premium Harvest, and others through these numerous retail boutiques and supermarkets. It has operational firms that handle internal financial concerns and consultancy for the rest of the company.
Future Group – Industry
Future Group is a conglomerate or a multi-industry company.
Retail:
The retail industry in India is expected to increase to $1.5 trillion by 2030, up from $0.793 trillion in 2020, due to social-economic reasons such as industrialization, rising incomes, urbanization, and the expansion of nuclear families. The Indian e-commerce market, on the other hand, is anticipated to reach $350 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 23%.
Financial Services:
India’s financial industry is broad and quickly increasing, both in terms of new entrants and the robust expansion of current financial services organisations.
The industry includes commercial banks, insurance companies, co-operatives, pension funds, mutual funds, and other smaller investment companies. The banking regulator has recently approved the establishment of new firms, such as payment banks, extending the sorts of entities that operate in the market. Nonetheless, India’s financial business is predominantly a banking sector, with commercial banks accounting for about 64% of the total capital in the financial system.
According to the Future Group’s website, more than two million people visit their digital networks and stores every day to explore their product brands and collaborate with them in procuring, producing, and transporting items that meet the requirements and ambitions of a newer or future India. This is where their name is derived from.
Kishore Biyani, began his career selling stone-wash denim fabric in Mumbai in the 1980s. He is the CEO and creator of Future Group, as well as Big Bazaar and Pantaloon Retail, two retail firms. His ambition was to make something that only the wealthy could purchase available to everyone.
He planned to develop his own brands and commerce channels, and spend extensively on building the country’s top consuming ecology in the near future. Along the way, he invested in and mentored a number of other entrepreneurs and companies. He exemplifies the company’s motto, ‘Rewrite Rules, Retain Values,’ and believes Indianness to be the organization’s fundamental value.
Future Group – Startup Story
Kishore Biyani, the founder of Future Group, started working at his father’s, brothers’, and two elder cousins’ fabric-trading firm, “Bansi Silk Mills,” but was disillusioned and dissatisfied with the way they operated the company. Kishore noted that several of his friends used to wear “stonewashed” cloth pants at that time.
His first entrepreneurial breakthrough came when he discovered a local fabric producer who specialised in that type of cloth and marketed it to garment manufacturers and distributors in the city. In 1983, he established his own company, ordering the production of attractive cloth for sale to garment makers.
Pants were once known as “Patloon” in Hindi, from which they derived their brand name Pantaloon. Kishore later founded the Future Group to give his “Pantaloon” brand a new dynamic. Using a franchise concept, he developed the “Pantaloon” brand into retail. Afterwards, when, in 2001, the basis for Big Bazaar was established, Future Group added a slew of new brands, including Home Town, Ezone, Factory, Food Bazaar, Central, and Fashion at Big Bazaar.
Kishore listed 60 percent of his firm on the Indian stock market to acquire funding for retail upgrades, development, and advertising in 1992. By 1994, the Pantaloon franchise company had grossed 9 million rupees.
Biyani built his debut department store in Kolkata in August 1997, first renting and remodelling a 10,000 square foot space. This retail chain was much more than double the size of any other in Calcutta, and within three weeks, he opened 2 more such market stores. In 2001, he expanded his success by creating a network of retail establishments under the Big Bazaar nameplate. There were more than 100 Big Bazaar outlets around the country by 2009.
The Big Bazaar shops were purposefully built to seem chaotic, similar to the classic market stalls that his consumers were already used to. The Big Bazaar shops serve over two million consumers every week, while Pantaloon Retail employs over 30,000 people and has over 12 million square feet of retail space spread over 1100 locations in 75 cities. Every year, more than 300 million people, or one-fourth of the public, visit or return to the Big Bazaar outlets.
Future Group – Mission, and Vision
Future Group’s mission statement says, ” We share the vision that our customers and stakeholders are best served by creating and executing future scenarios in the consumption space leading to economic development.
We will be the trendsetters in evolving consumer brands and delivery formats and by making consumption affordable for all customer segments. We shall infuse Indian brands with confidence and renewed ambition. We shall be efficient, cost-conscious and committed to quality in whatever we do.
We shall ensure that our positive attitude, sincerity, humility and united determination shall be the driving force to make us successful.”
The organisation shares the vision and belief that the best way to serve its customers and stakeholders is to create and implement future consumption scenarios that contribute to economic progress.
Future Group – Operations, and Subsidiaries
Financial Services:
Future Ventures
Future Generali India Life Insurance
Future Capital Holdings (for internal financial services)
Future Generali General Insurance
Retail:
Future Lifestyle Fashion Ltd
Swathi Tiffin Shop
Future Retail Ltd
Future Enterprises Limited
Foodhall
Future Consumer Limited
Other Services:
Future Brands
Future Innoversity
Future Supply Chains
Future Group – Business Model
Being in the industry of multi-brand retailing commerce is the company’s primary focus. There are roughly 20 small hypermarket easyday outlets and over 210 supermarket easyday stores available to the organisation.
Value business and home business are the two most common retail models. Food Bazaar, a supermarket; Big Bazaar, a hypermarket; Food Hall, a supermarket; FBB, a fashion destination; and Easyday convenience stores, are all part of the company’s revenue operation. eZone, a consumer durables and electronics chain and Hometown, a one-stop shop for home renovation, are two of the company’s home businesses.
Italy-based Generali is an insurance firm that operates in India under the Future Generali Insurance brand. In India, Future Generali is represented by two legal entities: Generali India Insurance Co. Ltd. (Non-Life Insurance) and Generali India Life Insurance Co. Ltd. (Life Insurance).
Celio
Celio, a French fashion house, first entered the Indian market in 2008 in a 50:50 joint venture with Pantaloons Retail India Ltd, a subsidiary of Future Group (now Future Retail Ltd). Celio increased its interest in the joint venture to 65 percent in November 2013.
Clark
C&J Clark International Ltd. is accessories and footwear retailer established in the United Kingdom. The Future Group and Clarks Future Footwear Ltd have a 50:50 joint venture.
Staples Inc
Under a joint venture with Future Group, Staples Inc., a US-based office supplies store, has a presence in over nine cities in India.
FabFurnish
FabFurnish joined a Future Group company in April 2016.
Skechers
In 2012, Skechers entered India with a joint venture with Future Group. Skechers bought out Future Group’s 49 percent ownership in February 2019, bringing the joint venture to a close.
Future Group – Competitors
DMart, More, Spencer’s Retail Limited, Bigbasket, Reliance Retail, Star Market, Nature’s Basket, Mahindra, Hypercity, and Peppertap are the top ten competitors in Future Group’s competitive group.
Future Group – Controversies
Future Group and its founder Kishore Biyani are accused by the Jeff Bezos-led e-tailer of disobeying an interim decision issued by a Singapore arbitration court in October, which blocked the asset sale. Amazon has also urged an Indian court to imprison Biyani and has requested local regulators not to accept the Future-Reliance agreement while the arbitration is still ongoing. Amazon charged Future Group of violating provisions of a mutual agreement by publicizing an asset sale transaction with Reliance, the conglomerate led by Mukesh Ambani, in early October 2021.
Drowning in debt, Future Retail Ltd (FRL) announced in April 2022 that it has missed the deadline for repaying lenders Rs 5,322.32 crore due to continuing lawsuits with e-commerce giant Amazon and other concerns. This pushed Reliance Industries’ retail arm, Reliance Retail Ventures, to seek an amendment of the agreement’s long-stop date in order to complete the agreement with the Future Group.
The halt on the arbitral process between Amazon and Future Group before the Singapore International Arbitration Centre was removed by the Supreme Court of India in April 2022. Future Retail’s request for a stay of proceedings before SIAC will also be heard on a priority basis, according to the Bench. According to the Supreme Court’s judgement, the interim motion will be sent to the Delhi High Court, where proceedings have already commenced, as agreed by both companies.
With prominent grocery chains like Big Bazaar, as well as lifestyle outlets like Brand Factory and Central, the firm is well-known in the Indian fashion and retail industries.
Who founded Future Group?
Future Group was founded by Kishore Biyani.
Which companies do Future Group compete with?
DMart, More, Spencer’s Retail Limited, Bigbasket, Reliance Retail, Star Market, Nature’s Basket, Mahindra, Hypercity, and Peppertap are the top ten competitors in Future Group’s competitive group.
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 Hesa.
The number of internet users in rural India is on a steady rise. In a report published in June 2021 by the Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) and consulting firm Kantar, it was revealed that in 2019-2020, while the internet users increased by 4% in urban India, in rural India, the growth is 13%. However, despite this increasing number of internet users, the majority of the rural population is still deprived of e-commerce and e-banking facilities. While the rural population is comfortable using the internet for entertainment, communication, and for accessing social media platforms, many village dwellers are yet not comfortable with making online payments. Also, it is not easy for businesses like e-commerce companies and e-banking and financial service providers to deliver their products and services to rural areas due to the lack of infrastructure. Vamsi Udayagiri understood these issues and came up with a solution- HESA. Today HESA is helping thousands of villagers take advantage of not just e-commerce and e-banking facilities but much more. By offering a platform that lets the rural population buy and sell products via e-commerce, Hesa aims to become the Amazon of rural India. Here is the story of the Indian agri-tech startup, HESA.
HESA is a platform that is all set to revolutionize the lives of rural Indians. This platform serves as a bridge between the rural population of our country and various businesses, Corporates, SMEs, Banks, governments, and NGOs. HESA has a lot to offer. HESA helps e-commerce companies by managing the supply chain at the village level, helps the villagers in accessing e-banking facilities, helps the village farmers sell their agro products, and also helps brands with product promotions and surveys.
HESA has a network of on-ground workers known as Hesaathis, who act as the go-to persons who help the villagers access various products and services online. Any individual from the village who has an entrepreneurial mindset and who is tech-savvy enough to use the HESA app is eligible to join HESA as a Hesaathi.
Here is a detailed look at the services offered by HESA:
Banking, Finance, and Insurance-related services.
Villagers can easily access any banking and financial service with the help of the HESA platform. One just needs to visit the Hesaathi ( an 0n-groud HESA worker), who logs into the HESA platform and helps the villagers avail of the required financial solutions. Cash withdrawals, deposits, loans, and insurance, all financial services can be availed online via the HESA app.
Ecommerce solutions
HESA serves as a bridge between e-commerce companies and rural customers. It manages the supply chain, promotes the products of its partner brands to the villagers, and conducts consumer surveys on behalf of its partner brands. HESA also offers assisted buying and selling services to rural consumers.
Agro-Based Solutions
HESA offers complete solutions to access and transact with the farming community. HESA helps farmers access various information and marketing facilities with the help of technology. Hesaathis help farmers sell their products on various online Agri marketplaces like BigHaat
NGO & CSR
HESA makes the rural population more accessible to NGOs and for CSR activities, which helps in the overall development of the rural population and rural economy.
HESA was founded in 2012 by couple entrepreneurs Vamsi Udayagiri and Hema Nandiraju.
Hesa founders, Vamsi Udayagiri and Hema Nandiraju
Vamsi Udayagiri
A mechanical engineer by qualification, Vamsi Udayagiri’s field of expertise includes Supply Chain Management, Sales and Customer Management, Livelihood and Skill Development, and Rural Marketing and Promotion. Vamsi worked with several companies like Ramco Systems, and Entercoms where he handled Sales, Customer Management, and Supply Chain Management. Prior to HESA, Vamsi also co-founded IT startup ‘Riddles n Clues’ in the year 2000, which was sold in 2006. Vamsi always had a love for rural India, which made him start ‘Rural Yellow Times’ in 2010. ‘Rural Yellow Times’ focussed on bridging the demand-supply gap in rural areas. ‘Rural Yellow Times’ was later rebranded as HESA. Vamsi is also the co-founder of ‘Hesa Events’, a full-service sales and marketing agency.
Hema Nandiraju
Hesa co-founder Hema Nadiraju has spent years in the rural areas of Telangana dedicating her time to various training and development-related activities.
Hesa – Startup Story
Hesa founder Vamsi Udayagiri had an entrepreneurial mindset, which inspired him to leave his job, and search for his passion. Vamsi had a love for rural India, and he was sure he wanted to do something for the betterment of rural India. In 2010, after leaving his job as the Regional Manager for Entercoms, Vamsi started exploring the Indian Villages. He visited 4000+ villages across India to understand the rural market and the gaps that existed in the market. After almost 2 years Vamsi was clear that managing the supply chain in the rural areas is what he wanted to do. This led to the starting up of Rural Yellow Times in April 2012. This startup focused on supply chain management in villages. Rural Yellow Times was rebranded as Hesa and new services were included on the platform.
Hesa’s Mission is ” to be the preferred last-mile rural commerce platform by connecting over 650K villages across India.”
Hesa envisions to grow into rural India’s largest integrated marketplace and bring about ease of commerce in Indian Villages.
Hesa – Tagline and Logo
Hesa’s tagline is, ‘Connecting Bharat Phygitally‘. True to its tagline, Hesa is connecting rural India to the more developed parts of the country both physically with the help of its on-ground workforce, the Hesaathis, and also via the Hesa platform.
Hesa Logo
Hesa – Business Model & Revenue Model
The Hesa platform has a plethora of offerings. One can buy and sell products, pay bills, and avail of financial services. Hesa also conducts promotional activities and surveys for its partner brands. As it has multiple services to offer, Hesa has multiple sources of revenue. The platform mostly earns revenue from all the transactions that happen through the platform like buying, selling, bill payment, etc. Hesa also makes money from the on-ground activities like promotions, surveys, etc. that it does for its clients.
Hesa – Funding and Investors
Hesa raised total funding worth $4 Million in over 4 funding rounds. Below are Hesa Funding details
Hesa is doing a meaningful job, and hence is receiving a good response in the villages it is operating in. Currently, Hesa is offering its services in 11 districts in the 4 states of Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Karnataka & Maharashtra. As per the website, more than 17 lakh rural consumers have availed of Hesa’s services/products to date, and over 30,000 Hesaathis are associated with the platfrom, of which a sizeable chunk is women.
With 65+ B2B partnerships across industries and sectors, Hesa has a lot to offer to the rural population. Hesa’s partner brands include well-known ones like Himalaya, P&G, Mahindra, Reliance General Insurance, HDFC Life, and Wipro.
As of December 2020, Hesa reported Rs 22 crore revenue (Rs 75 crore GMV).
Hesa’s efforts toward the improvement of the lives of rural people are also being recognized. In March 2021, Hesa won the ‘Road to Elevate Competition’ held by IIT Madras’ Entrepreneurship Cell, among 200+ startups. In 2021 itself, Hesa was also judged to be among the Top 5 Startups among 1000+ national and international startups at the Innopreneurs Startup Contest.
Just making revenue is not what Hesa aims at, and the startup has really given back to society. Amidst Covid 19 crisis, Hesa provided employment opportunities to many who have lost their jobs, under its #savinglivelihood initiative
From Delivering ration kits to ensuring that the villagers get the benefit of the Central and State Government announced Covid Insurance, Hesaathis have taken lots of responsibilities during the crisis. As revealed by the founders, Hesaathis have been selling over 4000 Covid insurance policies every month.
Hesa also helped farmers in small villages in selling their products during the Lockdown. “Farmers in small villages have not been able to sell their produce due to lockdown restrictions. Hesa has helped in reselling produce such as onion, ginger, potatoes, paddy worth Rs 7-8 lakh,” says Vamsi,
The startup also helped many rural customers with vaccine registration.
Hesa aims to reach 50,000 villages by 2023, thereby impacting 50,000 + rural livelihoods. The company is looking forward to achieving over Rs 2000 Crore in GMV by 2022.
Hesa – FAQs
What is Hesa Global?
Hesa Global is a platform that connects the rural population with the Government, NGOs, and brands. Hesa has partnered with various brands, NGOs, and Government bodies, and the rural population can avail of the products and services of these partner organizations via the Hesa app. From accessing financial services to buying and selling products, Hesa empowers the less tech-savvy village population to take advantage of all online facilities. Besides Hesa also helps brands, Government bodies, and NGOs reach out to the rural population.
What is Hesa App?
The Hesa App helps businesses, NGOs, Government bodies, and financial institutions reach out to the rural population for buying, selling, promotion, or for social causes. Hesa’s ground work force called Hesaathis also uses the Hesa App for helping the less tech-savvy rural population for buying and selling goods online, and for accessing various products and services online.
Who is the founder of Hesa?
Couple entrepreneurs Vamsi Udayagiri and Hema Nandiraju, are the founders of Hesa.
The effects of global pandemic has significant impact on several industries including the technology and software sector. But, it did not slow down growth in the software sector. The growth of enterprise software and SAAS products has been quite good. The expenditure of Information Technology on enterprise software is estimated to reach 672 billion USD in 2022. The Enterprise Software Market is forecast to reach $545m by 2025. SaaS products and enterprise software have become essential in a cutthroat business environment. They provide accessibility, functionality, scalability, and versatility to businesses. Kovai.co is a multi-product company that has a global reach in more than 70 countries. Read to know about Kovai.co products, founders, business model, marketing, and the complete journey of its growth.
Kovai.co is a bootstrapped & profitable multi-product enterprise SaaS company specializing in enterprise integration and knowledge management space based out of Coimbatore, India and London, UK. Kovai.co is a technology partner of choice for many of the world’s leading enterprises to manage and monitor their Microsoft BizTalk and Azure Serverless environments.Kovai.co’s product team consists of thinkers and innovators who are re-defining the way robust Enterprise Software and SaaS products are built.
Their mission is to create a successful global technology product company out of their home city – Coimbatore. Their vision is to be a SaaS Unicorn within 2030.
The core value of the company is #TogetherWeGrow. They identify necessities and create opportunities. Enjoy their growth in all aspects and continue the journey to scale.
Kovai.co – Founder and Team
Saravana Kumar is the sole founder of Kovai.co ably supported by a leadership team of experts from various domains. The current team size is 240+. They coach and empower people thereby enhancing their performance. They are against command and control. All their leaders are friendly and approachable. They believe in doing the tasks first, get mature, then delegating, and elevate.
Kovai.co has its offices in London, UK and Coimbatore, India. Saravana Kumar is born and brought up in Coimbatore. He chose to give back to his hometown through his contributions on economic and skills upliftment. Kovai.co under his dynamic leadership has grown organically from a single product to multi product company with over 240 employees majority of them based out of Coimbatore. The company is bootstrapped and has crossed $10 MN ARR in 2020.
Kovai.co gives opportunities to freshers and expats who wish to come back closer to their hometown. For freshers there is a Kovai.co Connect initiative where in students from different educational institutions are hired as interns and given in-depth classroom & on the job training for a period of 6 months after which they are taken on rolls as full-time employees. Over the last two years the company has trained nearly 100 students under this initiative.
Kovai.co – The Idea and Startup Story
Saravana Kumar, Founder & CEO, Kovai.co was a Microsoft BizTalk Server Consultant for 10 years and during that time of building solutions for all their clients, he noticed there were some gaps in the BizTalk Server. He started off by building a solution to fill these gaps more as a passion in the year 2010. He presented the first version of the product to his peers at the MVP conference in the US and received very positive feedback. With the kind of positive feedback, he realized the importance of this solution in the commercial sense and decided to launch as a business. Within the first 2 months he was able to get his first customer all the way from Hongkong with whom he did not have any prior connection. Within the first three years of the launch, he was able to get about 150 customers and hence decided to go into the business full time & hire a team. Until the first three years he was running the company with a small 4-member team from the living room of his residence.
As the product started to grow both technically and commercially, he built & launched their second product Serverless 360 for managing the Azure platform in the year 2016.
Sometime in the year 2017 when the team was looking for a knowledge base solution to write and organize all their technical product documentation, they realized that there was not any suitable solution in the market to fit their needs and the ones that were there was very expensive. Thus, Saravana brainstormed with the team and decided to build a solution to solve this business problem there by launching their knowledge base solution Document360 in the year 2018.
Document360 is a knowledge base platform that is engineered for growing companies. It helps companies to instantly create an online self-service knowledge base for their customers or employees accessed either publicly or privately.
Kovai.co – Name, Tagline, and Logo
When the company was growing organically and the opportunity came to set up an engineering & marketing development center in India, back in 2013, Saravana ignored all the counsel from his peers to set up the facility in Bengaluru, Chennai or Hyderabad and started the office in Coimbatore.
The town Coimbatore was called Kovanputhur (pre independence days) with a shorter version called Kovai. The use of the word Kovai for Coimbatore is still in existence, and it has an emotional attachment to people of Coimbatore.
Hence when Saravana started the company, he registered the company name as “Kovai Limited” in the UK (in 2009) and “Kovai Systems India Pvt Limited” in India (in 2013). Even though the registered names were Kovai, the company was known as BizTalk360 (the first product) for a long time.
When the company was going through the re-branding exercise after evolving into a multi-product company, they decided to bring Kovai as the prominent brand name.
In 2018, they called the company Kovai.co.
In 2020, with continuous persistence, they managed to acquire the domain Kovai.com owned by its previous owner for nearly 20 years.
Their mission is to create a successful global technology product company out of their home city – Coimbatore.”
Kovai.co – Products
Kovai.co is a multi-product company with 4 different products and over 2000 customers spread across globally in more than 70 countries.
BizTalk360
BizTalk360 bundles over 50+ features into one single solution to make BizTalk server monitoring and administration super-efficient and secure. BizTalk360 provides everything enterprises need for BizTalk operations, monitoring, analytics, and more. Operations dashboards, widgets, advanced event viewer, data monitoring dashboards, notification channels, and throttling analyser and new relic integration are some of the features of BizTalk360.
Serverless360
Serverless360 is a portal focused on Operations and Support for Microsoft Azure Serverless resources, a Complementary tool to Azure portal in supporting Azure Serverless Application. Enterprises can better manager their business applications through Serverless360 and do end to end tracking on the message flowing through the Serverless Resources, and more.
Document360
Document360 is a Knowledge Base platform, engineered for growing companies. Businesses can instantly create an online Self-service knowledge base for your customer & employees (accessed either publicly or privately).
Cerebrata
Cerebrata Cerulean provides out of box support for a number of commonly used Azure services. It also provides deep integration with Azure Portal and Azure Cloud Shell to manage other Azure services.
Kovai.co – Business Model and Revenue Model
The business model of Kovai.co differs for each of their products based on its respective target audience. For instance any company with BizTalk server are their potential targets.
For Serverless360, that target is vast – Anyone with Azure resources in their integration platform, can use this application.
For Document360, this is also a vast adoption platform and basically anyone who needs documentation in SaaS or in On premise model is their target audience.
Kovai.co – Customer Acquisition
The first activity they undertook once they got a prototype of the product was to reach out to all their connections (experts from technical writing community, CXOs of companies etc) requesting them to try out the product and share their valuable feedback. The feedback received were evaluated, prioritized, and then passed on to the engineering team for development. Their marketing teams had begun writing blogs on showcasing the use cases of the product thereby generating prospective leads from readers. The sales team would then showcase demos of the product to these prospects and encourage them to take a trial of the product so that they can use it firsthand to understand the value it creates. They were frugal in their approach as they did not want to spend too much money and resources until the first 100 customers were acquired.
Kovai.co – Challenges Faced
In any business typically challenges are with people, like core people leaving at wrong times, wrong hires, people you trusted leave and they take away a few of your core members etc. These challenges will continue to remain and it’s the passion the founder has for building products and solving business user problems that drives the startup forward. Its also has the ability to impact so many people’s lives and create something big in the community, especially in Coimbatore which is a tier two city & the founders’ hometown. Moreover, challenges are never permanent. Any adversity that comes your way will subside over time. They have lost some crucial members at critical moments, but if they look back, it’s a short-term pain. There will be struggle for a while but eventually things will turnaround.
Kovai.co – Marketing
Content marketing has been the most successful marketing campaign. They write some high quality blogs focusing on multiple use cases of their product and enable their audience to clearly understand the value they will get out of the Kovai.co products.
Kovai.co – Growth
The last two years (2020 & 2021) has been a moment of many milestones for us.
Kovai.co hired over 175 people during this period
They made the first acquisition with Cerebrata in 2020
They crossed $10M in ARR in 2020
Document360 acquired over 500 customers in a year
In 2021 they have focussed on growing their products to the next level in terms of new features, enhancements, acquiring new customers, etc. They also put together a separate team & started working on a new product which will be launched in Q2 of 2022.
Their medium-term plan is to generate a $30M ARR within the next 3 years and their long-term plan is to be a SaaS Unicorn by 2030.
Kovai.co – Acquisitions
Kovai.co acquired Cerebrata in the year 2020.
Kovai.co – Competitors
Their enterprise products BizTalk360 & Serverless360 do not really have any prominent competitors.
The competitors for Document360 are:
Bloomfire
Helpjuice
ProProfs Knowledge base
Confluence
Help Scout
Help Docs
Kovai.co – Tools Used to Run The Startups
Microsoft OneNote captures all my to-do lists, ideas, notes, etc. It is a flexible tool – to manage my day-to-day tasks efficiently. Microsoft teams for communication and collaboration within teams. It is one of the powerful tools that helped us get going during the pandemic. Their integration with third-party collaboration tools makes them a very robust tool.
The team uses Adobe Photoshop extensively for designing dashboards and elements. It is their go-to design tool for image creation and graphic design. Microsoft Azure DevOps practices and tools provide support in building and deploying applications. It offers reliable support during each development lifecycle.
Kovai.co – Recognition and Achievements
Kovai.co has won the following awards in the last two years
Bootstrapped SaaS Startup of the year 2021 by SaaSBoomi – a community of SaaS Founders in India
Bootstrap Champ 2021 Award by The Economic Times Startup Awards
Document360 recognized under the SaaS Category as part of Nasscom Emerge 50 Awards.
FAQs
What type of company is Kovai.co?
Kovai.co is an Enterprise Software & SaaS products 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 Finnet Media.
Digital transformation and the use of technology are evolving in all business aspects. All businesses are leveraging new trends to optimize their marketing efforts. Businesses are changing their marketing mix to more digital channels and social media marketing, especially influencer marketing is the future-proof marketing trend.
Finnet Media, is a Bangalore-based startup founded by Ayush Shukla who himself is an influencer on social media channels. Read the story of Finnet Media about how it helps in managing influencers and content promotions.
Finnet Media provides services like influencer marketing, content production, ad production, for brands and influencers. Their short-term vision is to build a strong core team and build a brand based on trust and credibility. Their core belief is to build an environment of trust, credibility, reliability, and growth.
Finnet Media – Founder and Team
Ayush Shukla – Founder of Finnet Media
Ayush Shukla is the Founder of Finnet Media. He is a digital creator, marketer, a podcast host, and entrepreneur.
The current company size is 7 people- 5 full times and 2 interns. It’s a great work-from-home opportunity which makes it flexible. They are assigned tasks that they can complete according to their convenience.
When hiring, they look for 3 things – you must be keen on the content economy, good at communication, and you must have some content idea.
Finnet Media – Startup Story
Ayush Shukla has been a creator himself. He started off by hosting his podcast, because of which he made quite a few connections. His network of creators kept growing. So he thought of leveraging it and making it easy for the creators to produce content. He connected with brands, linked them up with creators, small or big. He feels small creators lack the connections at ground zero. They try looking for the right people with the right skills but again, there has to be an ice breaker. That’s where Finnet Media comes. Their skills and expertise help in scalability. Ayush Shukla started with Anushka Rathod, Vedant Rusty, Sharan Hegde initially. Pitched about them to the brands like Groww, Smallcase, Amazon, and the conversions happened.
Finnet Media – Name, Tagline, and Logo
Finnet Media Logo
Finnet stands for Finance Network. They mostly work with the finance influencers of the country. The logo is half of a rupee sign.
Finnet Media – Services
The service they provide is to bridge the gap between creators and brands in producing content. They feel putting in tons of effort in creating content is not enough for a creator. Scalability comes from brand collaborations. It makes your content more credible and substantial. Creators lack those connections at ground zero. They try looking for the right people with the right skills but again, there has to be an ice breaker. That’s where we come.
Like it or not, influencer marketing is the future of marketing. It is now replacing celebrity endorsements because now people connect more with influencers. We spend more time with phones than with anything else. We connect more with influencers, their growth feels personal. It is like you know them up close. This is why we tend to follow them. This is what adds credibility and trust between the creator and the audience.
Finnet Media – Customer Acquisition
Finnet Media is a service business. They reached their brands through LinkedIn. Ayush has always been a cold emailer. He always focused on expanding his network and making valuable connections. Because he was a performance marketer and freelancer before, he had made connections with creators/brands and it was all organic. When he started off he reached out to 10-15 brands and barely 3 people responded. He immediately set up the meetings and that’s how the conversions started compounding later.
Finnet Media – Marketing Strategy
What worked out really well for them is maintaining brand relations. There are many marketers who convert the brand, collaborate, and don’t maintain the same relations anymore. Ayush tries to look at the long run because ultimately it is the growth of both the parties that matters. Only if both parties grow, we know that the audience is growing. Making both brands and creators win in the long run is important. No compromise on that front.
Finnet Media – Challenges Faced
The most challenging part has been dealing with the creative boom. Since the founder himself creates content, he understands how overwhelming it is when thousands and lakhs of people trust you with content. He exactly understands what a creator goes through while creating content and what a brand wants. They want to keep going, keep coming up with ideas, keep providing value. So refreshing themselves in this people to people business has been quite a challenge.
Ayush makes sure to not overdo it. He takes breaks and meditate when necessary. They try to keep the spirit of the team high and focus more on relationship building.
The startup has achieved GMV of 8-10 crores (Jan 2021 to December 2021).
Finnet Media – Advisors and Mentors
They have been mentored by a lot of brand stakeholders from different companies. Creators like Akshit Srivastava mentors the team often.
Finnet Media – Future Plans
Their long term vision is reliability. They want to make sure that any and every creator who is connected to Finnet Media doesn’t have to worry about financial freedom or monetization and distribution of their content. They want to build a brand name that implies extreme reliability. Both the parties must be feeling at peace when they hold the job.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verifiedinformation ondifferent startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Cikitsa.
In the past, the healthcare and beauty industry has been flexible, but the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted both sectors globally. The healthcare and beauty industry in India is expected to exhibit huge growth in the coming years. People are getting concerned about their health and beauty which makes them choose herbal and natural products over chemical products. The herbal product market is expected to grow at a CAGR 38.5% to Rs.14 billion (US$ 188.6 million) by 2026. Cikitsa has promised to bring well researched quality products to the world. They have aim to provide truthful beauty and healthcare products from Mother Nature.
Read the startup story of Cikitsa, Founders, ideation, its products, and more about Cikitsa.
Cikitsa is a Cochin based Beauty and Healthcare startup founded in 2020. They offer products inspired by ancient science of healing.
At this time, their hero product is Cikitsa hair oil that caters to customers who are seeking to alleviate an array of hair issues while promoting hair growth. In addition to that, they have a selection of other nature-based products that cater to a wider audience.
The company’s short-term goal is to ramp up their product from an eCommerce business to brick and mortar stores spanning across the state. In the next year or two, they are anticipating the launch of their product in some of the flagship stores across the country. With due time and continual growth, it won’t be long before Cikitsa hits the international markets.
Their core beliefs guide them and help formulate their convictions, their values, and their code of ethics.
They diligently spend time in bringing the best of nature to their customers in the most unaltered form- from soil to shelves. They are guided by the desire to provide 100% organic, natural, and efficacious products that address their customer’s concerns within a budget.
Cikitsa – Founder and Team
Cikitsa Founders – Fazal Rahman and Thamanna Jabin
Cikitsa was founded by Fazal Rahman with his co-founder Thamanna in 2020, the very year they got married. Right from the inception to this date, her support and contributions to the making of the brand have been nothing short of irreplaceable. Her know-how of the cosmetic space with her passion for all things creative has helped us position themselves in a commendable way.
Thamanna takes care of and heads the creative and marketing side of things, Fazal Rahman takes on the general operations and financial side of the business.
Cikitsa – The Idea and Startup Story
Enterprising, inventive, and extremely driven, Cikitsa’s founder and CEO, Fazal Rahman has always been unafraid when it comes to heading the path less travelled. That would explain why he wanted to venture into the relatively daring task of setting up his own business, despite enjoying comfortably mighty success in his family business. Thus, in many ways, Cikitsa was conceptualized by the founder’s towering entrepreneurial mindset.
That, coupled with his drive to create a natural, sustainable, and eco-friendly brand that fostered conscious living, Cikitsa was quick to peek through. When he shared the business idea with his immediate family and close friends, the love, support, and encouragement sure gave him the extra nudge to follow through with the plan. To set the wheel in motion, he was quick to identify the prizable and yet often untapped potential of amalgamating Ayurveda into cosmetic products. Thus began extensive research to identify the needs and pain points of their target market. To ensure maximum quality and stringent safety regulations, he sought expert opinion each step of the way.
Time, energy, and money were invested in formulating, manufacturing, and designing the product to perfection. From sourcing the raw materials right through packaging, binding standards are ensured to provide the best quality products that tackle customers’ pain points without burning a hole in their pocket.
Cikitsa – Name, Tagline, and Logo
Cikitsa Logo
When setting up the brand, they were dead set on choosing a name that best represented the intent and purpose of the brand. Because of that, they were bound and determined to steer clear of any and every westernized name.
Cikitsa was ideated from the Sanskrit word ‘Chikitsa’ which loosely translates to salving therapy or resurrective healing. Considering that it was much in line with their brand and ethos, they didn’t have to think twice and wound up using it without second thoughts.
Cikitsa – Products
Cikitsa Hair Oil
At present, their hero product is none other than Cikitsa hair oil. In making this product viable they have fortified pioneering research, ingenious formulas, and synergetic herbs to alleviate irksome hair issues such as dandruff, dryness, lice, postpartum hair loss, etc, and in the course of time, promote hair growth.
Right from sourcing raw materials through packaging, they take care to stand by their pledge to offer products that are as close to nature in non-prescription formulas. They provide safe, thoroughly researched solutions with no side effects.
As soon as the product was ready to be sold, they reflexively sprang into action and started promoting it on their Social networks. They reached out to their network, both personal and professional, to get the word out about their launches. While the first few purchases came from friends and family, the word fast caught on and they ended up seeing good traction without any paid marketing.
Thus, by simply leveraging their online presence and harnessing the power of word-of-mouth marketing, they were able to expand their reach and expand their customer base quickly.
By being hell-bent on tracking and analyzing customer behavior and metrics, they were able to continually make progress. They kept an open mind while listening to their customers’ feedback and were quick to act on their key concerns and suggestions. Not only did this help us in retaining existing customers via repeat purchases, but also furthered positive reinforcements around their product, and attracted new customers.
They were also quick to create an attractive and functional website to bolster their customer experience further. Launching its website helped us streamline the purchase process, and made placing an order with us a lot more convenient and hassle-free. That, along with implementing good SEO practices and regularly optimizing their web pages for search, they were able to drive a lot more traffic and in turn, more customers.
Cikitsa – Challenges Faced
While setting up my business, we, as a team, had to tackle several roadblocks to get where they are today. While most of them were anticipated hiccups, their journey was not without major challenges.
One of the trying issues was procuring licenses for their products. While getting all the required paperwork for a business is often always tedious and time-consuming, it took us quite a while to wrap up the documentation towards legal compliance. But by being proactive and consistent in their approach, they were able to speed up the process and make things happen.
Another taxing challenge came in the time of the pandemic when their day-to-day operations were largely disrupted and they were forced to slow down. Nevertheless, their timely interventions and re-direction helped accelerate their recovery.
Cikitsa – Advisors and Mentors
When Cikitsa was in its early inception stages, the brand very much benefited from the mentorship and guidance of the directors of my family business. Seasoned professionals and experts in their own lane, they sure helped me navigate the business in the right direction. Even to this date, their timely inputs and pointers continue to steer this business to greater heights. It would also be worthwhile to mention the invaluable feedback and suggestions from my family who are weathered and accomplished business veterans themselves.
All things considered, the future sure looks bright for Cikitsa. From newer and better additions that customers love, we’re committed to building a brand that’s synonymous with the good old glory of nature.
In the next few years, they see themselves diversifying their product portfolio and launching thoroughly researched & effectively formulated products to the market. With due time and steady progress, they definitely are going international to cater to a larger customer base across the globe.
FAQs
Who is the founder of Cikitsa?
Fazal Rahman and Thamanna Jabin are the founders of Cikitsa.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved byAppknox.
Post-covid, the global mobile application market size is growing at a high pace. With the growth of applications, their security concerns have also become high. Regular threat assessments are needed to determine the best approaches to protecting a business against different threats. Appknox offers plug & play mobile app security solution to protect business.
Appknox is a cyber-security platform that helps business with its testing solutions to protect their data and their customer’s data from threats. It has been listed in Gartner’s list of top mobile app security testing solutions.
Appknox is a Bangalore-based mobile application security platform. It was founded in 2014 to provide mobile application security. They provide innovative security solutions for securing businesses and consumers on a global scale. Several enterprises, developers, and researchers use their security testing solutions to detect threats.
Appknox – Industry
The Mobile App Industry has seen exponential growth amongst millions of consumers who are adopting mobile technology to stay connected. As new technology and innovation are getting advanced, the requirement for security is more critical. Technology is evolving successively, neither traditional nor current methods of security surveillance cut the threats it is coming up with. The future of mobile app security industry calls for forward-thinking in order to be able to combat the innovatively designed attacks on businesses and financial institutions.
The post-COVID 19 global application security market size is expected to grow from USD 6.2 billion in 2020 to USD 13.2 billion by 2025, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 16.1% during the forecast period.
Appknox – Founders and Team
Harshit Agarwal and Subho Halder, Co-Founders, Appknox
Harshit Agarwal and Subho Halder are Co-founders of Appknox.
Harshit and Subho have been friends since 2008. They were in the same college. Subho, and three other buddies formed their Counter-Strike Clan during the first month of school. They shared rooms after graduation. Harshit worked at a startup while Subho worked at TCS and was a cybersecurity enthusiast. He used to conduct a lot of mobile app security training.
Harshit Agarwal – Appknox Co-founder
Appknox – The Idea and Startup Story
Around 2013 December, Harshit and Subho, both started having conversations about starting their own startup. The reason for it being a massive attraction which was developing on the mobile app front, they wanted to exclusively focus on the mobile security side. They started working on the idea and were accepted at JFDI in Singapore for their incubation program. That’s when they were officially into working on Appknox full time as their start up.
Around 2014, they could see a trend where Mobile would have become the primary way of consuming internet services. A lot of companies were expanding on the growth of the mobile side and Appknox was going mobile-first. With that, businesses would be worried about their applications’ security and founders wanted to solve this for enterprises and businesses. They launched their product in 2016 aiming to keep these businesses’ applications secured.
Appknox was started initially with the name XyScan. Eventually, it was becoming hard to create the brand with it and founders were exploring to rename. They were selected for JFDI, Singapore an incubator and one of the startup Co-Founder helped them with name. It resonated with Fort Knox.
Their Tagline – “Proactive Always” was from the marketing team and the logo was built by a Fiverr designer.
Appknox – Products and Services
Appknox is a leading mobile app security platform, assisting businesses and organisations in securing their mobile apps.
Appknox uses a System + Human strategy to assist organisations secure the security of their mobile applications. They are solving the biggest problem of businesses and enterprises for their apps security.
Using Appknox automated SAST, True DAST, and API level testing, companies can execute an initial level of security test on a mobile application in under 90 minutes.
They can then enlist the help of mobile security professionals to run manual business logical checks on the app.
Appknox – Business Model and Revenue Model
Appknox is a SAAS product where businesses use the Appknox platform for continuous security testing. Appknox business model is pay as you use and unlimited scans using Appknox platform. Appknox also offers enterprise friendly on-premise services.
Appknox works with a lot of channel partners in LATAM, GCC and SEA. They enable their channel partners with pre-sales and post-sales support.
The initial launch of Appknox was a closed Beta that they launched for their first beta users. They had a few of the companies like PayTM, Freecharge, and a few other internet services companies that they had onboarded as their first 10 customers. They used to get connected with them through Tech events and LinkedIn in earlier days. Their first 50 customers were all outbound and that led us to a few media coverages. They detected an issue in Ola in 2016 and spoke about it. This further helped us in getting a few inbounds as well. As they grew from 50 to 100, they strategized their focus from enterprises and Banks.
Appknox – Challenges Faced
They started working with a lot of Internet companies in earlier days and it seemed to be working at the start. Bit the issue they faced was that these were themselves growing companies and required VAPT for probably once a year while they figure other growth parameters. That was not the ICP they could grow a lot as ACV is not very high and also a high level of attrition as a lot of those companies ended up shutting down so was building a leaky funnel for us where CAC is high and LTV is low. They moved to enterprises to cover this and that lead to very little churn for us and eventually, growth started showing.
Appknox – Growth
Appknox operates out of Singapore and India. They are a profitable business growing at 2X YOY. Appknox has major clients in SEA, GCC, LATAM and India. They have channel partners which are majorly MSSPs who offer Cybersecurity services over and above Appknox Platform. Appknox has helped 500+ Businesses to secure their mobile application.
They are looking at building their product expertise by making mobile app security a seamless process. They are looking at growing in the US, Europe, and other regions.
Appknox – Funding
Appknox has raised a funding of $650 K in 2015 from Jungle Ventures.
Date
Stage
Amount
Investors
2015
Seed Round
$650 K
Jungle Ventures
Appknox – Advisors and Mentors
Key people who advises Appknox team are:
Tiang Lim Foo – Venture partner, Next Billion Ventures
Priyam Bose – Global Head -Developer Products, Truecaller
Appknox is working for the release of a security dashboard that will help security researchers performing manual testing on mobile applications to use Appknox SAST/DAST and API Scan results to speed up the entire testing process. Along with it, Auto fuzzing for DAST and CI/CD are two other features that they are enhancing to smoothen up the entire security testing process.
FAQs
When was Appknox founded?
Appknox was founded in 2014 at Bangalore.
Who is the founder of Appknox?
Harshit Agarwal and Subho Halder are co-founders of Appknox.
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 Yamaha Motor.
Indian’s love for two-wheelers is not unknown. As per reports by ReaserchAndMarkets, com, the sales volume of two-wheelers in India is expected to rise to 24.89 Million units by 2024, from 21.19 Million Units in 2019. India is one of the largest Motorcycle Markets in the world. Another 2019 report claims that the two-wheeler market in India is mostly dominated by motorcycles, as motorcycles occupy two-thirds of the two-wheeler market segment in India, followed by scooters and mopeds.
When it comes to two-wheelers, one Japanese brand that Indians are really loving is Yamaha. Yamaha Motor forayed into India in 1985, and since then the company has become a popular name in the Indian two-wheeler market. Here is the Story of Yamaha Motor.
Though well known in India as a two-wheeler manufacturer, Yamaha Motors is more than a two-wheeler manufacturer. Apart from scooters and motorcycles, Yamaha Motors manufactures motorized products and marine vehicles as well. Yamaha’s wide range of products includes scooters, motorcycles, motorized bicycles, sailboats, water scooters, fishing boats, outboard motors, 4-wheeler ATVs(All -Terrain-Vehicles), racing cars, water pumps, drones.
Yamaha Corporation which was the parent organization of Yamaha Motors, and still is a major shareholder in Yamaha Motors offers a wide range of products and services too. Yamaha Corporation products include various network devices, unified communication solutions, automobile interior components, and various electronic components and devices.
The history of Yamaha Motor dates back to 1897 when Nippon Gakki Co. was formed. Nippon Gakki Co. was established as a reed organ (a kind of musical instrument) manufacturer by Torakusu Yamaha. In 1900, the company also started manufacturing pianos. Nippon Gakki Co was renamed Yamaha Corporation in 1987 after the name of its founder Torakusu Yamaha. Starting as a manufacturer of musical instruments, Yamaha grew to become one of the leading manufacturers of electronic items as well.
During World War 2, Nippon Gakki Co. was manufacturing aircraft propellers and other war-related equipment. After the war ended, and Japan regained its sovereignty in 1952, the then President of Nippon Gakki Co., Genichi Kawakami started to look for ways to put the machines the company used during world war to some good use. After going through several ideas, it was decided that Nippon Gakki Co. will now start manufacturing motorcycles. Motorcycle engineers at Nippon Gakki started developing its first motorcycle by taking inspiration and references from German manufacturer DKW. In 1954, Nippon Gakki’s first prototype of the “YA-1″ motorcycle was complete. In February 1955, Nippon Gakki Co.’s YA-1 motorcycles were out in the market for sale.
On July 1st, 1955, the Motorcycle division was separated from Nippon Gakki Co. and was renamed Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd.
Genichi Kawakami was the eldest son of Kaichi Kawakami who was the President of Yamaha (then Nippon Gakki Co.) since 1927. Genichi graduated from Takachiho College of Commerce. Genichi joined the Nippon Gakki Co. in 1937. Genichi was the person behind the inception of Yamaha Motors. He served as the president of Yamaha Corporation(then Nippon Gakki Co.) from 1950 to 1977 and again from 1980 to 1983. Genichi wrote several books on music and is also the man behind starting Yamaha Music Schools. Yamaha Music Schools is present across 40 countries now. Genichi quoted “If you’re going to do something, be the best.” and his works were guided by this very philosophy.
Currently, Yoshihiro Hidaka is the CEO of Yamaha Motor. Yoshihiro joined Yamaha Motor in 1987 and took charge as a CEO in 2018.
Yamaha’s logo depicts three tuning forks. The logo as per Yamaha’s official site represents the three main pillars of Yamaha’s business i.e, Technology, Production, and Sales. The Tuning Forks also marks Yamaha’s leadership in the field of Music. The three tuning forks symbolize Melody, Harmony, and Rhythm, which are the three essential elements of music.
Yamaha Motor – Revenue Model
Yamaha Motor’s main sources of revenue include:
Revenue from the sale of products like two-wheelers, boats and marine vehicles, drones, engines, robotic products, golf cars, snowblowers, electric wheelchairs, etc. Yamaha Motors also sells various biking apparel and accessories.
Revenue from the sale of spare parts.
Revenue from After-sales service.
Revenue from financial services like sales finance and leases related to the company’s products.
Yamaha Motor products are available through dealers. In India alone, Yamaha Motor has over 2200 customer touchpoints and more than 500 dealers. Customers can book the vehicles online. Yamaha’s spare parts and engines can be bought online.
The top competitors of Yamaha Motor are Honda, Harley Davidson, Royal Enfield, and Ducati.
Honda
Honda is the top competitor of the company Yamaha. The company is headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo, Japan, and was founded in 1947. As of 2019, Honda became the world’s largest manufacturer of motorcycles, as well as the world’s largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines.
Suzuki
Suzuki Motor Corporation is one of the top competitors of the company Yamaha. The company is headquartered at Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka, and was founded in 1909. Suzuki deals in automobiles, motorcycles, ATVs, marine engines, etc.
Harley Davidson
American motorcycle manufacturer Harley Davidson. It is not only one of the largest motorcycle manufacturers but also has a loyal fan following.
Audi-owned Ducati is yet another popular motorcycle manufacturer.
Yamaha Motor – Growth & Future Plans
Yamaha Motor is one of the largest sellers of motorcycles and water vehicles. Yamaha Motor today sells its products in 180 countries and regions outside Japan. The company has 132 consolidated subsidiary companies, 4 non-consolidated subsidiaries, and 28 affiliates as of December 2021. Yamaha Motor is maintaining a constant increase in revenue. In 2018 Yamaha Motors reported annual revenue worth $15.226 Billion. While in 2019, the annual revenue increase by 0.59% to reach $15.316 Billion. However, the company too suffered due to the Covid 19 led crisis, which led to a decrease in annual revenue. In 2020, Yamaha Motor’s revenue stood at $13.83 Billion, and in 2021, it stood at $11.724 billion, which is a sharp 9.7% decline from the previous year.
In India, Yamaha Motor reported a 33% growth in sales in December 2020, as compared to December 2019. In January 2021, also Yamaha reported a 53.57% growth in sales as compared to January 2020. From July 2020 to December 2020, Yamaha Motors India reported 40.61 % Month-on-Month Growth. In the year ending 31st December 2020, India Yamaha Motor reported revenue of over 500 Cr in INR.
Regarding the future plans of the company, Yamaha Motor India wants to capture around 9% of the two-wheeler market segment from its current 4% share. To achieve this Goal, Yamaha Motor India is working to strengthen its product portfolio and introduce new products in the 125cc scooter and 150cc and 250cc motorcycle categories. Besides opening new retail outlets, Yamaha Motors India is also planning to organize more on-ground activities to let its customers test-drive and take a feel of the company’s products.
Globally, Yamaha Motors has loftier plans. The company is taking steps to reduce Co2 emissions during production. It is also planning to introduce a range of electric vehicles. Long-term plans include the development of unmanned transportation and agricultural equipment and newer and innovative forms of mobility.
FAQs
Yamaha Motor is based in which Country?
Yamaha Motor is a Japanese Company.
Are Yamaha Bikes made in India?
In India, Yamaha has 3 manufacturing plants, one each in Surajpur (UP), Faridabad(Haryana), and Kanchipuram (Tamil Nadu). The two-wheelers and spare parts manufactured in these plants are used domestically in India and are also exported.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved byDIZO.
Wearables market in India is growing at a high pace post the pandemic. The wearable devices shipping recorded shipping of 23.8 million units in the 2nd quarter of 2021. The global wireless devices market size is estimated to grow from USD 69.0 billion in 2020 to USD 141.1 billion by 2025. Due to high demands of smart devices and smart accessories, the market is growing at a fast pace. Smartwatches, earbuds, and wristbands are the most demanded in wearable devices in India. DIZO is a global consumer technology brand under Realme Techlife Ecosystem which focusses on offering the tech-savvy generation smart AIoT products that can be customized as per their personalities.
Read the startup story of DIZO, products & services, business model, revenue model, and more.
DIZO is the first brand under realme TechLife ecosystem. It is a global technology brand that operates in four major product categories – Smart Entertainment, Smart Home, Smart Care and Accessories. Within a span of just few months it has launched several new products and a couple of accessories – including TWS earbuds, neckband and wired earphones under smart entertainment; smartwatches, hairdryer and beard trimmer under smart care; multi-port mobile charging adapters and 2-in-1 USB cables and features phones; every product having its own uniqueness and very competitive pricing.
Today, for a consumer, there are N number of options provided by so many brands. Aside from the unique offerings that a brand has to offer to stay ahead, the biggest difference between any brand lies in what the brand stands for and the personality that it carries. And DIZO is for the ones who choose to ‘Be different’ and they come with a singular mission to offer a ‘Smart TechLife for Every Different You’.
DIZO as a brand wants to resonate as one which is Different, Genuine, Cool, Humorous and Surprising while focusing on bringing the latest technologies and top quality AIoT lifestyle to its consumers.
They encourage people to try different paths of life, care about overlooked topics and non-mainstream people. And this is possible when you imbibe the right technology which lets you do more. Because DIZO believes technology is an extension of you.
They are not just aimed at the young generation of the world, but also those who’re young at heart. DIZO will be a brand for anyone & everyone, who are interested in tech and are looking for personalized and unique experiences.
DIZO wants people to remember that they do not live for technology, but it is rather the other way round. Technology should make it possible for you to make the most of your life – whether you want to pursue a hobby, make health & fitness a way of life, want to have a smart home or simply help you strike a balance between work and life.
DIZO – Industry
The wearables market is fairly young, but it is moving rapidly to become the next big thing and create ripples in the tech world. The pandemic accelerated the growth of the wearables market by 3-4 years due to the challenges that everyone suddenly faced due to staying at home. From working at home, to working out at home and to being entertained at home TWS & smartwatches have gone on to become an integral part of people’s lives. With people becoming more conscious about their fitness, they got hooked onto wearable devices to monitor their heart rate, sleep, SpO2, step counts, etc. Others needed the earbuds to attend their virtual meetings, classes and even for entertainment purposes, be it playing games or binge-watching.
The level of adoption of smart wearables has been astonishing and as per the IDC report, the Indian wearables market saw 93.8 percent year-on-year growth in July to September 2021. This is proof that consumers seek unique product experiences. These minimalist yet powerful gadgets have become a popular choice for purchase. The innovation in products to enhance customer experience comes to the forefront when they see brands offering premium features on a budget. It feels awe of how evolutionary the smart wearables industry is.
Another reason for this segment to receive this magnitude of attention is the increase in disposable incomes of individuals. Talking specifically for the wearables segment, it’s not just about the price. It’s about what is being provided at the price and at various price points. Consumers today are very intelligent, and they seek value for money and the brand personality, not to forget.
Looking at the trends for 2022, the next five to seven years are likely to see even higher growth for the wearables segment, with consumers getting a hang of the benefits and ease of life due to these wearables. There is a vast opportunity in India – an untapped reservoir and India’s young consumers will be pampered with more and more brands providing smart tech choices as per used cases.
Eventually, the industry will see a trend of smartwatches and earbuds not only being used for their primary usage, but also as a fashion statement. A day will arrive when people will have one or two smartphones but multiple TWS earbuds and smartwatches to mix and match with their look of the day. Thanks to everything, in the next decade or so, the wearables market has the potential to become bigger than smartphones, by volume the least.
Talking about DIZO’s growth, in 2022, they expect the AIoT product’s market to grow twice of the current market and with the aim to become one of the fastest growing brands in AIoT products, they have target to grow by 4X of the market rate.
DIZO – Founders and Team
Abhilash Panda – CEO, DIZO
DIZO is a creation of like-minded industry pros who came with the same objective to create a global techlife brand to offer solutions customized to the needs of different personalities. It was not tough for them to join the mission. In India, the team is being spearheaded by Abhilash Panda, as the CEO of the company. Abhilash Panda is responsible for DIZO’s India operations and will also be interacting with the media from time to time as the official spokesperson.
Prior to joining DIZO, he was with Flipkart for close to eight years, and was heading the Mobiles vertical on its platform. His role entailed interacting with many leading mobile brands. Joining DIZO was a natural progression since he always wanted to work for a brand which is young, dynamic and looked at making an actual difference to consumers’ lives. Today’s consumers are modern, aware of their choices and a discerning lot who look for value-for-money solutions. They understand technology and the benefits it brings to their lives. At DIZO it is their mission to make their choices easy and affordable technology more accessible to them.
DIZO India team is a small team for now, but are all experts in their domain, leading various management and operational positions. They have aggressive plans for expansion in India and will be seeking to bring in the best, brightest and young talent that the country can offer.
At DIZO, they ensure that every team member is accessible. This leads to a free flow of communication and easy interaction between departments. DIZO believes in one team-one idea strategy for a holistic brand, employee, and product development. Just as the brand’s wish to resonate with its customer, it has a similar approach towards its employees – different, cool, genuine, humorous and surprising.
Moreover, they have weekly meetings to take stock of work done and brainstorm on new ideas, monthly or quarterly town halls as well as quarterly in-person meetings which are semi-formal. And most definitely, they do not leave a moment of celebration.
DIZO – The Idea and Startup Story
Consumer needs are complex and varied even in the same category of products and if there is one thing that stands out when it comes to marketplace dynamics, it is that consumers relish choices. And they will always be seeking multiple solutions across categories and price-points. They want options not just in the same product categories but also within similar price-points. The whole idea is to provide more and more qualified and trustworthy options to their consumers and let them choose the best that suits their lifestyle, from among the options.
Based on this understanding, like-minded global industry veterans came together to conceptualize and start a revolution in the AIoT space. Came DIZO into picture and it was officially introduced to the world on May 25th, 2021. Identified by realme as an aspiring brand with high potential to become a part of the realme TechLife ecosystem, they became the first brand under realme TechLife ecosystem. The young brand is also supported by realme in 3 key aspects – Industrial Design, Supply Chain and AIoT Experience.
DIZO is present in several countries in Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Africa, etc. and in India, it is registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MoCA), as a private limited company.
Here in India, DIZO is being run by an Indian team of experts led by Abhilash Panda as CEO of DIZO India. The country is one of the key focus markets for DIZO’s business and remains at the core of all product planning. They have a lot of India-centric innovations coming up in the future.
Talking about the initial response, they had decided to launch products in the Smart Entertainment and Smart Care categories as they saw many people were working from home as well as looking for entertainment avenues right at their homes. Wearables as a category are heating up across markets as more and more people look to have their personal time, pursuing personal interests. Wearables such as TWS earbuds, neckbands, and wireless headphones brought some sense of personal space within crowded spaces, especially in the Indian scheme of things where space is largely a premium. As soon as they launched their first TWS earbuds – DIZO GoPods D and the neckband DIZO Wireless – in July, they almost instantly saw them flying off from the shelves!
Some of the memorable achievements that DIZO could cherish included their entry into the list of top 10 brands by Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) in the Flipkart hearables category, which is a first time ever for a new brand in this segment to achieve this within a month’s time and that too with only two products – DIZO GoPods D and DIZO Wireless. Soon after the first sale, the DIZO GoPods D emerged as the highest rated TWS earbuds in the INR 1K-2K category. Same for the DIZO Wireless, as it became a best-seller and the highest-rated neckband in the INR 1K-2K category on Flipkart. Another bestseller – DIZO Buds Z, soon after the first sale, was rated 4.6 by their consumers on Flipkart, which is considered to be really great for any product.
Furthermore, in the smartwatch category, DIZO Watch 2 became everyone’s favourite soon after its sale on Flipkart and also made several records as it sold 15,000 units within 3 minutes of sale, which is the fastest for any wearable category. Another record – it sold 50,000 units in just 15 days from the day of its first sale, which is again the fastest ever by any single model in the category. Yet another record – it sold 100,000 units within just 40 days since its first sale, again the fastest ever by any single model in the smartwatch history in the country.
DIZO – Name, Tagline, and Logo
DIZO logo
DIZO had to offer to the market and the many customers, their product line was finalized, and their mission and vision were set in stone. They knew that this was happening for real, but it was missing something! That’s when they had the AHA moment and realised that they hadn’t picked a brand name. So, the first task for the brand’s team was to brainstorm on the name. They wanted to have something that is easy to remember yet difficult to forget.
While a lot of brands look for meaning in the name or come up with acronyms with meanings but for us that was not part of the brief. They let their imaginations run wild and then came the name DIZO as a suggestion among other names. The team loved the quirkiness of the word and they all accepted DIZO as the name for the brand.
Today, the word has value, strength, and a sense of belongingness. It stands for Being Different, Genuine, Humorous, Cool and Surprising. They strive for the same, and that is what they want to pass onto their consumers as well. And like mentioned earlier, with their tagline – ‘Be Different’, DIZO promises to bring ‘Smart Tech Life for Every Different You’.
DIZO – Products and Services
DIZO is a brand aimed not just at the young generation of the world but also those who’re young at heart. It is a brand for everyone and anyone, who is interested in tech and looking for personalized and unique experiences.
Their aim is to always try their best to bring premium products and features to the mass market. They are in the mission of introducing a large portfolio across various product categories such as smart entertainment, smart home, smart care and accessories. Alongside, they want to provide the options to consumers and let them choose what they believe is best suited to their personality and compliment their lifestyles.
They listen to their consumers and want to provide them the best of what their consumers demand. So, they give equal opportunity to their consumers to design watch faces for their product, which are again being promoted by influencers with unique personalities and this is just the beginning. They plan to ask for the colour variants of their choice, before making them and even ask for suggestions in product design and names, etc.
With DIZO’s understanding of market and consumers and realme’s support system, they intend to offer a discerning young generation of tech enthusiasts with differentiated technology that is aligned to their needs, complements their individuality, empowers them, and becomes an extension of their personality.
Popularizing the tech among the masses is a part of their mission and features such as Game Mode, Bass Boost+ algorithm, ENC, Transparency Mode, unique Natural Light Design in the hearables segment, are great examples of the same. In smartwatches, they have launched 1.69-inch – then biggest screen in the 3K segment, biggest AMOLED Display in 4K segment, metal frame and 600-nits high brightness, etc. along with realme Link App and DIZO App customizations. And these features come at very competitive price points as they aim to break the premiumness that is attached to products and offer highest quality products that are pocket friendly.
Price is a calculation of the profit and technology cost. Some competition brands are charging a lot of technology cost and also spending a lot of money on celebrity endorsements and other marketing activities, which definitely adds up to the cost for consumers.
The millennials era and now GenZ era has changed the market dynamics. Consumers today want the latest and premium features, at the most competitive price. They also go for the brand personality, rather than the years of existence.
The market, today, confirms that whatsoever, the product has to be great in terms of features and quality, and should be fulfilling consumers needs. If the product is good, consumers are so well-informed that they will do the rest of the work, to tell their friends, family and people around. At DIZO, they want to work towards the word-of-mouth, and their product will do just great by itself. Success of DIZO Watch 2, DIZO Buds Z, DIZO GoPods D and DIZO Wireless are great examples and the reviews and ratings on FK are proof of this theory.
Their mantra is to understand their needs and provide them with the same without compromising on technology and quality. They do not just simply bring down the prices and give all the specs about. They keep a healthy mix of product innovation in any category and at any price point. And a brand they want to resonate with them, listen to them, connect throughout the product journey and give them as many options.
Because, at DIZO they wish to break the price limitation that comes with the premiumness of a product. The aim is to provide solutions that are innovative and trendy, without hurting customers’ pockets.
DIZO – Customer Acquisition
DIZO was not an overnight thought, but relentless backend groundwork, studying consumer buying behaviour and researching about the industry is what took to create DIZO, the sensation it is today. They had begun planning much before the official global launch. DIZO built a huge setup which included utilizing its global connections and resources to ensure quality remains a key priority along with establishing an India specific R&D team and service network.
Since the launch, DIZO has been getting a lot of traction across online platforms, which was their primary motive initially for all the products. They also launched DIZO feature phones in the offline market. They have a strategic and yet robust touchpoint network that they have established to remain close and accessible to their customers. Flipkart is its partner for online sales. In terms of retail presence, as part of their long-term commitment to India, they do have plans for a larger offline presence, and they are already working on it. They have a strong service network across India, DIZO Squad – the community and, their social media to address and answer consumer queries and at the same time, engage with consumers for suggestions and product discussions.
Owing to everything mentioned above, the first 100 customers were easy. Not even 5 months into operations in India, DIZO celebrated securing a strong consumer base of 1 million. They witnessed overwhelming response, love and support from their customers. The products including DIZO Watch 2, DIZO GoPods D, DIZO Wireless and DIZO Buds Z and feature phones flew off the shelves and are now being lapped up by more than a million customers in India alone!
Incidentally, DIZO’s achievements are further validated by one of India’s premier research agencies – Counterpoint Technology Market Research – who in its India TWS Shipments Report for Q3 2021 recognized DIZO as an emerging and fastest-growing brand in India and in their latest Smartwatch Market Report, DIZO was ranked among Top 10 brands in India.
DIZO – Marketing Campaign
DIZO has undertaken several campaigns to engage and interact with its customers and audience over the period of time since its inception. To celebrate the different personalities from multiple walks of life, DIZO launched ‘DIZO Talk’. The idea behind it was to encourage and celebrate the spirit of all the different personalities and support the bold choices taken by them in life. It is an initiative by DIZO that will bring to the fore many personalities from various genres to talk about what they do and how they live, love and pursue their goals. Through this forum, the brand wants to engage the DIZO friends and fans, called as DIZO Squad, to motivate and possibly help them stay focused to follow their passion in life.
DIZO believes in co-prosperity and being a young brand themselves, the brand is working towards encouraging and engaging with unique talents in the country. To this, they introduced the Tutting campaign to announce the launch of the DIZO Watch R & DIZO Buds Z Pro. DIZO had collaborated with India’s first tutting dance crew, Tuttix Crew, to create an eye-grabbing experience for its audience. The digital film was released on 5th January 2022 which showcased the Tuttix crew placing both products at the center of their art form.
Furthermore, on Diwali DIZO rolled out a unique Diwali campaign – #ClichedDiwaliAds – on its social media platforms. It captures the true essence of India’s festive mood with a light-hearted take on the most commonly used format of storytelling, and yet integrating its own product in a totally non-cliched manner. The campaign was executed by White Rivers Media.
DIZO – Challenges Faced
The most obvious challenge is of course the pandemic situation. They waited long for everything to get all fine. But, eventually took a decision and launched the brand globally on May 25, 2021. It was a huge decision that could impact the very existence and even growth of the brand, but it stood right decision.
Wearables as a category is hot and with entertainment avenues being cut short in the last few years, more and more people are turning to the connected world for everyday entertainment. Here, the challenge was to offer the product options for them to make the right choice. They are offering them the right tech solutions in the form of range of earbuds – DIZO Buds Z Pro, DIZO Buds Z, DIZO GoPods D, DIZO GoPods and DIZO GoPods Neo; then they have the DIZO Wireless and DIZO Wireless Power, which are neckband earphones. They have also launched the DIZO Watch 2 Sports, DIZO Watch 2, DIZO Watch R, DIZO Watch and DIZO Watch Pro, DIZO Beard Trimmer Plus and the DIZO hair Dryer to complement various aspects of a person’s daily activities at home or at work. They ensured that they come at a price that even people with thin wallets can afford, which means to keep their quality high and prices low.
Having the right mix of online and offline visibility was another challenge, as they are riding on the digital revolution that has technically offset the need to be seen and heard on offline platforms, at least for the near future. But offline is equally important. Therefore, they are focused on their online visibility and so they signed up with Flipkart to make their products accessible to everyone across the country. Having said this, they are appropriately available across key physical retail outlets across the country. So, the omnichannel route has been their choice right from the start.
Another challenge which they had foreseen even before starting off, was after-sales services. They learnt early in their journey that after-sales service is critical for their business. They are serious about it. When they launched they already had 320+ service centers in 310+ cities. Today, they have in place over 490+ service centers in over 450+ cities across the country and this number will expand gradually. Additionally, they are working with the same consumer support agencies that realme and Flipkart work with. They also have DIZO Squad, the community for their consumers, where they can share information, make complaints and suggestions to us.
DIZO – Growth
India is a key strategic market for DIZO and hence, they are looking to be a long term global AIoT brand with a great deal of focus in India. Few years down the line, they are aiming to be the top player in the smartwatches and True Wireless Stereo (TWS) category and becoming one of the top players in AIoT products would be their long-term vision.
Their products are already doing great online on Flipkart, while feature phones are selling good offline along with other products in select retail stores. They are working towards making DIZO available across all nearest retail stores. It is a journey that will take time to realize but in 2022, they surely are going to keep a great focus on this part.
At DIZO, they will continue to focus on understanding their consumers more and more, so that they can provide customized solutions. They will continue to follow a 360-degree approach that places the consumer at the center of universe along with increased focus on engagement with the DIZO Squad for product designs, name suggestions, customization of watch faces and listening to their complaints.
Product wise, they will focus on audio and smartwatches the most, along with other product solutions. In audio, you will see more unique and differentiated solutions with ANC, Big Battery and fast charging capabilities. In smartwatches, there will be more innovations in design, display size, resolution and other functions like calling options. Developing and bettering the DIZO App for more customization and personalization options will be their third major focus.
DIZO is part of the realme TechLife ecosystem and hence shares the same aspirations in terms of R&D focus and manufacturing standards and as mentioned earlier DIZO supported by realme in 3 key aspects – Industrial Design, Supply Chain and AIoT Experience. Having said that, realme also helps us whenever necessary and required by us.
Seeking advisory is not only limited to the Techlife ecosystem, DIZO constantly engages with its DIZO Squad as well as the customers through their numerous customer service offices across India to understand their experience and ask for suggestions. This helps DIZO gauge the interest as well as demand of the customers and helps serve them better. They also connect with their media friends and partners such as Flipkart and offline partners to gather insights into the new developments in the industry.
DIZO – Competitors
Considering the diverse portfolio of products that they have and plan to introduce, they cannot single out a brand or a few brands and call them their competition. In fact, they are not focused on the competition, at least, not for now. Their focus, instead, is more on understanding consumer needs better, analyzing the available options and then committing to providing them with the best solutions. In the process, their focus will be to become their preferred choice, when it comes to consumers choosing AIoT enabled products.
DIZO – Recognition and Achievements
The previous year has been extraordinary for us. One of their best sellers, DIZO Watch 2, saw tremendous support and love from everyone since its launch as it made a record of selling 100,000 units within 40 days of its first sale. This is the fastest ever by any single model in the smartwatch history in the country. Earlier, the same hero smartwatch from DIZO made another record of selling 50,000 units in 15 days from its first sale, which is again the fastest ever by a single model in the category.
DIZO has successfully made it to the top 10 smartwatches brand in India, as per the latest report on India smartwatch shipment by Counterpoint Technology Market Research.Around 80 brands are present in India’s smartwatch market and over 10 brands entered the market in 2021. In such a dynamic and aggressive environment, DIZO in less than a year has managed to win hearts across the country. This also shows that their consumers have entrusted us, and they are able to fulfill the consumer needs.
Additionally, as per Counterpoint Technology Market Research, DIZO is an emerging and the fastest growing brand in Q3 2021 TWS shipment report.
Most recently, the brand had announced that it became 1 million strong in India in terms of customer base. As a new entrant, DIZO managed to clock this rare feat within just 5 months of its launch in May 2021. Additionally, it also surpassed the 100cr revenue mark in India in the same time frame. Launched on May 25 this year, the company presently offers a dozen differentiated products in smartwatches, TWS earbuds, neckband earphones and feature phones, and now mobile accessories for its consumers.
DIZO – Future Plans
They kicked off the new year with the launch of two new products- the latest smartwatch – DIZO Watch R and TWS – DIZO Buds Z Pro. As the first smartwatch sporting a round dial from DIZO’s portfolio of smartwatches, the DIZO Watch R comes equipped with advanced functionalities including an AMOLED display. The DIZO Buds Z Pro on the other hand, flaunts the natural light design, ANC upto 25dB, dual-color charging case, and extended battery life.
Adding to their kitty of products, they launched DIZO Watch 2 Sports recently. It is the successor of their bestselling DIZO Watch 2, and has the biggest display in its price segment, 20% lighter than the former one, multi-sport tracking functionality and more smart features for its consumers. For the fashionistas of today’s era, it comes in six cool and trendy colour options along with 150+ watch faces and personalization options. The fitness enthusiasts can choose their favourite activity from 110+ sports modes, which include standard ones like running, walking, cycling, gymnastics, elliptical, yoga, etc. to even specific ones climbing, hockey, football, horse riding, high/ long jump, several dance forms, Tai Chi, martial arts, trampoline and so much more. Further, it comes with a 1.69-in (4.3 cm) full touchscreen display, 600nits high brightness, 150+ watch faces, multiple health monitoring features, 260mAh battery and 5ATM water resistance.
And for the neckband lovers, they have launched DIZO Wireless Power, which features a unique Power Hive Design and multiple exciting features, the DIZO Wireless Power is sure to offer an engaging and energetic audio experience and at the same time complement your distinct fashion statement. This neckband boasts a 11.2mm Large Driver, Bass Boost+ algorithm, magnetic fast pair technology, dedicated Game Mode, 18 hours of total playback and realme Link App, will be sold on Flipkart in three cool shades of Violet Blue, Hunter Green and Classic Black.
Their focus is on popularizing tech among the masses by bringing the latest premium technologies and top-quality AIoT experience at aggressive price points.Theyhave aggressive plans for expansion in India and there is a huge portfolio of products being planned across varied categories that include smart home, smart entertainment, smart care ,and accessories.
In 2022, they expect the AIoT product’s market to grow twice the current market and with the aim to become the fastest growing brand in AIoT products, they will target to grow by 4X of the market rate. In India, they expect to have around 30 products by the end of this year.
Himaya Presthitha
