StartupTalky

Tag: 📄Company Profiles

  • Success Story of POPxo: Beauty, Fashion, and Lifestyle Community For Women

    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 POPxo.

    POPxo is India’s largest online community for millennial women to read, watch, purchase, and hang out, which was founded in 2015. POPxo brings a welcoming and empowering environment that encourages women to live their best lives.

    POPxo is aimed to merge content and commerce, which started as content and eventually had its own private label brand. POPxo’s articles, videos, and social networking material are in six languages – English, Hindi, Marathi, Bangla, Tamil, and Telugu – which has attracted over 39 million monthly users who spend over 3 million hours across all of the company’s platforms.

    POPxo also partners with the leading companies to increase its reach and engage its audience. The whole platform runs on the basis of content that fascinates young girls. Furthermore, it also features on its website, Bollywood news, life hacks, retail listicles and more.

    POPxo was acquired by MyGlamm’s parent, The Good Glamm Group on August 7, 2020. The six-year-old company’s investors – Chiratae Ventures, Kalaari Capital, and Neoplux Venture Capital have joined the board of MyGlamm soon after the acquisition. Furthermore, Priyanka Gill, the founder of POPxo also joined MyGlamm as a cofounder. Here’s all about POPxo, its Founders and Team, Business Model, Revenue Model, Services, Funding, FAQs, and more.

    POPxo – Company Highlights

    Startup Name POPxo
    Legal Name Luxeva Limited
    Headquarters Gurgaon, Haryana
    Sector Beauty, Health & Lifestyle
    Founded March 2014
    Founders Priyanka Gill and Namrata Bostrom
    Parent Company The Good Glamm Group
    Operating Revenue $1.61M in FY19
    Funding $12.4 mn (2021)
    Number of Employees 251 to 500
    Website www.popxo.com

    Popxo – Latest News

    January 24, 2022 – Popxo parent, The Good Glamm Group acquires Organic Harvest, a beauty and personal care D2C startup led by Rahul Agarwal.

    October 1, 2021 – Popxo enters the Indian cosmetic industry with a Makeup Collection from Myglamm.

    Popxo – About
    Popxo – Industry
    Popxo – Startup Story
    Popxo – Founders and Team
    Popxo – Mission and Vision
    Popxo – Name, Tagline and Logo
    Popxo – Business Model
    Popxo – Revenue Model
    Popxo – Services
    Popxo – Funding and Investors
    Popxo – Growth
    Popxo – Startup Challenges
    Popxo – Competitors
    Popxo – Future Plans
    Popxo – FAQs

    What is POPxo

    Popxo – About

    POPxo has been founded in 2014 as India’s largest online community for women that offers discussions, content, and products across a wide range of domains including fashion, beauty, lifestyle, work, and more. Founded by Priyanka Gill and Namrata Bostrom, PopXo offers millennial women an excellent platform where they can read, watch, shop, and hang out. Along with exclusive products across brands, PopXo also offers text and video content in a manner that is accessible via social media on mobile and PCs across the web. PopXo has last reported having crossed the 9 million mark in terms of user acquisitions every month and has boasted of witnessing over 102 million monthly engaged content views.

    Popxo was acquired by MyGlamm in August 2020 and has since served as a subsidiary of MyGlamm, which eventually turned into The Good Glamm Group in September 2021. The Popxo parent, MyGlamm includes The Moms Co, St Botanica and Sirona, along with other content platforms – POPxo, Scoopwhoop, and BabyChakra, as per January 2022’s reports, and has already turned unicorn in November 2021, thereby being hailed as the first beauty commerce unicorn company of India.

    Popxo – Industry

    The Indian industry comprised of online personal care and beauty brands and products are estimated to reach $4.4 billion by 2025. There is also likely to be a 4X increase witnessed in the number of shoppers of beauty and personal care products online, which was last reported to be 25 million in FY20 and would be going up to 110 million in FY25.

    Popxo – Startup Story

    The Popxo is founded by two dynamic women – Priyanka Gill and Namrata Bostrom. During 2012-13 there was no content platform at scale in English for women. So, this was the point when they thought of creating a useful platform for women and began Popxo in March 2013. Priyanka Gill first started Estylista in September 2013 in London for the NRI women, which is popularly known as the base of PopXo. For the first few years, the company started working out of London and raised its first institutional round of funding.

    Initially, Popxo created content that enthused women who love to delve into fashion, beauty, lifestyle, wedding, relationships, work, fitness et cetera. The most popular things that attracted women to the Popxo website are hair and skin protection, and other products.

    The greatness of the website lies in the production of 1500+ articles in six languages that the Popxo website was last recorded to be publishing every month. The team understood the audience well and presented articles in the same way, which lead to content creation to adding relevant videos. Today, the platform produces 60-70 videos a month and generates 100-150 million views a month. The duration of videos is between 3-7 minutes. Furthermore, they even produce web series.

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    Popxo – Founders and Team

    Priyanka Gill, Founder of PoPXo 

    Priyanka Gill

    Priyanka is the Co-Founder and President of MyGlamm and the Founder and CEO of POPxo and Plixxo. She lives in London with her husband and two children as a digital media entrepreneur and storyteller. She enjoys working with creative and entrepreneurial people, particularly women, and considers it a privilege to be in their company. She is now enrolled in a joint London Business School and Columbia Business School EMBA – Global program, said her Linkedin profile post dated May 24, 2021.

    Her passion for writing merged with entrepreneurship when she started her own site, Estylista, which is now known as POPxo. She returned to India in 2014 to create POPxo, envisioning her company as a safe and engaging community that helps Indian women lead their lives. Influencer marketing seems to be on the verge of breaking out in India. As a result, she began developing a tech-enabled platform to take advantage of this enormous opportunity. Plixxo was released in 2017 and is powered by PopXo. It was here that India’s first generation of influencers grew up. Priyanka Gill has experience serving as a freelance writer and editor and an investor and board member for several companies. She eventually served as an advisor at PolkaRare and a seed investor of Kalamint, a role that she is still continuing with. She co-founded The Good Glamm Group on Darpan Sanghvi and Naiyya Saggi in September 2021 initially with the merger of MyGlamm, PopXo, and BabyChakra.      

    POPxo’s Plixxo also joined MyGlamm, India’s premier beauty conglomerate, in 2020, marking a watershed moment and a watershed year. Three powerful brands merged to form one incredible enterprise that goes by the name The Good Glamm, the parent company of MyGlamm in August 2020 and since then, Gill has been appointed as the Cofounder of the latter.

    Namrata Bostrom was the co-founder of PopXo, who has also been the CEO of the company as well from the initial phase of the company and stepped down from the role in March 2017. Bostrom is an Economics student who has The University of Oxford and London Business School as her alma mater. Bostrom earlier served as a Consultant at The Boston Consulting Group, and as a Sales and Product Strategist at EDITED before co-founding PopXo. After leaving the role at PopXo, Namrata joined Facebook, the company that she is still aligned to as the Product Management Lead.

    PopXo initially had a team of 15 people working together, which eventually grew to include more than 200 employees strong.  

    POPxo Founder and CEO – Priyanka Gill talks about POPxo

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    Popxo – Mission and Vision

    PopXo’s vision has always been “to build a content-community-commerce platform for women.”

    The mission of the company was to help the users find their inner natural glow. Now, as a part of The Good Glamm Group, PopXo’s mission is aligned with the mission of its parent, which aims to build the global Digital FMCG Conglomerate of the Future.

    PopXo Logo

    PopXo’s tagline has said, ‘Take it up a POP!’ – and we live and breathe it with everything we do.

    Popxo – Business Model

    Popxo targets millennial women aged between 18-35 with a range of products across diverse industries including fashion, beauty, lifestyle, wedding, wellness, and entertainment. The company has recently forayed into the cosmetics industry. The social community platform for women has entered the cosmetics industry, which is currently valued at $20 billion with a Makeup Collection by MyGlamm. MyGlamm has acquired Popxo towards the end of last year, and this development has come almost a year after that.

    This new makeup collection is termed POPxo Makeup Collection by MyGlamm and will include nail kits, face kits, eye kits, and lip kits in order to cater to all makeup needs. The entire range is reported to be priced under Rs 499 per product in an effort to stay within the affordable limits for younger women. The Popxo Makeup Collection powered by MyGlamm will be sold on the MyGlaam app and website along with being available at popular company stores and kiosks across the country.

    Popxo – Revenue Model

    Sponsored content is the initial source of revenue. The company approaches brands and claim to have a large audience. Popxo knows what people want and can assist you in selling. The company made content for them, including social media and video content. That comes first while influencer marketing comes in second. Ads come in third, and e-commerce comes in fourth.

    Popxo’s money comes from sponsored material, which accounts for half of our total. Influencer marketing accounts for 40% of income. They started selling online in the fourth quarter of the previous fiscal year.

    Business Model of POPxo | Different Revenue segments of POPxo
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    StartupTalkyPratyusha Srivastava

    Popxo – Services

    POPxo Services- Beauty, Fashion, Lifestyle, Wedding, Wellness
    POPxo Services- Beauty, Fashion, Lifestyle, Wedding, Wellness
    • Fashion– POPxo allows you to stay up to speed on the latest fashion trends by reading fashion articles and watching videos. Thefashion experts of the company provide the users with everything they need to stay on-trend, from styling advice to shopping hotspots and must-have items. The platform also offers the latest news on fashion in both western and Indian. It also provides the best tips and fashion hacks that suit you. This platform also offers the latest updates on celebrity attires (both Bollywood and Hollywood).
    • Beauty– The team of beauty specialists is committed to providing the users with the best services available in the industry. The beauty section has it all, from unbiased product reviews to makeup hacks to skin and hair care advice. The users get updates on skincare, makeup, hair, bath & body, nails, hair products, beauty products and DIYs.
    • Lifestyle– POPxo also offers related content from a wide range of topics. It provides the consumers with popular articles across all categories, from travel and education to sex and relationships.
    • Wedding– Wedding planning can be as stressful as you imagine, which is why Popxo is also there to assist. The wedding area keeps young brides-to-be up to date on the latest trends. POPxo has all you need to know about weddings, from bridal makeup to honeymoon ideas.
    • Wellness– Overall wellness, according to POPxo, is at the heart of a healthy lifestyle. So, if the consumers want to live a healthier life, check out Popxo’s wellness section which has articles on managing stress and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
    • Entertainment– Popxo will make sure the users get the best of everything from the comfort of their homes on laptops or mobile phones, from movie recommendations to what’s going on in the lives of their favorite celebrity.

    Popxo is home to all feminine things. POPxo’s online store, which includes items such as home decor, beauty, clothes, face masks, mobile accessories, stationery, rakhi presents, and more, is an attempt to make online shopping for women in India more enjoyable!

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    Popxo – Funding and Investors

    POPxo has raised a total funding of $12.4M in over 7 rounds of funding. POPxo is funded by 21 investors. Neoplux, IDG Ventures, Summit Media, Oppo, Kalaari Capital, STRIVE, Chiratae Ventures are the lead investors of POPxo.

    Date Round Amount Lead Investors
    Apr 25, 2018 Series C $5M Neoplux, Oppo
    Mar 1, 2018 Series B $750K –
    Mar 16, 2017 Series B $3.3M Chiratae Ventures, STRIVE
    Nov 5, 2015 Series A $2M 500 Startups, Chiratae Ventures, Kalaari Capital
    Nov 1, 2014 Angel Round $500K —
    Jul 1, 2013 Seed Round $300K —

    Popxo – Growth

    PopXo grew considerably with a well-knit team of 33 people in its textual content team. Let’s look at some of the prominent milestones that PopXo managed to attain throughout the years:

    • It has drawn over 39 million users per month
    • PopXo has delivered content in over 6 languages
    • The startup has seen over 10.18 mn visiting its content across the mobile app in a month
    • PopXo claims to have 1.6 bn monthly social media impressions

    Popxo – Startup Challenges

    Founded by Priyanka Gill and Namrata Bostrom, ideating, founding, and growing PopXo was difficult for two independent women entrepreneurs, which both of them managed really well, earning themselves quite a name in the industry. The first challenge for PopXo was to expand the content it produced and the kind of content produced by the website. The challenge that followed was the creation of an app. Even here PopXo absolutely nailed it. The website witnessed an overwhelming 500K initial downloads!  

    Popxo – Competitors

    Though Popxo, when it was launched,  was the sole platform focused on confident and educated women, which speak to them directly without taking down to them, PopXo has been a lot of companies competing with it once it started achieving milestones. Some of the PopXo competitors can be noted as:

    • ScoopWhoop
    • Polka Cafe
    • BuzzFeed
    • The Business of Fashion
    • nippon.com
    • Luxe Radio
    • The Canberra Times

    Popxo – Future Plans

    Popxo forayed into the beauty segment with POPxo Makeup Collection by MyGlamm, where both MyGlamm and PopXo are a part of The Good Glamm Group in October 2021 and is currently targeting a revenue run rate of Rs 100 crore in the upcoming 12 months.

    Popxo – FAQs

    What is POPxo?

    POPxo is an Indian online platform specially for women to read, watch, shop and hangout. POPxo covers content related to beauty, weddings, health and lifestyle.

    Who started POPxo?

    Priyanka Gill has founded POPxo in 2015.

    Who is the owner of MyGlamm?

    Darpan Sanghvi owns MyGlamm.

    Does POPxo creates videos along with content?

    Yes, POPxo is able to create over 2000 pieces of content along with 150 videos, 800 stories and a large number of social media graphics.

  • Takeoff Success Story – Online Mutual Fund Distribution Platform for Non-Individual Investors

    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 Takeoff.

    Investment is all about making your future a better place. It is for the financial security of their capital that one can enjoy in the future. When a person makes an investment, it is to ensure that they get to earn higher returns. Investing in mutual funds goal is not any different.

    Mutual funds are a form of investment if people are able to understand it clearly. Now, individuals are able to invest on their own in mutual funds. For non-individuals like businesses, trusts, and others, Takeoff has taken responsibility since 2020. It is India’s first online mutual fund distribution platform for non-individuals.

    StartupTalky brings all about Takeoff, the platform, its Startup Story, Founders and Team, Name, Tagline and Logo, Funding and Investors, Business Model and Revenue Model, Challenges, Competitors, Awards and Achievements, and more in the article ahead!

    Takeoff – Company Highlights

    Company Name Takeoff Fintech Pvt. Ltd.
    Headquarter Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
    Industry Financial Services
    Founded May 2020
    Founder Prasad R. Lendwe
    Employees 11-50
    Areas Served India
    Website www.takeoff.in/

    About Takeoff and How it Works?
    Takeoff – Industry
    Takeoff – Founders and Team
    Takeoff – Startup Story
    Takeoff – Mission and Vision
    Takeoff – Name, Tagline, and Logo
    Takeoff – Business and Revenue Model
    Takeoff – Challenges Faced
    Takeoff – Growth
    Takeoff – Advertisements and Social Media Campaigns
    Takeoff – Future Plans
    Takeoff – FAQ

    About Takeoff and How it Works?

    The service that Takeoff mainly provides is mutual fund distribution. The main USP is that the entire process is online and condensed from 30 days to 1 day. Companies can now have the luxury to choose from all the schemes from all the AMCs through an easy-to-access platform. They have 24×7 access and the support team is always just a call away.

    Takeoff also provides KYC services for non-individual clients like businesses, trusts, government bodies etc. Gone are the days when one has to send mountains of documents to the AMCs and has to suffer the two months of hassle while their KYC was being processed. The Takeoff team takes only minimal documents and gets the KYC processed within just 7-10 working days.

    Takeoff – Industry

    Takeoff operates in the financial services and mutual fund industry.

    Growth in mutual fund industry AUM:

    The mutual fund industry has witnessed a growth of 30.82% from 2020 to 2021 with Rs. 26.07 trillion AUM (Assets under Management) in 2020 to  Rs. 34.10 trillion AUM in 2021.

    Split of investor accounts:

    The total number of investor accounts of Takeoff as of March 21 was 9,78,65,529, from which  7,91,859 (0.81%) is Institutional investor accounts and  9,70,73,670 (99.19%) are Retail and HNI investor accounts.

    Split of industry assets:

    The Total industry assets of Takeoff as of June 21 is Rs. 34,10,403 crore, from which Retail investor assets is Rs. 18,33,568 crore and Institutional investor accounts are Rs. 15,76,835 crores.

    Takeoff – Founders and Team

    Prasad R. Lendwe - Founder of Takeoff
    Prasad R. Lendwe – Founder of Takeoff

    Takeoff is founded by Prasad R. Lendwe, an Electrical Engineer. He is an MBA droupout from Kalina University, Mumbai. Apart from being the founder of Takeoff, he runs a Finance based YouTube channel, Convey by Finnovationz as well and has more than 1.8 M Subscribers.

    The current size of the Takeoff team is 15-18 members. The work culture in Takeoff is very relaxed and informal. They believe in working hard and playing harder. It basically means, during office hours, one can find them hunched over their laptops. During lunch, however, the team can be found engaging in spirited table tennis tournaments and other games.

    Takeoff – Startup Story

    Before starting Takeoff, the company was focused on their Youtube channel Convey by FinnovationZ. Through this channel, they were able to spread financial awareness for the past 6 years.

    In Jan 2020, they decided to take some of their own advice and tried to invest on behalf of their company. There are some surplus in the current account and the fact that they are earning 0% interest on it bothered them a lot. After using platforms like Zerodha and Groww in the past, it was wrongly assumed that the process would be just as easy.

    It was only after the actual process started, they realised how difficult it is in reality. As there was no dedicated platform working towards the mutual fund investment needs of non-individualism, the idea of the formation of Takeoff first came into their mind.

    Takeoff – Mission and Vision

    Takeoff’s short-term vision is to spread awareness and encourage more non-individuals to begin their mutual fund investment journey. They intend on doing this by providing top-quality service and exploiting their first-mover advantage.

    Their long-term vision is to emerge as a complete investment solution for non-individuals and to become a one-stop destination for any kind of investment that companies and other non-individuals want to indulge in.

    The core belief is centred on the fact that non-individuals, whether its companies, trusts, proprietors, or any of the others, deserve the same facilities and the same ease that individuals do. In the past few years, thousands of platforms have cropped up for retail investors, but companies have, sadly, been left out. It is Takeoff intention to right this wrong and fixes the imbalance.

    Takeoff logo

    Takeoff Fintech Pvt. Ltd. is the officially registered name of the company.

    The company doesn’t have an active tagline yet.

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    Takeoff – Business and Revenue Model

    Takeoff is working on a distribution model. The platform is currently free to use for all of their clients and it will always be free to use. Any non-individual can register and open accounts in Takeoff. No amount is charged from the clients. The revenue comes from the AMC (Asset management company). A fixed brokerage amount is paid for each AMC.

    Takeoff – Challenges Faced

    The lack of awareness among the non-individuals in India that they too can invest in mutual funds on behalf of their organization is the most challenging part of Takeoff. The conversion is not easy from a lead to an active investor, as the company has to explain the whole product and the industry at the same time over a very short span of time to their clients.

    Takeoff – Growth

    The journey from 0 to 100 Clients

    The journey was of severe ups and downs, like a roller coaster. Takeoff got their first client in December 2020 on their beta version and after some infertile months, the platform started gaining recognition, through several marketing campaigns. Currently, they have over 550 registered users and the company is experiencing slow but steady growth, they believe in value over volume.

    Customer Retention

    Takeoff believes that the best customer retention can be achieved only through superior customer service. Investments are a fairly complicated process, even if one makes it seems as easy as possible, clients will still have doubts. It is very important to make the clients feel as though the company is with them at each step along the way, in case they encounter any kinds of difficulties. This process has helped Takeoff in retaining its clients.

    Takeoff – Advertisements and Social Media Campaigns

    Takeoff has tried various platforms and a plethora of campaigns to generate leads and convert them to active investors. LinkedIn ads and their own Convey YouTube channel have been proved a constant success for the company. The company is looking forward to more events and other activities so that they can reach out to the target audience and make the platform enriched with the soul vision of the company.

    Takeoff – Future Plans

    The company is doing quite well. It has started to make a name for itself and is experiencing a steady inflow of clients in future. Both their client base and the AUM have started to increase.

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    Takeoff – FAQ

    What is Takeoff?

    Takeoff is India’s first online mutual fund distribution platform for non-individuals. They help non-individuals like companies, government bodies etc to invest in mutual funds.

    Who is the founder of Takeoff?

    Takeoff is founded by Prasad R. Lendwe.

  • Jugnoo – Your Go-To for Effortless Auto-Rickshaw Rides and Swift Hyperlocal Deliveries

    Auto rickshaws are an essential medium of transportation in India, especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities. However, the sector is still unorganized. Owing to this, auto-rickshaw drivers have been frequently spotted sitting idle, while many commuters have to face inconveniences finding auto-rickshaws. To fill this gap, Samar Singla and Chinmay Agarwal founded Jugnoo in 2014.

    Jugnoo is India’s largest technology-driven on-demand auto-rickshaw aggregator, which connects riders with safe, reliable, and convenient auto-rickshaws with just a few clicks. Here is a detailed company profile of Jugnoo, complete with all about Jugnoo, its Founders, Funding and Investors, Business Model, Revenue Model, Name and Logo, Marketing Campaigns, and more.

    Jugnoo – Company Highlights

    Startup Name Jugnoo
    Headquarters Chandigarh
    Founders Samar Singla & Chinmay Agarwal
    Sector Transportation
    Founded 2014
    CEO Samar Singla
    Website jugnoo.in

    What is Jugnoo
    Jugnoo – Industry Details
    Jugnoo – Founders
    Jugnoo – The Idea and Starting Up
    Jugnoo – Name and Logo
    Jugnoo – Business Model
    Jugnoo – Revenue Model
    Jugnoo – Customer Acquisition
    Jugnoo – Marketing Campaigns
    Jugnoo – Funding
    Jugnoo – Growth
    Jugnoo – Challenges
    Jugnoo – Competitors
    Jugnoo – Partners
    Jugnoo – Acquisitions
    Jugnoo – Revenue
    Jugnoo – Achievements
    Jugnoo – Conclusion
    Jugnoo – FAQs

    What is Jugnoo

    Jugnoo initially started as an on-demand auto rickshaw service and introduced various user-friendly features to make it easier for users to book a ride. In 2016, Jugnoo introduced Jugnoo Bot, which allowed Facebook users to book a ride through Facebook Messenger, Jugnoo’s website, or its Facebook page. Jugnoo also offers a Multilingual interface for drivers, with over eight languages other than English.

    As Jugnoo started gaining popularity as an auto-rickshaw aggregator, the founders leaped and launched various new services. The other services offered by Jugnoo are –

    • Dodo deliveries – It enables vendors to deliver goods to their customers. Dodo deliveries is now renamed as Jugnoo Delivery.
    • Flight map – It is a comprehensive routing solution, that solves travel salesman and vehicle routing problems.
    • Fatafat – Hyperlocal deliveries like food, grocery, veggies. Fatafat was shut down in October 2015. The service was launched again in Chandigarh in May 2016, after acquiring SabKuch Fresh.
    • Menus – The company had earlier launched Jugnoo meals. However, it was closed down in October 2015, and in 2017 it was re-launched as Menus. Jugnoo Menus has brought onboard popular restaurants and outlets like Burger King, Pizza Hut, Subway, Baskin Robins, Super Donut, Burger point, Rolla costa, Copper Chimney, Marky Momos and Dhaba.com
    • AskLocal – The AskLocal feature of the Jugnoo app will not only provide local information but is also a platform where the users can ask questions, give recommendations, and share content. It is a geolocation-based platform and is operational across all locations covered by Jugnoo.

    Jugnoo – Industry Details

    A study conducted by EMBARQ India has shown that there are around 50,000 auto-rickshaws in the tier 1 cities of India. Again in tier 2 cities, there are approx 15,000-30,000 auto rickshaws. The concept of the auto-aggregator is quite new in India. However many newbies, as well as leaders like Uber and Ola, have entered the autoaggregation sector.

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    Jugnoo – Founders

    Jugnoo was founded by Samar Singla and Chinmay Agarwal in 2014.

    Owner of Jugnoo
    Jugnoo Founder- Samar Singla and Chinmay Agarwal | Success Story of Jugnoo

    Samar Singla

    Jugnoo co-founder, Samar Singla is an alumnus of IIT Delhi, graduating with a BTech degree in Physics. Before this company, Jugnoo, Samar also founded Click Labs. He also has been a researcher at the University of Maryland and IBM. Singa has also contributed as a scientist at CERN, Geneva. His mission is to change billions of lives with the help of technology. Samar is now the CEO of Jugnoo. Besides Jugnoo, Samar is also serving as the CEO of JungleWorks. Founded in 2015 by Samar Singla, JungleWorks provides a complete technology stack for businesses.

    “We don’t want to compete with these gorillas (Uber and Ola). We are currently following the Cockroach approach: Our focus is on survival, not winning. Also, we focus on growing in spaces where there is no competition” – Samar Singla, CEO, Jugnoo.

    Chinmay Agarwal

    Jugnoo Ex-Co-founder and COO Chinmay Agarwal, is also from IIT Delhi. He pursued a Master’s in robotics from the University of Genoa and was a scientist at Smart Cane. He was also the Co-founder of Click Labs along with Samar. Chimay also has a patent of Methods and applications for altitude measurement and fusion of user context detection with elevation motion for personal navigation systems.

    In the beginning, Jugnoo’s founders, Samar and Chinmay were unaware of the major influence they were about to make on the daily lives of the common commuters and the auto drivers. Initiated with a casual attitude, soon they realized the situation was way more challenging than anticipated.

    Jugnoo is Samar’s third venture, after Prodigy Foods, which he exited in two years, and started SaaS technology solution provider Click Labs.

    The company has 400+ employees currently. Samar stresses the need to keep the employees motivated. He feels talking to the employees, being transparent, and aligning with them for the long term is truly beneficial for the company.

    Jugnoo – The Idea and Starting Up

    Samar observed that the major issues in the auto transport network were the obstinately uncooperative attitude of the auto drivers, unavailability, and unreasonable charges. The idea was to tap the potential public transport medium in tier 2 and tier 3 cities, i.e., the auto-rickshaw, so the public can hail it by using the mobile app, and the auto drivers can save on the waiting time; a concept similar to the taxi services like Ola. Jugnoo auto app was introduced on all the major platforms in smartphones such as ios, Android, and Windows. Users can also book Jugnoo rides using Jugnoo’s Facebook bot.

    Jugnoo means firefly. According to Samar, the word Jugnoo is related to nostalgia and happy memories. When people see a Jugnoo auto with a sticker of the brand, it becomes easier for them to remember the Jugnoo company. The name, thus, has a recall value.

    Jugnoo Logo | Success Story of Jugnoo

    Jugnoo – Business Model

    Jugnoo has ventured into different businesses in both B2B and B2C segments. While it started operations in the B2C segment as an auto aggregator, Jugnoo also launched other B2C services like ‘Fatafat‘ and ‘Menus‘.

    Jugnoo forayed into the B2B segment with, with B2B logistics service, ‘Jugnoo Delivery‘ and comprehensive routing solutions, ‘Flight Map‘

    As regards the auto aggregator service, pricing for Jugnoo autos differs on a city-to-city basis. The strategy is to be the most affordable A-2-B transport option for the app users in that city. Some cities have a base fare + per km + per minute charge, some cities operate on meter fare. You can check the rates in different cities by downloading the app and searching for the cities. The fare is displayed in the bottom bar.

    Jugnoo – Revenue Model

    Jugnoo charges a commission back from the drivers. The commission rate is 10% of the ticket size in most cities. It runs a number of incentive schemes for the drivers, this again is based on the stage of maturity in a city and the engagement level of the drivers.

    It is trying to build efficiency in the market where the final income of drivers through Jugnoo should increase to significantly more than what they were earning on the road and the customer gets a predictable and cost-effective medium of transport.

    For food delivery, the company charges merchants a commission and pays the auto drivers for delivery.

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    Jugnoo – Customer Acquisition

    In the initial days, Samar and Chinmay themselves met the auto drivers and explained the concept of the company. Convincing them to integrate technology into their routine work was quite a challenging task. Besides, for making the Jugnoo app familiar to the target customer, the app was launched at PECFEST of PEC University of Technology, Chandigarh. Also, free rides were provided to people in Chandigarh.

    “The response was phenomenal and gave us the initial kick, to begin with” – recalls Samar.

    Jugnoo – Marketing Campaigns

    The marketing strategy of Jugnoo is simple; the company makes the customers and drivers its promoters. Jugnoo has tapped the dual capacity of home delivery and on-demand availability of public transport. The company is growing exponentially in major metros by forging a strategic alliance with partners that adds to its potential customer base.

    Jugnoo also made a media presence by making Saumya Tondon, a well-known TV and films actress its face. According to Samar, Jugnoo has benefited a lot from word-of-mouth publicity. Jugnoo runs user referral programs and social media campaigns to attract new customers. The company has stayed in buzz with news like enrolling the first female auto driver, crossing 10k rides per day in Delhi NCR, backing series B funding even after the shutdown of Fatafat and Jugnoo Meals.

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    Jugnoo – Funding

    Jugnoo has raised a total of $16 million funding in 4 rounds from 8 investors. Funding details of Jugnoo are-

    Date Stage Amount Investors
    Apr 18, 2016 Series B $10 million Paytm
    Jun 5, 2015 Series A $5 million Snow Leopard Technology Ventures
    Apr 20, 2015 Seed Round $ 1 million –
    Jan 20, 2015 Angel Round – –

    Jugnoo – Growth

    Since 2014, when Jugnoo has been founded, the company saw numerous milestones achieved with the passage of time. Here’s a glimpse of some of the prominent ones:

    • The company has completed 29 million rides to date
    • Jugnoo has footprints in over 120 Indian cities
    • The company boasts of having 8 million users
    • It now has over 0.1 million drivers onboard

    Jugnoo – Challenges

    In Samar’s words, the initial Jugnoo challenges, which could be attributed to the demography of the tier 2 locations, were the reluctance of the drivers to use the technology and to break the mental barriers of the customers and introduce new ideas.

    The two other major hiccups in the otherwise seamless journey were Jugnoo Fatatfat, which did home delivery of custom orders from stores within the city to customers. It was launched in March 2015 with an idea of in cashing the auto network, however, it was shut down after being operational for eight months. Also, Jugnoo had to close down Jugnoo Meal in October 2015.

    However, the company later re-launched Fatafat and launched Jugnoo menus. Team Jugnoo stands by the bumpy rides and says that they have chosen to be careful rather than keep investing in something which out returns us a loss. All this while they used less than half of their reservoirs and concentrated on growing as a lean and productive unit.

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    Jugnoo – Competitors

    Jugnoo has a great market presence in the arena of Auto rickshaw aggregators competes with startups like mGaadi, TeleRickshaw and AUTOnCaB’s. However, the concept of Jugnoo is unique as it focuses only on auto rickshaw space.

    Jugnoo is the only startup company in India to focus exclusively on auto-rickshaw space. Hence, our market is different and much bigger than the other players in the industry. Also, we are an aggregator in the true sense. We believe in leveraging existing supply rather than creating a new one.

    Jugnoo – Partners

    For expansion and enhance customer base Jugnoo tied up with a travel search engine called Ixigo, a personal assistant application by the name of Helpchat (Tapzo), a public transportation information mobile app Zophop, an app with meta-search platforms to compare modes of transport on the basis of price called Oye Taxi and Scoot.

    The payment gateways like Paytm and Mobikwik have digitized payments for Jugnoo. Punjab National Bank and Piaggio provided the drivers with easy funding options. Collaborating with connoisseurs from the industry like Anand Prakash also made Jugnoo shine brighter.

    Jugnoo – Acquisitions

    Jugnoo has acquired three companies to date (November 2023). The company acquired Sabkuch Fresh, a logistics services firm that delivers groceries, and hence expanded its services to grocery and fresh meals, food delivery from a choice of restaurants, payments, and deliveries. It acquired Yelo previously in July 2015. In July 2016, the company acquired taxi aggregator BookMyCab, which operates in Mumbai, Kolkata, and Hyderabad and is licensed to operate in Delhi.

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    Jugnoo – Revenue

    In FY 2017-2018, Jugnoo’s revenue doubled to Rs 11.7 crore from Rs 5.14 crore in FY 2016-2017. While Jugnoo’s losses came down to Rs 16.34 crore in 2017-2018 from Rs 17.39 crore in 2016-2017.

    Jugnoo – Achievements

    Put together, some of the major achievements of Jugnoo are-

    • It established itself as the leading auto-rickshaw aggregator company of India, with around 40,000 people transacting per day.
    • The company has developed customer-centric services such as B2B deliveries, Food grocery, and meal delivery using auto-rickshaw, which is a unique business idea.
    • The startup has come up with the latest technologies like Jugnoo Bot which allows the customer to hail rickshaw from any platform, Flight map which aids the drivers in planning the routes to save time and fuel, a multi-lingual interface for drivers and AskLocal, a hyperlocal geo-location-based feature that helps users to stay connected and share content.
    • The company is constantly exploring new avenues. It has launched its services in diverse fields like 3D printing with Printo, end-to-end field force management solution Tookan, real-time customer support app – Fugu, workflow automation tool – Bumbl, and geo-analytics technology – Data Loops.
    • The company has been able to attract funding from biggies like Paytm and Snow Leopard Technology Ventures. Jugnoo raised a whopping $16 million in external funding.
    • It has more than 12000 autos registered with it.
    • The startup is operating across 120+ cities.
    • It has a registered user base of over 8 million.
    • In April 2018, the company started operations in Singapore, it had to close down in August 2018, owing to challenges it faced while recruiting drivers in Singapore. However, Jugnoo tied up with Singapore’s local aggregator app Kardi. It is providing technical expertise and engineering support to Kardi.
    • Jugnoo also affirms to have an international presence in Trinidad and Tobago, Sri Lanka, Bermuda, Panama, Mombasa, Oman, Congo, Nigeria, Indonesia, England, UAE, and the US.

    Jugnoo – Conclusion

    Undoubtedly, Jugnoo has improved the wage scenario for auto-rickshaw drivers as well. A Jugnoo driver earns about Rs 70-80 per trip on average. A dedicated driver earns up to 25k per month and this is possible by optimized usage of their time, live know-how of best paths they could take to reach the destination, and of course less bargaining.

    Team Jugnoo does not favor perks and considers them as a sign of weakness of their business model. In India where approximately 30 million auto rides are taken and Jugnoo is currently involved in 0.1 % of it, hence there is a huge potential to be exploited. The startup aims to extend its services to the remotest corners of the country. Also soon it aims to become a major international player.

    Jugnoo – FAQs

    What is Jugnoo auto app?

    Jugnoo is a Chandigarh-based e-taxi or ride-sharing platform that focuses on the aggregation and ride-sharing of auto-rickshaws.

    Who are the founders of Jugnoo?

    Samar Singla and Chinmay Agarwal are the founders of the Jugnoo app.

    What is Jugnoo model?

    Jugnoo works on a ride-hailing model that earns from the commissions of the rides through its app.

  • Get Personalised Fitness Solutions at Miten Says Fitness

    A healthy and fit body is essential for a human to perform the best. For the right reasons, of late, there has been increasing consciousness among individuals about fitness and health. Consequently, the fitness industry has been growing immensely. Keeping up with our new formed habit of searching for every solution online, many platforms providing guidance on fitness and health online, are also emerging. One such startup that is guiding you to attain your fitness goals is Miten Says Fitness.

    Miten Says Fitness (MSF) is a digital-based platform that provides online fitness training services and has some of the best fitness trainers in India. MSF provides personalized fitness solutions (in the form of weekly Diet and Workout Plans) that are completely customized to the requirements of each of its clients – taking into consideration their current lifestyle, body condition, preferences, limitations, and fitness goals.

    Company Highlights of Miten Says Fitness

    Startup Name Miten Says Fitness
    Headquarter Mumbai
    Sector Health & Fitness
    Founder Miten Kakaiya
    Founded 2017
    Parent Organization Miten Says Fitness LLP

    Miten Says Fitness – About
    Miten Says Fitness – Founders and Team
    Miten Says Fitness – How was it Started?
    Miten Says Fitness – Name, Tagline, and Logo
    Miten Says Fitness – Business Model and Revenue Model
    Miten Says Fitness – User Acquisition and Growth
    Miten Says Fitness – Startup Challenges
    Miten Says Fitness – Funding and Investors
    Miten Says Fitness – Advisors and Mentors
    Miten Says Fitness – Awards
    Miten Says Fitness – Future Plans
    FAQ

    Miten Says Fitness – About

    Miten Says Fitness (MSF) is a Mumbai based startup that provides personalized fitness solutions to its clients through weekly diet and workout plans. These plans are updated every week – taking in any feedback and assessing the progress made by the client.

    How MSF Works
    How MSF Works

    This approach ensures that the plans become more and more sustainable for the clients. Also, the weekly updates hold the clients accountable to follow through with their fitness journey while Miten Says Fitness provides clients with the service remotely.

    The functioning of Miten Says Fitness is quite simple. First, the customer selects any of the numerous permutation combinations of options available on the website and signs up through its portal.

    MSF Workout Plans
    MSF Workout Plans

    Once they sign up, the clients receive a document called- MSF Fitness Questionnaire. This questionnaire allows the team to collect complete details about the clients’ body, lifestyle, preferences, limitations, and fitness goals, along with their body photos.

    Based on the response to this questionnaire, the MSF team create a plan for Week one. The plan includes details of exactly what food they need to eat, in what quantity, and a brief recipe which makes their meal plan tasty (and not just limit themselves to boring, bland salads).

    Besides, clients also get a personalized workout plan (which can be done at home or at the gym – based on client preference) that details the exact exercise that they need to do along with the correct number of sets, reps, the rest period and a brief description of the correct form to execute these exercises.

    A couple of buffer days are provided to the customers so that they can arrange for groceries and other necessary material to start with their Week one. As the customer starts, the company has to be informed.

    Around day 5, Miten personally collects feedback from them and prepare their week 2 plan accordingly, and so on!

    Miten Says Fitness provides a wide range of fitness services. The prominent ones are,

    1. Helping its clients with a laid down path to enable them to achieve their fitness goals.
    2. Enabling access to world-class fitness knowledge and expertise right at their fingertips.
    3. Making personalized fitness programs affordable to its consumers.
    4. Educate its clients with the correct information

    The USP of MSF is;

    1. They provide the services of a personal trainer and a nutritionist under one roof.
    2. They provide the right level of support, motivation, and guidance to ensure that their clients feel empowered to religiously follow their fitness journey – despite being remotely available to them.

    The core belief of Miten Says Fitness is to always provide value to its audience (on Social Media) and its clients and deliver results above expectations.

    Miten Says Fitness – Founders and Team

    Miten Kakaiya is the founder of Miten Says Fitness (MSF). He studied MEng (Hons) in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Manchester. He also worked with Airbus in the UK for an year before setting up MSF.

    Miten Kakiya - Founder of Miten Says Fitness
    Miten Kakiya – Founder of Miten Says Fitness

    Today, MSF is a team of 9 highly motivated individuals driven to leave a meaningful and positive impact on the lives of MSF stakeholders.

    Miten Says Fitness – How was it Started?

    The idea for MSF occurred unusually to Miten Kakaiya, founder of MSF. During his sisters’ wedding few of his cousins approached him for fitness tips given his interest in fitness. In the process of guiding them and getting tangible results; Miten found a business idea in it.

    Miten Kakaiya, during his stay abroad for studies, has come across multiple Online Personal Trainers.

    A few of the personal trainers I came across, really made a huge impact on my decisions in shaping the company. I observed them grow over a span of 2-5 years and carefully analyzed the strategies employed by them to climb the ladder of success – quotes Miten.

    Fascinated about the concept of online personal trainers, Miten envisioned starting something along similar lines in India. He studied the fitness industry in India very closely to understand the micro details of the market. From his research, he realized that there are few gaps in the Indian fitness industry and that there are only a few online personal training service providers.

    Miten started working on his concept by helping a few dedicated individuals from his neighborhood gym at a very minimal cost. It was this careful assessment of finding motivated and dedicated individuals that helped validate the potential of his idea.

    MSF started off with basic services like detailing what food the clients need to eat and what workouts/exercises they need to do. As the team received feedback from their consumers, the team started including more details on their services.

    MSF came up with client transformation plans, which included things like recipes for every single meal – making their diet food super tasty and easy to cook and sustain. MSF also started including information about the exercises and details like how to correct the form and basics to keep in mind while exercising.

    Our next step is to introduce a video trainer alongside – which makes the implementation of the program hassle-free for our consumers. Our focus has always been on providing value to our audience and to our clients. This simple fundamental has helped us keep our customer acquisition costs low while also ensuring that we deliver quality services. Hence, we are always on the lookout for improving the overall experience of customers.

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    Miten taking inspiration from his overseas Online Fitness Trainers, wanted to follow the formula of – First Name + Last Name + Fitness, to name his brand. But the formula somehow didn’t work. Narrating the story behind the name Miten says-

    I didn’t really like the sound of Miten Kakaiya Fitness or MKF. And so suddenly, one night MSF struck me, and I named it as Miten Says Fitness.

    Miten Says Fitness Logo
    Miten Says Fitness Logo

    Miten Says Fitness – Business Model and Revenue Model

    Miten Says Fitness follows a simple B2C model of operation. MSF products are priced between INR 1,200 to INR 30,000/-. During the sale season, they have their products going as low as INR 250, as well. Since this is an online service package, they do not have any raw material costs associated, allowing price flexibility.

    Besides, their team is also very lean for now. These factors allow high-profit margins for MSF, and these high margins are being used to re-invest into the business, mainly for Product Development and Marketing.

    Miten Says Fitness – User Acquisition and Growth

    Prior to launching MSF officially, Miten worked with a couple of clients to understand the potential of the idea in a better manner. These clients have been able to follow the diet and workout schedule dutifully. Gradually, positive results showed, which gave Miten an encouraging push to boost his strategy. He thereon started marketing his services online.

    In the initial phase, Miten’s customers were mainly his friends and acquaintances. Through mouth referrals and digital marketing, Miten was able to popularize his services. Social media was extensively used by MSF to propagate their services by creating valuable content, spreading true information, and showcasing the incredible benefits that MSF clients have achieved.

    MSF’s major source of client acquisition is social media. It allowed them to disseminate information at free of cost. Besides, it has proven to be a trusted platform to gain access to customers. The MSF team then works to convert their social media followers to customers.

    Miten Says Fitness Instagram Marketing
    Miten Says Fitness Instagram Marketing

    As MSF got a hold of a good number of clients, MSF has flagged of offers and value-added benefits to its clients regularly to gain more clients besides, retaining the clients.

    We are investing heavily right now into growing the reach of our social media and providing our followers with more and more free, authentic, and valuable information. Apart from that, we have plans to get a small scale, but impactful influencers on board to help us increase the reach and authenticity of our brand and our services – says Miten explaining the customer acquisition strategy.

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    Miten Says Fitness – Startup Challenges

    Initially, it was quite a task for Miten to convince his parents and his close social circle about the online fitness training service providers, given it is fairly a new concept for the Indian Market. Nevertheless, with a clear and structured planning process, Miten was able to convince them successfully.

    A major challenge for MSF was to make its clients follow the plan regularly and be committed. Unlike other products, here the clients have to buy a package and also put in efforts so as to reap benefits – that is, improved health and fitness levels.

    To increase the awareness among the public concerning fitness and to improve the brand image of MSF they have introduced, the MSF Transformation Challenge. It is a fitness challenge wherein a bunch of people sign up together and are bound by limited dates.

    MSF Transformation Challenge
    MSF Transformation Challenge

    The best three transformations during this period win Cash Prize from MSF. So far, they have had five editions, and all of them have been a huge success.

    Now we are planning to bring it back again next year – bigger and better than ever before!

    Miten Says Fitness – Funding and Investors

    MSF has completely relied on money generated from the MSF business itself. Right from day one the company started generating revenue.

    All the money generated is re-invested for content creation and on marketing to acquire more customers with the help of Social Media.

    Miten Says Fitness – Advisors and Mentors

    Miten, by virtue of studies, has developed a social circle dominated by Entrepreneurs, who are  guiding him in his venture and has played a good role in shaping up the organization

    Miten Says Fitness – Awards

    Miten Says Fiteness has been recognized for the efforts it has put to make people live healthy and fit. Awards received by the platform are-

    • Radio City Mumbai City Icon Award for Excellence in Nutrition and Lifestyle in 2019.
    • GHP News 2019 Fitness and Nutrition Awards- Best Online Fitness Training Specialist- India
    • Featured on Mensxp platform for 31 days fitness challenge introduced.

    Miten Says Fitness – Future Plans

    MSF is currently operating from Mumbai. Miten Says Fitness has so far helped more than 1000 clients in 26 countries across the globe. The Platform is experiencing a steady growth rate of 100% YoY since inception, and aims to help 100,000 individuals from across the globe as a part of the five year plan.

    Our goal is to remain as lean as possible. Implement newer technologies and invest more in product development. In the long term, we want MSF to be analogous with fitness in India and Indians across the world – Miten quoted explaining the company’s future plans

    FAQ

    Who is the founder of Miten Says Fitness?

    Miten Kakaiya is the founder of Miten Says Fitness.

    What is Miten Says Fitness?

    Miten Says Fitness (MSF) is a Mumbai based startup that provides personalized fitness solutions to its clients through weekly diet and workout plans.

  • Ditto Sucess Story – Simplifying Insurance for Indian Consumers

    In the financial services sector, insurance is always an area that seems like quicksand for the people who lack proper knowledge. Besides, the insurance sector is one that has always been devoid of proper, credible advisors who would steer their clients to fortify their future. This is where the digital insurance advisory platforms are proven to be a huge boon. Ditto is one of the latest online insurance advisory platforms that was founded by the co-founders of Finshots in February 2021.

    Ditto Insurance has been headquartered in Bengaluru and has already raised Rs 4 crore from Zerodha in an initial funding round, the latter also picked up a majority stake in it. With Ditto, the founders hope to reiterate the success they gained with Finshots, which was launched in 2019 and already boasts of a subscription of over 5 lakh readers.

    So, let’s check out Ditto, its Founders and Team, Funding and Investors, Challenges, Future Plans, Products and Services, Name, Tagline and Logo, Startup Story, and more.

    Ditto – Company Highlights

    Startup Name Ditto
    Headquarters Bangalore
    Industry Fintech
    Founders Pawan Kumar Rai, Shrehith Karkera, Bhanu Harish Gurram and Lokesh Gurram
    Founded 2021
    Current CEO Pawan Kumar Rai

    About Ditto
    Ditto – Industry
    Ditto – Starting Up
    Ditto – Product and Services
    Ditto – Founders and Team
    Ditto – Name, Tagline, and Logo
    Ditto – Business Model and Revenue model
    Ditto – Challenges Faced
    Ditto – Funding
    Ditto – Recognition and Achievements
    Ditto – FAQ

    About Ditto

    Finshots (The parent company of Ditto Insurance) is a 3-minute daily newsletter giving readers insights about all things economics and finance. Their vision is to create financial literacy among Indians by simplifying finance and financial products.

    The core belief of Finshots is that financial literacy is like basic arithmetic every person should know. Everyone should understand what’s happening with the economy, or what’s going on behind a financial scam – but the news is often full of technical jargon, making it obscure to the layperson. Hence, their main aim is to simplify finance for everyone and give trustworthy information that people can rely on.

    Ditto – Industry

    Finshots caters to the Fintech industry. They don’t have a target market for Finshots. They want to build an inclusive community of people willing to learn and understand financial concepts. On the other hand, for Ditto, their target market is the working population looking for insurance for themselves and their loved ones.

    Finshots currently has a user base of over 700K readers, while Ditto has helped more than 10,000+ people with their insurance queries.

    The fintech industry has massive scope, since investments, as well as insurance penetration, is severely lacking in the country. Only close to 2-3% of Indians have invested in equities, and insurance penetration is a meagre 3%. So the scope for growth in the industry is immense.

    Ditto – Starting Up

    After completing their MBA course, Bhanu Gurram, Shrehith Karkera and Pawan Kumar Rai founded Finception in 2018. Lokesh Gurram, an IIT Delhi graduate, worked for Samsung in South Korea for two years before joining the venture.

    They saw that financial news from major media houses was loaded with industry-specific terminology, as though it wasn’t intended for the masses. And so, Finception delivered explanatory long-form stories for a year. The objective was clear: To simplify financial news for the masses.

    In 2019, a separate brand called Finshots came about when the team realized that audiences suffered from information overload.

    Finshots delivers only one news a day. Readers spend just three minutes each day but in a month, they would have read about 28 topics.

    Finshots doesn’t spend a dime on advertising. Finshots’s subscriber base has grown to 500,000 just by the word of mouth. While Finshots educates people about the financial markets, readers are still left asking which financial product is best-suited to their needs.

    Then they launched Ditto, the latest product under the Finshots brand aimed at simplifying insurance policies for people. This is one of the many ways Finshots intends to simplify financial products and financial planning for the masses.

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    Ditto – Product and Services

    Finshots is a financial newsletter that one can read in no longer than 3 minutes. They also have a podcast that covers the same content as their newsletter. Their product tries to resolve the problem of lack of financial literacy among people by offering information in plain, simple, lucid English, which is their USP.

    They started Finshots back in 2019 when they realised people wanted finance content simplified and this was a market gap they wanted to fill. They later launched Ditto Insurance, their latest venture which provides insurance advice. Ditto aims to help millennials make better financial decisions and they’ve started with insurance. They want to make a dent in the insurance industry by educating the masses so that people can compare policies, narrow down their choices per their requirements, avoid pitfalls and buy the policy best suited for them.

    Ditto – Founders and Team

    Ditto Founders
    Ditto Founders

    At IIMA, Bhanu, Shrehith Karkera and Pawan Kumar Rai were batchmates. At the time, Rai was working on a way to simplify stock markets for millennials. They say that millennials must be helped traversing these jargon minefields.

    The founders were also a part of IIM Ahmedabad’s IIMAvericks program which gave them a monthly stipend. Nevertheless, Karkera taught part-time classes at coaching institutes like T.I.M.E. and Career Launcher, so Finshots could hire more interns and grow.

    Shrehith handles most of Finshots content, while Bhanu & Pawan handle marketing and sales. Lokesh manages product and tech.

    Finshots have over 80 employees at present, working from home. But they try to create a work environment that makes everyone feel like they’re having fun in what they’re doing, rather than being crippled with piles of work. They also organise monthly activities to keep up team spirit.

    When it comes to hiring, they look more at the enthusiasm and work ethics an incoming employee brings to the team, rather than their background and resume.

    Ditto Logo
    Ditto Logo

    The idea of Finshots is ‘financial shots’ – think of it like coffee shots you take in the morning. That’s exactly how they want people to consume financial information, one shot at a time.

    “Our philosophy behind naming our insurance advisory as ‘Ditto’ is that we want to tell people what kind of policy we would buy if we were in their shoes. We want to tell them exactly what we would do, and they can then make a decision based on that. “

    Ditto – Business Model and Revenue model

    Finshots is completely free and they don’t intend to make any revenue off of it.

    “That’s part of the mission behind Finshots – we want to democratise financial information, offering our content for free is part of it. “

    Ditto, on the other hand, earns money through policy sales. They function as a distributor and help people with purchasing policies.

    Ditto – Challenges Faced

    The biggest challenge faced by Ditto was the fact that insurance is a push product. The industry practices include mis-selling policies and spam calling. The founders believe that a product like insurance has the power to make or break the financial strength of households and that’s why their approach towards insurance is to research, give the right advice, and simultaneously ensure peace of mind to families.

    On the other hand, the biggest challenge for Finshots was expanding the reach of the newsletter. It’s definitely not easy to make lakhs of people subscribe to and read your content on a regular basis. And there aren’t any viral marketing shortcuts here. So they mostly relied on good-old word of mouth marketing, social media and college partnerships. They sent college newsletters to students and got their first 1000 readers.

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    Ditto – Funding

    Date Stage Amount Investors Name
    Sep 2019 Seed Rs 4 Crore Rainmatter, Zerodha

    Ditto – FAQ

    What is Ditto by Finshots?

    Ditto functions as a distributor and helps people with purchasing insurance policies.

    Who are the founders of Ditto?

    Pawan Kumar Rai, Shrehith Karkera, Bhanu Harish Gurram and Lokesh Gurram are the founders of Ditto.

    How much funding has Ditto raised?

    Ditto Insurance has raised a total of Rs4 Crore funding from Zerodha in Dec 2021.

  • Success Story of Semrush – Online Visibility Management SaaS 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 Semrush.

    In the era where everything has become online, locating their product or site on top of the Search Engine Results Page (SERP) would always be a priority for any webmaster. However, in order to improve online visibility, one has to enhance their site for SEO, backlinks, and many other improvements.

    The demand for SEO, keywords and competitor analysis was almost nil before Google’s arrival. Only after the mid-1990s, these concepts were born along with Google, the demand of which skyrocketed in a very short time. Today, the SEO industry has a whopping $80 Billion market valuation. Furthermore, it is expected to show a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 19.6% by 2025. Similarly, keyword research, competitor analysis, SMM, and various other marketing tools have also gained huge market demand in the past two decades.

    This increase in demand has increased the number of SaaS tools to provide the relevant services that today’s market demands. Of all those available options, Semrush stands to be the crown of Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Established in 2008, Semrush helps its users to improve their website’s ranking by offering support in SEO, PPC, Keyword & Competitive research, SMM, and content marketing services.

    Semrush – Company Highlights

    Company Name Semrush
    Headquarters Boston, Massachusetts, USA
    Industry Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
    Founders Oleg Shchegolev, Dmitri Melnikov
    Founded 2008
    Funding Raised $40 Million
    Revenue $124.88 Million (FY20)
    Website Semrush.com

    About Semrush

    Semrush – About
    Semrush – Latest News
    Semrush – Industry
    Semrush – Founders and Team
    Semrush – Startup Story
    Semrush – Mission and Vision
    Semrush – Name and Logo
    Semrush – Business Model
    Semrush – Revenue Model
    Semrush – Challenges Faced
    Semrush – Funding and Investors
    Semrush – Acquisitions
    Semrush – Online and Social Media Presence
    Semrush – Awards and Achievements
    Semrush – Competitors
    Semrush – Growth
    Semrush – FAQs

    Semrush – About

    Semrush is a Software as a Service (SaaS) platform that provides solutions to SEO, Keyword Research, Competitor Analysis, PPC, Content, and Social Media Management. It is an all-in-one tool that helps the user to improve their website’s online visibility. Semrush also provides marketing insights on paid advertising and competitor analysis, as well as, extends its support to content management and marketing.

    Oleg Shchegolev and Dmitry Melnikov established Semrush in 2008. This SaaS platform commenced its operations with 2 tools and a few friends as their initial customers. Today, Semrush has more than 50 tools that had served over 7 Million users in around 143 countries so far. The company went public on March 24, 2021, through Initial Public Offering (IPO). Semrush IPOs were listed and traded on New York Stock Exchange (NYSE).

    Semrush – Latest News

    January 20, 2021 – Semrush acquires popular marketing and SEO training platform Backlinko. This acquisition would not just add 500K in monthly traffic but a wide array of trusted resources for training the world of digital marketers today in SEO and content marketing. The co-founder of Semrush is thrilled with this deal. Here’s what he shares through his Linkedin handle:

    Brian Dean on LinkedIn: Semrush Acquires Backlinko.com, Adds 500K in Monthly Traffic | 315 comments
    BIG NEWS: I sold Backlinko Needless to say, I’m thrilled! Semrush is the perfect company to take Backlinko to the next level. Backstory: About 3 months… 315 comments on LinkedIn
    LinkedIn204 Posts

    November 17, 2021 – Semrush filed a registration with the US Securities Exchange Commission, for Proposed Public Offering. It is said that the proceeds from the shares will be invested in the development of marketing and sales activities.

    November 9, 2021 – Semrush announced its 3rd Quarter results as of September 30, 2021. It has reported a revenue of $49.3 Million and it has gone up 53% year on year.

    Semrush – Industry

    Semrush belongs to the industry of Search Engine Marketing (SEM), a subset of the broader industry of Digital Marketing. Search Engine Marketing is a kind of marketing that promotes the website’s online visibility on a Search Engine Results Page. It can be done through paid advertisements or by incorporating SEO. Search Engine Optimization is done by rewriting or fine-tuning the website’s content to promote them in SERP.

    The SEM industry has been growing day by day since Google’s entry into the market in the mid-1990s. As of September 2021, the SEM market is mostly occupied by Google with a share of 86.64%. Other search engines like Bing and Yahoo have a market share of 7% and 2.75% respectively, as stated by Statista.

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    Semrush – Founders and Team

    Oleg Shchegolev - Semrush Founder
    Oleg Shchegolev – Semrush Founder

    Oleg Shchegolev

    Oleg Shchegolev and Dmitry Melnikov are the founders of Semrush, who share a friendship of over 30 years. They started building SEO tools together in 2006. Later, Semrush revolutionized the market and are now on their way to conquering the industry.

    Oleg Shchegolev

    An alumnus of Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, from where he completed his Bachelor’s degree in Computer and Information Systems Security/Information Assurance, Oleg started his career as an SEO Manager at Strider. He then served as the COCEO of tirnet.ru before co-founding efind.ru. After being aligned with the previous company for over 3 and a half years, Oleg joined SEOQuake, where he served as the Co-founder and CEO. He is presently serving as the Co-founder and CEO of SEOQuake and SEMRush.

    Dmitry Melnikov

    Dmitry Melnikov is another Co-founder of Semrush, who also serves as the COO of the company. After completing his Bachelor’s from SPBETU, LEEI, Dmitry started serving as a Board Member of efind.ru. He then served as a CEO at tirnet.ru. After leaving the job at tirnet, Melnikov joined as a co-founder of the SEOQuake Team and took the role of COO. He is currently serving the role at SEOQuake along with being a COO of SEMRush.

    The key people of Semrush are:

    • Oleg Shchegolev – Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
    • Dmitry Melnikov – Chief Operating Officer (COO)
    • Evgeny E Fetisov – Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
    • Eugene Levin – Chief Strategy Officer (CSO)

    The employee strength of SEMRush was last reported to be 979 in April 2021.

    Semrush- Startup Story

    Oleg Shchegolev and Dmitry Melnikov, in 2006, developed a tool for personal use, to look out for SEOs and other online strategies. The tool was initially named Seodigger. Later, in 2007, it was renamed to SEOquake. Shchegolev and Melnikov shared their tool with friends, friends of friends and this went on to build a good network for SEOquake. Meanwhile, they kept adding new features and tools to their platform, which further increased their popularity.

    Owing to the reception, both the co-founders decided to take the business further to the market. With a brand image already built, they founded the company in 2008, with a new name Semrush. They further focussed on product development and expansion. Today Semrush has grown to serve users with more than 50 tools and leads the SEM market around the world.

    Semrush – Mission and Vision

    Semrush’s mission is to give a better and transparent online competition for users. They wanted to help their users in developing and improving their website in every possible way.

    Their vision is to create time for professionals and creators to concentrate on their business and creativity. The work of improving the user’s online visibility will be taken care of by Semrush is what the company aims at. Semrush operates with such a mission and vision that helps them grow along with its users.

    Semrush Logo
    Semrush Logo

    Semrush revealed its new logo on December 11, 2020, along with a new visual identity. The company stuck to its core fireball element in the new logo, like their old one. But they have made it look simple and more attractive. Semrush reasoned their logo as “the creative spark that ignites the engine of marketing”.

    Semrush has always used hot orange and dark indigo as its primary color. Now it has included a few more vibrant colors to improve the visual experience for users. The name of the company was also changed from SEMrush to Semrush in December 2020.

    Semrush – Business Model

    Semrush contains a business model that offers its services for advertising, social media, SEO, content marketing, and market research, all integrated into one tool. Here are the in-depth activities provided under each category of services:

    Advertising – Semrush offers the best keyword choices, manages the cost of advertising, and analyses the ad copies of competitors.

    Social Media – It helps the users in scheduling and automatically posting content, analyzing one’s performance and that of competitors, and managing social ads.

    SEO – Potential keyword research can be done along with SEO audits, analyzing backlinks, and tracking SERP.

    Content Marketing – You can find the best topics for your content that might attract your audience. Semrush audits your content and helps it improve for SEO.

    Market Research – Analysis and give ideas to increase traffic for your website and provides reports regarding competitors’ promotion strategy.

    Semrush – Revenue Model

    Semrush has reported overall revenue of $124.88 Million in the year 2020. Their 3rd quarter revenue for 2021 has increased 53% year on year. Semrush raises its revenue by offering its tools and services for a price that is charged from users. Semrush has a free plan available that comes with limited functionality.

    Semrush revenue model consists of three plans out of which, the first two plans come with a free trial for 7 days. With an annual commitment, a discount of up to 17% is offered on the monthly plans listed below:

    • Pro – $119.95/month
    • Guru – $229.95/month
    • Business – $449.95/month

    Semrush – Challenges Faced

    Though Semrush provides a better service than their competitors, they have faced a few challenges in the past and are expecting more in the future.

    • Semrush has been facing continuous net losses since 2016. They have incurred a net loss of $10.2 Million in 2019 and $7 Million in 2020. The company accumulated a deficit of $ 35.8 Million. Semrush is further uncertain about its profitability in the future.
    • The Covid-19 pandemic has pushed the company into a new challenge. It has increased the growth of Semrush rapidly and this pushed them to increase the employee count to manage the growth. But the travel restrictions have made it difficult for them to provide training and other facilities for the new employees. Thus Semrush faces a challenge in managing its growth effectively.

    Semrush – Funding and Investors

    Semrush has raised a fund of $40 Million through a Venture round on April 24, 2018. It was the only fundraising activity, other than its IPO, carried out by Semrush. This round was led by 3 investors namely, Headline, Greycroft, and Siguler Guff & Company.

    Semrush – Acquisitions

    Semrush acquired two companies to date. It acquired the famous Marketing and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) training app Backlinko on January 20, 2022. The popular training platform boasts of pulling in 500K visits a month, as per the reports of December 2021, which it will be adding to the leading online visibility management Saas platform along with its prized resources that are elementary for training purposes for the world of digital marketers of today. This acquisition would be a great help towards building the marketing education that Semrush is currently focussing on. The Co-founder of Semrush and CEO at Exploding Topics, Brian Dean is thrilled with this acquisition and stated that he would continue to be associated with Backlinko on a part-time basis, as part of the agreement with Semrush.

    Semrush previously acquired Prowly PR Software, a public and media relations SaaS company on September 16, 2020. The price of this acquisition remains undisclosed by both companies. Semrush has made no acquisitions other than Prowly PR Software, over the years so far.

    Acquiree Name Acquired Date Price
    Backlinko January 20, 2022 –
    Prowly PR Software September 16, 2020 –

    Semrush – Online and Social Media Presence

    Semrush has an active profile on all social platforms. Particularly, their Twitter handle is extremely active. The team responds to every query and grievance raised on Semrush, by people on social media. Their tweets and posts are quite interactive and interesting. In addition to responding to users, they make posts on their achievements, new products and updates, and simplified guidelines. Semrush’s followers count:

    Twitter : 170K Followers
    LinkedIn : 192K Followers
    Instagram : 78.9K Followers
    Pinterest : 11.3K Followers
    Youtube : 91.2K Subscribers

    Semrush – Awards and Achievements

    Semrush has been awarded as the Best SEO Software by various continents. The following are the international awards that recognized Semrush over the years:

    • European Search Awards, 2017 &2020
    • Global Search Awards, 2021
    • MENA Search Awards, 2019
    • US Search Awards, 2019
    • UK Search Awards, 2019, 2021
    • Interactive Marketing Awards, 2019
    • Dutch Marketing Awards, 2018
    • SEMY, 2018

    Semrush – Competitors

    Though Semrush is a supreme tool, it has few notable competitors along the track to race with. Moz and Ahrefs prove to be worthy competitors in terms of SEO, Keyword Research, Backlinks, and Competitor Analysis. Here are some of the top competitors of Semrush:

    • Moz
    • Ahrefs
    • Serpstat
    • SpyFu
    • SE Ranking
    • KWFinder

    Semrush – Growth

    Semrush is a startup that commenced in 2008, has grown to hold the crown of the SEO market, and is trusted by popular brands like Tesla, Apple, Amazon, IBM, etc. The company has run its business without raising funds since its formation, except for the $40 Million raised in 2018. This exhibits the level of hard work, achievements, and quality, their products and services have for the customers.

    With 79,000 paid customers across 143 countries in the world, Semrush had hit a revenue of $49.3 Million in 2021 (quarterly results up to the third quarter in September). The Semrush revenue tops the table when compared to its competitors. The rapid growth in recent years has encouraged Semrush to go public. The company listed its IPO in NYSE on 24th March 2021 and managed to raise $140 Million on the first day.

    In addition to its financial growth, Semrush has developed and upgraded its tools and services. They’ve grown to be the fastest Backlink Crawler, crawling 25 Billion URLs per day. Furthermore, Semrush also enlarged its data warehouse with 808 Million Domains, 43 Trillion Backlinks, and 20 Billion Keywords so far.

    Semrush had more than 20% growth in both free and paid users using the platform, between 2019 and 2020. Their revenue for the 3rd quarter of 2021 was $49.3 million which is up by 53% year on year. This growing customer base results in increased revenue, which further implies the growth of the company.

    Semrush – FAQs

    What is Semrush?

    Semrush is a SaaS platform that provides solutions to SEO, Keyword Research, Competitor Analysis, PPC, Content, and Social Media Management.

    How many employees does Semrush have?

    Semrush has more than 980 employees working in their 7 offices across the world.

    Who are the founders of Semrush?

    Oleg Shchegolev and Dmitry Melnikov are the founders of Semrush.

    What is the Market Valuation of Semrush?

    The market value of Semrush is approximately $3.3 Billion.

    What is Semrush widely used for?

    Semrush is an all-in-one SaaS tool widely used for improving online visibility. Semrush services include:

    • SEO
    • Keyword Research
    • PPC
    • SMM
    • Competitive Research
    • Content Marketing
    • Marketing Insights

  • Justdial – Local Search Related Services Provider

    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 Justdial.

    We have long passed the days when we need to go out and search for the services we need. This transformation can largely be credited to the emergence of the latest technologies and the internet.

    It is the online searching that we generally rely on today, via which we can search for the services that we require, find where they are located, and opt for them at our ease. One of the major proponents of the Indian internet technology ecosystem that has radically changed how the people of India benefit from the local search results is Just Dial.

    Founded in 1996, Just Dial India brings the best local search platform for people across the Indian subcontinent. The Mumbai-based company was founded by VSS Mani and has successfully operated independently throughout the years. Reliance Retail now owns majority stakes (66.95%) in the company, which it acquired on July 16, 2021, for Rs 3,497 cr.

    Check out all about Justdial here with this StartupTalky article, including the Founders of the company, Funding, and Investors, Business and Revenue Model, Startup Story, Logo, Tagline, Competitors, Challenges, and more.

    Company Highlights

    Startup Name Justdial or JD
    Headquarters Mumbai, India
    Sector Search Engine and Internet
    Founders V.S.S. Mani
    Founded 1996
    Total Funding $$85 mn (2021)
    Revenue from Operations $21.37 mn (Rs 159 crore in Q3 FY22)
    Valuation $339.42 mn in (Rs 2,525.15 crore in FY20)
    Website justdial.com

    Justdial – About
    Justdial – Startup Story
    Justdial – Founders And Team
    Justdial – Tagline, Slogan And Logo
    Justdial – Mission and Vision
    Justdial – Business And Revenue Model
    Justdial – Marketing Strategies
    Justdial – Funding And Investors
    Justdial – Growth
    Justdial – Challenges
    Justdial – Awards and Achievements
    Justdial – Competitors
    Justdial – Future Plans
    Justdial – FAQ’s

    Justdial – About

    Justdial is an internet technology company based in Mumbai, India that provides local search services for different kinds of companies and services in India over the phone, online. Founded in 1996 by VSS Mani, Just Dial has evolved to be India’s largest and the most popular local listing service company when Reliance Retail decided to acquire majority stakes in it in 2021. With this, the Mukesh Ambani-led company forayed into the local search services space.

    Just Dal still operates successfully and is the most popular choice for the Indian people looking for local services or companies via web and mobile applications.

    Justdial – Startup Story

    “People say proud beginnings are seldom successful,” and Just Dial is just another example to prove the same.

    The company, which later rose to the heights of the Indian local search services giant, had a humble beginning. The primary idea of Just Dial was germinated when VSS Mani worked with a yellow pages company in 1987 when he thought to replace the yellow pages with a database of information that the users can use to get what they need while also giving them the opportunity to list their own services.

    To start with, Mani first registered the Mumbai landline phone number 2888-8888 under his name. He looked for financial backing to seed fund his company but without being able to find any, he started with a seed capital of Rs 50,000 in 1996. Back then it was a team of 5 employees, a few rented computers, and some borrowed furniture.  The place of the beginning was a hired garage where the Justdial employees initially operated from.

    The company eventually started gaining popularity and it was in the year 2007 that it launched an internet and mobile app version of the database “Justdial.com”. Beginnings are always tough. It’s never a bed full of roses for anyone! It was really hard for the new startup company too, but anyway it made it and now we all know the word ‘JustDial‘.

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    Justdial – Founders And Team

    V.S.S Mani is the founder and CEO of the company Justdial.

    V.S.S. Mani, CEO, Justdial

    V.S.S. Mani

    V.S.S. Mani is the Chief Executive Officer(CEO), Managing Director, and the founder of Justdial. He is associated with the business since it was incorporated. He is an experienced visionary with over 33 years of experience of entrepreneurial experience. Born in Tata Main Hospital in Jamshedpur in 1966, Mani grew up in Calcutta and had dreamed to pursue his graduation in Commerce and later obtain a CA degree. Mani was enrolled in the University of Delhi and though he tried to attempt both he failed due to the lack of adequate finances.

    Mani started his job at a yellow pages company, United Database India. While working Mani suddenly reflected that the database the company had would be more accessible and useful via phone. This led Mani to start up with Ask Me, which was launched back in 1989, however, the company didn’t make it up that much back then and rather needed a makeover in the form of Just Dial, which he founded in 1996.  

    Among the key executives of Just Dial, the company currently works with Abhishek Bansal (CFO), V Krishnan, and has earlier worked with Ramani Iyer, who worked with the company as a Director.

    The tagline of the company is Anything Anytime Anywhere. It’s said that it’s India’s number #1 local search engine for its users. Its work is to provide information to its users about ‘anything’ at any point in time – ‘anytime’ and in any place – ‘anywhere’.

    The logo of the company is:

    Justdial Logo

    Justdial – Mission and Vision

    To “provide fast, free, reliable, and comprehensive information to our users and enable discovery and transactions for all products and services” is the mission and vision of Justdial.

    Justdial – Business And Revenue Model

    The business model of the corporation is primarily a combination of free and paid services. The listing of the small businesses is made available free of charge. The company’s goal is to work on a collection of data processes and provide the users with all the data they need on their phones, SMSs, and the internet. The company earns from a list of small businesses paying up to be listed on Justdial. The “Indian Google”, as Justdial is often termed, works just like Google, and has almost revolutionized the Indian local searching.

    The Revenue model of the local search services giant largely depends on the premium subscription, classified ads listings, analytical reports, and the data it possesses. Initially, it used to work as a telephone directory-based model. In the year 2019, the company recorded a revenue of INR 984.46 Crores. Justdial noticed a jump in its total revenue, which amounted to 1,092.81 crores INR in March 2020.

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    Justdial – Marketing Strategies

    Justdial has relied on traditional as well as digital marketing strategies to extend the brand reputation. Furthermore, the company has also depended on popular mediums like Television, Print, and even Radio, along with going with the latest Online media. By selecting a super easy number to remember, Just Dial has made the game super easy. The company had initially chosen the number 2888-8888 and currently operates with the same as well as another mobile number that goes 8888888888.

    Justdial also catapults with their word-of-mouth marketing due to the exemplary service that the brand provides its users. Furthermore, the company has also roped in Amitabh Bachchan as their brand ambassador during the extremely popular KBC shows, which helped the company a lot in its marketing. The other forms of marketing that steer the company ahead are Google Keywords, other digital marketing tools, traditional banners, placards, and everything else.

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    Justdial – Funding And Investors

    Justdial has raised a total amount of $85 Million in funding over the 3 funding rounds.

    Date Transaction Name Money Raised Lead Investors
    January 25, 2016 Post-IPO Equity $18 Million Nalanda Capital
    June 27, 2012 Series E $57 Million Sapphire Ventures, Sequoia Capital India
    June 6, 2011 Venture Round $10 Million Sapphire Ventures and Sequoia Capital India

    Justdial is funded by 6 investors. Sequoia Capital and Nalanda Capital are the most recent investors.

    Justdial – Growth

    The company is a Mumbai-based local search services company that has seen quite a growth from its humble beginnings. The VSS Mani-led company has last been recorded to be operating with over 10,000 employees and a database of more than 29.4 million listings and 536,236 active paid campaigns.

    According to the latest reports dated January 19, 2022, Just Dial has recorded a 61% dip in its net profit in Q2 FY22, which stood at INR 19.4 crore, and earlier was INR 49.9 crore, during the same period in the previous year. The operating EBITDA of the company stood at Rs 10 crore, excluding its ESOP expenses. The Q3 earnings of FY22 were recorded at Rs 159 crore from operations, which was reported to be around a 6.9% drop from Rs 169.5 crore in Q3 of FY21.  

    On July 17, 2021, Reliance Retail Ventures announced that it would be acquiring around 67% (66.95%) shares in Justdial. This amounted to a total cash consideration of Rs 3,497 crores.

    RRVL, backed by Mukesh Ambani had earlier acquired 40.95% stakes in the search and discovery platform, Just Dial, and then made an offer to acquire another 26%. According to a recent press release, Reliance has confirmed that VSS Mani, founder of Just Dial will continue to lead the 25-year-old company as the Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

    Justdial – Challenges

    Beginning in an age where internet services were at their nascent stages, Justdial had to face numerous challenges involving the implementation of the latest search services, improving its mobile app, and more. Justdial also witnessed several issues associated with their data quality, location data, search inconsistencies, data attributes and values, and marketing its services.

    Justdial – Awards and Achievements

    Some of the prominent awards and achievements that Justdial received throughout its journey are:

    • It received the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year (Services) Award at the Ernst & Young Awards of 2013
    • Justdial was conferred upon the Jury Special Commendation Award at the Young Turks Awards – 2012
    • The company was declared as the Best VC-backed Media & Communication Company at the VCCircle Annual Awards – 2012:
    • Amity Global Business School – 2012 recognized Justdial with the Amity Corporate Excellence Award for Customer Service
    • Justdial received the Award For Innovation In Business Process by Citi Commercial Bank in the Empowering growth of Emerging Enterprises in 2012
    • The company was conferred upon the International Red Hat Innovation Award at the Red Hat and JBoss Innovation Awards of 2010

    Justdial – Competitors

    The company has got various competitors working in the same space. The top competitors are:

    • Sulekha
    • IndiaMART
    • Asklaila
    • Quikr
    • Urban Company
    • Zimmber
    • Nearbuy
    • Timesinfoline
    • Exporters India
    • Fxchng
    • EC21.

    Justdial – Future Plans

    Justdial is looking to improve its profitability and emerge stronger as a brand along with maintaining its popularity and further leveraging it via its parent Reliance Retail. It also aims to grow its recently launched B2B marketplace, JD Mart.  

    Justdial – FAQ’s

    What is JustDial?

    Justdial or Just Dial is a company that provides local search for different kinds of services in India over the phone, online.

    Who is the Founder of JustDial?

    V.S.S Mani is the founder and CEO of the company Justdial.

    What services does JustDial provide?

    The company is engaged in providing search-related services to its users. It is also engaged with other information-related services.

    Who are the competitors of JustDial?

    The top competitors are Sulekha, IndiaMART, Asklaila, Quikr, Urban Company, Zimmber, Nearbuy, Timesinfoline, Exporters India, Fxchng and EC21.

    Who is Justdial owner?

    With over 66% stakes in Justdial, the Justdial owner is Reliance Retail.

  • Success Story of Savart: Company That Helps You to Manage Your Investments

    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 Savart.

    Everyone yearns to make money and get rich. But, you simply cannot become wealthy with that increased paycheck. It all boils down to wealth management. Dave Ramsey rightly says, “money moves from those who do not manage it to those who do.” Money management, however, is not so simple. It requires knowledge, observation, expertise, and patience.

    Savart, a fintech startup by Sankarsh Chanda, is here to simplify investment management for you. Savart combines computing accuracy with the best of human intelligence. Savart advises over 100 crore rupees in assets and works with clients from over 30 countries. (As of January 2020)

    This ensures easy, safe, and profitable investments through its award winning research methods. StartupTalky interviewed Savart CEO Sankarsh Chanda, who started the company when he was just 18!

    Savart – Company Highlights

    Startup name Savart
    Headquarters Hyderabad
    Founder Sankarsh Chanda
    Industry Investment Management
    Founded 2017
    Registered Entity Name Svobodha Infinity Pvt.Ltd
    Total Funding $644.9K

    Savart – About
    Savart – Industry Details
    Savart – Founder And Team
    Savart – The Idea And Launch
    Savart – Name,Tagline, And Logo
    Savart – Business Model And Revenue Model
    Savart – Customer Acquisition
    Savart – Funding
    Savart – Challenges
    Savart – Competitors
    Savart – Achievements
    Savart – Awards
    Savart – Partners
    Savart – Advisors And Mentors
    Savart – Future Plans
    Savart – FAQs

    Savart – About

    Savart is a wealth management platform that simplifies investing in mutual funds, stocks, and bonds both online and offline. Savart combines machine accuracy and human intelligence to help its customers invest in stocks and mutual funds wisely. The company has a research team that does paper-based analysis, meets the management of listed entities, talks to dealers, suppliers, and customers to find out the strength of the entities/firms and take investment decisions accordingly.

    Upon signing on its platform, Savart prompts the users to fill an EFG (Emotional Financial General) form. After the EFG analysis, Savart suggests suitable investment options for the user based on their needs and expectations. The user can also manually research and invest in instruments without any guidance. There is the option for users to choose investment goals and Savart then shows combinations of mutual fund, SIP, and STP plans for achieving these goals.

    Savart’s services include:

    • Suggesting investment portfolios based on one’s needs, goals, risk appetite, etc.
    • Facilitates subscription and redemption of units by transmitting user’s money and instructions to AMCs based on instructions given by the users.
    • Securing user’s personal and financial transactions related data.
    • Lets the users track their investments.
    • Facility to undertake ‘KYC’ requirements.

    One can also access Savart’s services through the Savart app. The app is available for both android and ios as well as on the web. The Savart app has several interesting features and has received positive reviews from customers. One such feature is ‘round-up’. Through this facility, Savart stacks up its customers’ savings with loose change from every transaction and on the accumulation of a certain amount, the savings are invested into ETFs.

    Savart strives to provide uncompromising advice and research to individuals and institutions irrespective of their quantum of investment. Savart envisions itself as an end-to-end investment services company that helps people realize their dreams & passion. Savart has its office in Hyderabad.

    Savart – Industry Details

    The asset management industry in India is one of the fastest growing segments in the world. Corporate investors AUM (Asset Under Management) stood at US$ 127.65 billion, while HNWIs (High Net Worth Individual) and retail investors reached US$ 99.05 billion and US$ 82.03 billion respectively in December 2018. India is among the top five countries in terms of HNWIs in the Asia-Pacific region.

    The wealth management industry is likely to grow at 10-15% in the next five years.

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    Savart – Founder And Team

    Sankarsh Chanda is the Founder and CEO of Savart.

    Founder & CEO, Savart
    Sankarsh Chanda – Founder & CEO, Savart

    Sankarsh founded Savart in 2017 when he was only 18 years old. He is a certified Research Analyst, investor, author and fund manager. Sankarsh’s book Financial Nirvana that he wrote when he was just seventeen, explains the art of investment and how to profitably manage one’s hard earned money.

    Other core members of the Savart team are:

    • Aditya Ranade (Chief Investment Officer): Aditya worked with companies like RBS & Morgan Stanley before joining Savart.
    • Sridhar Vetapalem (Chief Financial Expert): He has 15+ years of fund management expertise.
    • Taruni Chandrasekhar (CFO): Taruni is a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Financial Analyst.
    • Pavan Kumar Kotamurthy (Research Analyst –Head): He is a Registered Investment Adviser, Research Analyst, MFD & ED certified, and was with NISM before joining Savart.
    • Prakash Raju (Rural Operations Head): He has 20+ years of expertise in rural marketing.

    Savart – The Idea And Launch

    The ideation happened when Sankarsh was only 14 years old. He read an article on“value investing” by Benjamin Graham which stressed on the importance of picking stocks trading for less than their intrinsic value for a profit opportunity. Sankarsh found the idea of value investing interesting and wanted to experiment with it. He convinced his elder sister and started trading through her Demat account. It began with just Rs 2000 that he got as a scholarship and saw his bets pay off quickly. Sankarsh continued thoroughly studying market trends and the balance sheets of different companies to build on his knowledge.

    It was never an idea to startup or set up a company. It was a simple idea to give investment advice, build investment strategies and invest; over time, the idea of doing this at a scale and combining my philanthropic interests gave birth to Savart. – Savart founder, Sankarsh Chanda.

    Sankarsh started freelancing and drawing investment strategies for individual clients when he was just 16 years old. He was seventeen when the Savart founder published his first book, Financial Nirvana. Meanwhile, Sankarsh joined the B.Tech. course in Bennett University, Greater Noida.

    Ajay Batra, the Director of the Center of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Bennett university gave Sankarsh the confidence to start his venture. Sankarsh invested the money he earned through various investments for launching Savart. He interviewed about 400 people from diverse economic backgrounds to understand customer requirements better before working on Savart.

    Savart stands for ‘The Art of Savings’.

    Savart Logo
    Savart Logo

    The reason we give importance to saving in our name is because it is the fundamental requirement before beginning to invest. And we believe it sounds good too. – Savart founder, Sankarsh Chanda.

    Savart’s tagline is ‘Dream Up.’ The tagline is a reflection of Savart’s commitment to helping people ‘live’ better dream bigger. Savart helps to make quick money in the share market. The company’s aim is to help people realize their dreams and passion. The current logo was finalized upon after some iterations and wasn’t a one-time outcome.

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    Savart – Business Model And Revenue Model

    Savart’s services range from financial planning to investment advice and goal planning. Savart follows a simple revenue model; for the services provided, customers are charged as per the following plans:

    • For Investments between zero to 4,00,000, the charges are Rs.1299/- per annum.
    • For Investments exceeding INR. 4,00,000 , the charge comprises 0.5%(upfront fee)+ 3% of pre-tax net profits(performance fee).

    The company charges 1-2% as commission for mutual fund investments.

    Savart – Customer Acquisition

    Savart’s initial set of customers came from the team’s families and business connects obtained through referrals. Constant communication with the clients, keeping them in the loop, regular feedback collection, and constant improvements to its online platforms are some of the measures Savart takes to retain customers and uphold client satisfaction.

    Savart – Funding

    Raising funds has been an enriching experience for the Savart team, as said my Sankarsh. On May 6, 2018, Savart raised $100K in funding. Savart raised seed funding of $544.9K in November, 2021.

    Date Stage Amount Investor
    May 2018 Pre-seed $100K Undisclosed
    November 2021 Seed $544.9K BEENEXT, Yatra Angel Network

    Savart – Challenges

    Investing in people and finding the right talent has been a pain-point. Savart has upskilled several individuals to get the maximum out of its team as well as to help its employees move up the progress ladder. Sankarsh mentions that like every other startup, Savart also has downtime and that’s when the team needs some extra motivation. The customer first mindset uplifts everyone in times of distress.

    During our meetings, we have an empty chair and assume our customer is there, watching us work. This makes sure that we don’t get distracted or demotivated. – Savart founder, Sankarsh Chanda.

    The company never fails to celebrate milestones, no matter how big or small. These include feature release, team member induction, and positive customer feedback among others. Reaching out to the masses and help them invest and make money is Sankarsh’s personal motivation booster.

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    Savart – Competitors

    There are many fintech startups that deal with stock, share and mutual funds investment. Some of the top competitors of Savart are:

    Savart seeks inspiration from different entities; it is inspired by companies like Zerodha in terms of reach and services, by the likes of Oaktree capital management in terms of their investment research and quality of the team. However, Savart differentiates itself from others through its deep-tech research, customer experience, and the niche customer segments it targets.

    Savart – Achievements

    Some significant achievements include:

    • Savart sold mutual funds worth Rs 3.5 crores and stocks worth Rs 2 crores within a month of launching its online platform.
    • The company is managing an AUM of around 100 crores.
    • Savart was featured as one of the most promising fintech startups in the world by Burnmark, London.

    Savart – Awards

    Savart has received the following awards:

    • SMC Startup pitch Award – Mumbai 2018
    • T20 Starpreneuer of the Year – Mumbai
    • Delhi – NCR TiECoN’s QGLUE Design Entrepreneur of the Year

    Savart – Partners

    Savart has partnered with Bombay Stock Exchange for mutual funds. It is also licensed as a Registered Investment Advisor by SEBI.

    Savart is not a broker. So, it has partnered with Upstox, a Mumbai based discount broking firm , for final transactions. Savart is looking forward to partnerships with some other digital brokers. The startup is also in touch with banking correspondents to enhance its offline presence.

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    Savart – Advisors And Mentors

    According to Sankarsh, a mentor is one who adds direction and motivation to the business, offers continuous constructive criticism, and helps build the right culture for the organization. Savart is being mentored by the following experts:

    Ajay Batra: Mentor and Business Adviser, Director Bennett Hatchery, ex-Citibank. It was Mr. Batra who gave Sankarsh the confidence and support to think of entrepreneurship, and is mentoring Savart since day one.
    Sandeep Kataria: Ex-Marketing Head, Voonik and CureFit.
    Hemkumar Vajjha: Chief Technology Adviser MD, Impetus Solutions.
    Venkat: Development Head – Tech, Impetus Solutions, 25+ years of tech expertise.

    Savart – Future Plans

    Savart is all set for expansion and growth. Savart’s major bucket list items for the future are:

    • Opening offline stores.
    • Installing automated investment machine. The machine will be set up as an offline kiosk and users will be able to make investments using a debit card or cheque.
    • Making the Savart platform available in languages like Hindi, Telugu, and Gujarati.

    Savart – FAQs

    Who is the CEO of Savart?

    Sankarsh Chanda is the Founder & CEO of Savart.

    How much is the Net worth of Savart?

    Savart net worth is 100 crore rupees in assets (As of January 2020).

    What is Savart?

    Savart is a wealth management platform that simplifies investing in mutual funds, stocks, and bonds both online and offline. Savart combines machine accuracy and human intelligence to help its customers invest in stocks and mutual funds wisely.

    Who is Sankarsh Chanda?

    Sankarsh Chanda is the Founder & CEO of Savart. He also launched Stardour – a SpaceTech company.

  • NestAway Success Story – Home Rental Has Now Become Easier!

    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 NestAway.

    The home rental has been a pretty rigid segment, particularly in India. Homeowners have qualms about hiring tenants and it’s not a smooth sail for the latter either. Unrealistic advance deposit demands, lack of proper amenities and facilities, and turbulent rental agreement fiasco are just some of the problems that hamper the entire process.

    NestAway, a Bengaluru-based startup has identified this crisis and is now setting things right. This is a detailed article about NestAway, how the startup came into being, and how it is operating to simplify the process of finding rented accommodation.

    NestAway – Company Highlights

    Startup Name NestAway
    Headquarters Bengaluru
    Founders Amarendra Sahu, Smruti Parida, Deepak Dhar, And Jitendra Jagadev
    Sector Real Estate , Home Improvement
    Founded 2015
    Total Funding $109.1 mn (2021)
    Valuation $330 mn (2019)
    Parent Organisation NestAway Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

    NestAway – Latest News
    About NestAway and How it works
    NestAway – Founders and Team
    NestAway – Startup Story | How It Began
    NestAway – Mission and Vision
    NestAway – Name, Tagline and Logo
    NestAway – Services
    NestAway – Business Model
    NestAway – Revenue Model
    NestAway – Funding And Investors
    NestAway – Revenue/Annual Turnover
    NestAway – Growth / Valuation
    NestAway – Partners
    NestAway – Acquisitions And Mergers
    NestAway – Challenges
    NestAway – Competitors
    NestAway – Awards and Achievements
    NestAway – Future Plans
    NestAway – FAQs

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    Nestaway – Latest News

    January 19, 2021 – NestAway sold off the society and apartment management platform, ApnaComplex to Anarock Group within a year of its acquisition.  

    About NestAway

    NestAway is a concept. It’s a solution. It’s fixing something that’s grossly wrong. Actually, it’s a concoction of the three. It is a new concept for homeowners, a solution for tenants, and it’s fixing the youth housing crisis in cities.

    Founded in 2015, NestAway Technologies Pvt. Ltd. is headquartered in Karnataka. It is an online aggregator of fully furnished and well-maintained rooms and flats for rent. NestAway homes are present across 16 cities in India, including Bangalore, Delhi, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune, and Thane.

    The app helps the users find, book, and move into a rental home of their choice across various Indian cities. One can move in, ask for services from tap leakage to broken door locks, pay rent, and finally move out. The Nestaway app is available for Android and iOS.

    NestAway has also forayed into the co-living segment. In 2019, it officially announced the launch of its independent subsidiary, Hello World. Hello World, focuses on co-living and student housing and is present in 15 Indian cities. Hello World claims to have 10,000 beds and 90% occupancy rate. It will be led by NestAway co-founder Jitendra Jagadev.

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    NestAway – Founders and Team

    NestAway was co-founded by Amarendra Sahu, Smruti Parida, Deepak Dhar, and Jitendra Jagadev in 2015. It was an aggregator of shared and furnished apartments for bachelors in the beginning before adding full homes for families in its catalog.

    NestAway Founders 

    Amarendra Sahu

    Amarendra Sahu is the CEO of NestAway. He is a Computer Science engineer from NIT Surathkal and has an MBA from IIM-B. Amarendra has past experience of working at Alcatel-Lucent, Juniper Networks, and Cisco as a Software Engineer and Senior Software Engineer after which he co-founded BrizzTV Media Labs Pvt Ltd. Sahu is now a Co-founder of BrizzTV along with serving as a Co-founder and CEO of NestAway.

    Jitendra Jagadev

    Jitendra Jagadev is currently known as the Co-founder and Board Member of NestAway and has earlier served as the COO of the startup. He graduated from NIT Karnataka and has previously worked with companies like Philips, Cisco, and Ojas Venture Partners, before joining the founding team of NestAway. Jagadev is also the CEO of Helloworld Technologies India Pvt. Ltd.

    Smruti Parida

    Smruti Parida was the Co-founder of NestAway, and had also served as the CTO of the startup. Smruti is an IT graduate from NIT Karnataka. He was with Microsoft and United Online and worked as the Software Design Engineer and Program Manager 2 and Senior Software Engineer respectively before devoting himself to the company. Smruti quit NestAway on October 23, 2019. Smruti had also co-founded Zero Heights Technologies Pvt Ltd. previously and is currently working as a Founder at AutoSave.

    Deepak Dhar

    Deepak Dhar is an IT graduate from NIT Karnataka. Being a co-founder, Deepak was responsible for the product and user experience divisions at NestAway before leaving the startup in June 2019. Before joining NestAway, he worked with companies like Aceva Technologies, Fidelity Investments, and Royal Bank of Scotland. He also led Citruspay (acquired by PayU) as a Founding Member and Operations Head. Deepak Dhar quit Nestaway in June 2019 to startup a fintech venture but he will continue to be a director in the company. He co-founded Repute in October 2019.

    NestAway owners Amrendra, Smruti, Deepak, and Jitendra are all serial entrepreneurs. Amrendra and Jitendra co-founded Brizztv, Deepak was a part of the founding team of Citrus Payment Solutions, and Smruti founded ‘Sen6’—an art marketplace. NestAway has anywhere between 200-500 employees, according to the latest records.

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    NestAway – Startup Story | How It Began

    When Amarendra Sahu came to Bangalore in 2004, he had trouble finding a house to rent. Unmarried individuals are never the first choice of the house owners. Besides, renting in decent localities is not always reasonable.

    Amarendra wanted to solve this problem and went about setting up NestAway with the help of friends. In June 2014, his friend Jitendra Jagadev’s house in Whitefield became the site of an experiment.

    Amarendra recollects, “We took furnishing from Furlenco, took some pictures of the house, and posted it on Facebook. There were four beds in the 2 BHK – all sold in a day. Out of the seven girls who came to visit, six wanted it and four got it.”

    This was the story behind NestAway’s inception which has established itself in a surprisingly short amount of time.

    NestAway – Mission and Vision

    Nestaway’s core vision is “to provide young people value-for-money spaces with convenient solutions and amenities.” The steering vision was to make living easy and hassle-free.

    Nestaway is fueled with a mission to provide homes for everyone, without discrimination. The mission of the company was not just to find homes, but to help the youth set up in a new city without any hassles.

    With the onset of the new year 2022, NestAway has come up with a new tagline that goes “New Year, New Home.”

    NestAway new Logo
    NestAway new Logo

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    NestAway – Services

    NestAway is India’s fastest growing “Home Rental Network” which provides better rental solutions via design and technology. The units are ready-to-walk in homes and with different schemes based on the tenant’s requirement—a bed, a room, or a complete house. From 1 BHK flats to 8 BHK luxury villas with state-of-the-art facilities, the company caters to all kinds of customer needs. Homes come with cot, mattress, sofa, TV, fridge, washing machine, and a furnished kitchen. Besides, fully furnished apartments, semi-furnished and unfurnished apartments are also listed on NestAway.

    Some major USPs of NestAway are:

    • Guided house visits: Tenants are given a guided tour of the house they are interested in.
    • Rent on time: Ensures timely rent every month.
    • Zero paperwork: The company does all the paperwork such as agreement creation.
    • House safety: The company ensures that the house stays in good condition.
    • House maintenance: It provides on-demand and periodic house repairs. By subscribing to NestAway Assure, house owners can avail the facility of 100% free maintenance, cleaning, and repairing services.
    • Marketing and promotion: It promotes the properties registered with it through ads and other rental platforms.
    • Easy move-in and move-out policy: NestAway allows easy move-in and move-out facilities to tenants. Tenants can simply visit the website or use the app and schedule move-in or move-out dates according to their convenience. The move-out policy allows tenants to leave before the license end date. They can shift to the new house by notifying just two days before the planned move-in date.
    • Zero Deposit: NestAway has tied up with agencies to provide zero deposit offers, whereby tenants can move in by paying the booking amount without any advance deposit.
    • Pet-friendly: It allows animal lovers to find pet-friendly homes.
    • Open guest-hosting policy: It allows tenants to host guests responsibly without causing inconvenience to fellow tenants.

    The lock-in period is of 6 months. Unless mentioned otherwise in the agreement, the minimum stay is 6 months. However, this may vary in different cities. NestAway does not impose any move-out charges. However, if a person moves out before completion of the lock-in period, he has to pay one month’s rent as move-out charges.

    The rent is determined considering the given factors:

    • Area and location of the house.
    • Tenancy type, i.e whether a full house, a room, or a bed is taken for rent.
    • Condition of the house.
    • Size of the house.

    The best part for the homeowners is that the company ensures that the rent is paid before the 5th of every month.

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    NestAway – Business Model

    NestAway has a sound business model. It is a one-stop service provider for tenants and house owners where neither has to pay any brokerage fee.

    The company serves as a broker and property manager for homeowners by helping find tenants, collect rent, and manage the property over its lifetime in exchange for a percentage share of the rental stream.

    Amarendra explains the business model, “You can rent just a room, or the whole house. Our area manager will arrange the visit according to your preference. Once you are satisfied with the house, you can book it online. If you stay in the house for three days and don’t like it for any reason, we refund with full deposit. NestAway’s popularity grew mainly through word-of-mouth, with digital marketing spend in the early days being less than 10 percent of total expenses.”

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    NestAway – Revenue Model

    NestAway runs on a very simple revenue model. It manages a homeowner’s rental property throughout the rental life cycle, from showing the house to a prospective tenant and closing the rental agreement, to collecting rent on the owner’s behalf and assisting the tenant and owner during move-out.

    For all these services, the company charges the owners a fixed percentage of 12.5% of the total rent generated from the home as its commission. NestAway does not charge any brokerage or charges from the tenants apart from rent

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    NestAway – Funding & Investors

    NestAway Technologies has raised over $109.1 Million in funding from 9 rounds of funding it saw to date. In the latest round, it raised a funding of $4.70 Million from Goldman Sachs on September 17, 2019.

    Date Stage Funding Amount Investors
    September 17, 2019 Series D $4.70 Million Goldman Sachs
    May 13, 2019 Series D $10 Million Tiger Global Management & Chiratae Ventures
    October 17, 2018 Venture Undisclosed InnoVen Capital
    August 7, 2018 Venture Undisclosed Epiq Capital
    March 1, 2018 Series D $51 Million Goldman Sachs
    April 15, 2016 Series C $30 Million Tiger Global Management
    February 28, 2016 Venture Undisclosed Ratan Tata
    July 21, 2015 Series B $12 Million Flipkart, Tiger Global Management
    March 16, 2015 Seed $1.2 Million Undisclosed

    Flipkart, Tiger Global Management, Ratan Tata, Goldman Sachs, InnoVen Capital, Epiq Capital, Chiratae Ventures are some of the Investors in NestAway. Also, NestAway is in talks with multiple investors including Fosun International and Shunwei capital for $100 Million that it might be seeing ahead.

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    NestAway – Revenue/Annual Turnover

    According to Wikipedia, NestAway registered lower growth in revenue in 2017-2018 as compared to 2016-2017. Its revenue increased by 533% in 2016-2017 whereas, in 2017-2018, it increased by only 28.7%. As per ROC filing, its revenue from operation in FY 2018 is Rs 46.98 crores. Again, the losses increased from Rs 134.24 crore in 2016-2017 to Rs 203.79 crore in 2017-2018.

    The company claimed to earn $2 million worth of revenue each month, as of 2019’s reports.

    NestAway – Growth/Valuation

    NestAway is currently present in over 16 Indian major cities, as of September 2020. It is managing over 60,000 homes across the country. Over 10,600 house owners and 72,400 tenants are registered with it. About 40% of the new bookings now come from the family segment with the ratio being at 65:35 for shared versus family rental houses.

    In Bengaluru, where typically rental advances are of 10 months, the company offers homes on two-month deposits. The company claims to earn a monthly revenue of around $2 Million. NestAway gets a commission of 12.5% in each rental agreement.

    After a Series D funding of $51 million raised in March 2018, NestAway’s valuation was at about $200 million. It raised two more rounds of funding after that. However, the exact net worth or valuation has not been confirmed by the company.

    In 2019, NestAway ventured into the co-living and student housing segment by launching a new brand, ‘Hello World‘. ‘Hello World’ which began in May 2019, currently has a capacity of around 10,000 beds and is operational in 16 cities, including Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Delhi-NCR, Pune, Kota, and Dehradun. The startup boasts 90% occupancy rates. Hello World charges zero brokerage and one-month rent for a security deposit. NestAway has plans to introduce ‘Hello World’ in nine more cities, thus increasing the number of beds to over 50,000.

    In the wake of COVID-19, Bengaluru-based home rental startup NestAway has taken a host of measures to support its users and property owners. To start with, the company has reduced the onboarding charges by 50% for anyone who had planned to move into Nestaway’s properties before the lockdown was put in place.

    Also, Nestaway is allowing all the frontline workers to stay at its properties with 100% off on onboarding charges. For property-owners, which are tied-up for more than two years, the startup has set up an INR 50 Lakh fund to support them in these hard times.

    For migrants struck in Kota, Nestaway has provided free stay and food under the ‘Hello World’ initiative. More than 30 migrants and 30 healthcare staff have lived at Hello World’s properties since the COVID-19 outbreak. One building in Kota has been dedicated to healthcare staff with food and basic facilities. Furthermore, NestAway has also extended canteen services for doctors and guards and hostel managers.

    NestAway – Partners

    NestAway uses Localitics, a real estate statistical data science platform that not only predicts where rental demand is going to grow, but also where new houses are going to spring up. Today, Localitics is used for evaluating all the cities in India where the company is present and churns out data to help them target the next set of cities.

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    NestAway – Acquisitions And Mergers

    NestAway has acquired 3 organizations. Their most recent acquisition was StayAbode on Mar 2, 2020. However, it has later sold ApnaComplex, which makes the proptech startup the owner of the 2 other companies, Zanify and StayAbode.  

    It acquired a smaller rival Zenify (City Synapse Information Pvt. Ltd) for an undisclosed amount in May 2017. This move will help them expand their offerings for families.

    In February 2020, the company acquired the apartment management platform ApnaComplex. ApnaComplex is a 10-year-old startup and the platform offers tools to manage various aspects of the residential complexes like organizing public events, raising complaints, society billing/accounting, and much more. The company will now provide home services like cleaning, painting, pest control services, etc. to the registered users of ApnaComplex. However, within a year of its acquisition, the proptech startup decided to let ApnaComplex be acquired by Anarock on January 19, 2021.

    Acquiree Name Acquired Date Price
    StayAbode March 2, 2020 –
    ApnaComplex February 13, 2020 –
    Zanify May 7, 2017 –

    NestAway – Challenges

    One of the major challenges for the company was finding the right investors because it was the first business in this arena and some skepticism. Now, it is one of the highest funded Indian startups.

    In the initial stage, earning the house owner’s trust and convincing them to register was difficult. To solve this issue, it started offering a ‘rental default guarantee’ that guaranteed NestAway paying the house owner rent in case the tenant did not pay on time.

    Some house owners don’t consent to give their house for rent with two months’ rent as deposit money and expect more. However, this scenario has been bettered with the arrival of NestAway where the users need to pay two months’ rent as the tenant and the company pays the difference.

    NestAway – Competitors

    There are many companies and websites like this that list properties for rent. The Major competitors of NestAway are:

    What sets NestAway apart from its rivals is that it provides end-to-end solutions to tenants and house owners by taking care of everything—creating the rent agreement, rent collection, house maintenance, etc. In short, it mediates throughout the rental life cycle.

    NestAway – Awards and Achievements

    NestAway has been conferred upon a list of awards and recognitions throughout the years. One of the proudest moments for NestAway was when the founders of the company achieved the Comeback Kid Award on August 18, 2017.

    NestAway – Future Plans

    NestAway is planning to introduce ‘Smart Homes’ by launching the Smart Lock service for all homes. Smart Lock is a safety locking system that ensures security for people staying in their homes, especially for women. This service will be available on their app for both Android and iOS devices. The company is planning to venture into the women’s housing and senior housing sector by 2020.

    Another area of focus for NestAway will be student housing. With 10.4 million migrant students and only 6.1 million beds as the current official supply, there is an increase in demand for student housing which continues to increase day by day. Cashing in on this opportunity, it is strongly focusing on student housing and aims to start operations in Kota (Rajasthan) followed by Delhi (North Campus), and Bangalore. NestAway is also looking to expand PAN India and conversations are going on with progressive builders for exclusive properties earmarked for students.

    The brand continues to concentrate on the concept of co-living, wherein it takes up the entire building including the shared facilities such as gym, libraries, common areas, game room, and others. Through this concept, NestAway Technologies is trying to create a community for members with common interests to engage in yoga/salsa classes, have talk sessions from seasoned entrepreneurs/sportspersons, entrepreneurial knowledge sharing meets, and collaborate on other exciting avenues.

    NestAway – FAQs

    Who are the Founders/Owner of NestAway?

    NestAway was co-founded by Amarendra Sahu, Smruti Parida, Deepak Dhar, and Jitendra Jagadev in 2015.

    What is NestAway?

    NestAway is an online aggregator of fully furnished and well-maintained rooms and flats for rent. NestAway homes are present across 16 cities in India, including Bangalore, Delhi, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Noida, Greater Noida, Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Pune, and Thane.

    Who is the CEO of NestAway?

    Nestaway CEO and Co-founder is Amarendra Sahu.

    Who are the Top Investors of NestAway?

    Flipkart, Tiger Global Management, Ratan Tata, Goldman Sachs, InnoVen Capital, Epiq Capital, Chiratae Ventures are the Investors in NestAway.

    How much Funding did NestAway raise till date?

    NestAway Technologies has raised over $109.1 Million in funding from 9 rounds. In the latest round, it raised funding of $4.7 Million from Goldman Sachs in September 2019.

  • Success Story of MoneyTap – Making Instant Loans Just A Tap Away

    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 MoneyTap.

    Don’t you think life would have been easier if you had a personal line of credit at your disposal? Who doesn’t want a hassle-free credit, where there are no formalities and paperwork? And the icing on the cake would be the money getting topped up in your account as you keep paying back the borrowed amount.

    You are wrong if you think this isn’t possible. MoneyTap, a Bangalore-based startup has made this dream a reality. The company claims to be India’s first app-based personal line of credit for consumers. MoneyTap is India’s first company that provides lifetime credit of up to Rs. 5 lakh instantly to its customers.

    MoneyTap – Company Highlights

    Startup Name MoneyTap
    Headquarters Bangalore
    Founders Bala Parthasarathy, Kunal Verma, and Anuj Kacker
    Sector Fintech
    Founded October 2015
    Parent organization MWYN Tech Private Limited

    MoneyTap – About
    MoneyTap – Industry Details
    MoneyTap – Founders
    MoneyTap – The Idea And Launch
    MoneyTap – Name And Logo
    MoneyTap – How it Works?
    MoneyTap – Business And Revenue Model
    MoneyTap – Customer Acquisition
    MoneyTap – Funding and Investors
    MoneyTap – Challenges
    MoneyTap – Competitors
    MoneyTap – Achievements
    MoneyTap – Awards And Recognition
    MoneyTap – Acquisitions and Mergers
    MoneyTap – Partners
    MoneyTap – Future Plans
    MoneyTap – FAQs

    MoneyTap – About

    MoneyTap App
    MoneyTap App

    Started by three serial entrepreneurs, Bala Parthasarathy, Kunal Verma, and Anuj Kacker, MoneyTap was incorporated in October 2015. It offers instant personal loans of up to Rs 5 Lakhs, with the entire KYC process happening through its mobile app. It is headquartered in Bangalore, India.

    The startup aims to deliver quick and flexible personal loans to individuals in partnership with banks – smoothly and efficiently.

    The MoneyTap app is a trustworthy and reliable one with many USPs. The app offers instant online loans through a 100% paperless process and doesn’t require a bank visit. Moreover, one has to pay interest only on the amount borrowed. A loan taken through their app is collateral-free and has flexible loan tenures of 2-36 months. MoneyTap is India’s first company that provides lifetime credit of up to Rs.5 lakh instantly to its customers.

    Getting loans from MoneyTap is super easy. Eligible candidates need to download the app and fill the KYC. After completion of the KYC formalities, the loan is approved and the customer is given a MoneyTap credit card that’s loaded with the sanctioned amount. This can be used as a credit card or for withdrawing from the MoneyTap account. Once the repayments are done and there isn’t further need for an account, one can easily close the account through their website or the app.

    To be Eligible for MoneyTap Loans, one needs to be between 23-55 years of age and should have a regular source of income. A person having as low as a minimum in-hand salary of Rs 15,000 per month can apply for loans on the platform.

    A Complete Guide on How to get Instant Loan from MoneyTap 

    MoneyTap – Industry Details

    With the significant increase in internet users, almost every solution is now available online. Like all other services, financial services have also become accessible through apps and online services. Many Fintech companies are cropping up in the Indian market.

    India is amongst the fastest-growing Fintech markets in the world. Of the 2,100+ FinTechs existing in India today, over 67% have been set up in the last 5 years. The Indian Fintech market is currently valued at $31 Bn and is expected to grow to $84 Bn by 2025, at a CAGR of 22%.

    The Fintech transaction value size is set to grow from US$ 66 Bn in 2019 to US$ 138 Bn in 2023, at a CAGR of 20%.

    The Indian government is also launching initiatives to develop Visakhapatnam (Vizag) as the ‘fintech valley’.

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    MoneyTap – Founders and Team

    MoneyTap was founded by Bala Parthasarathy, Kunal Varma, and Anuj Kacker, who are IIT and ISB alumni.

    Kunal Varma, Bala Parthasarathy, Anuj Kacker - Founders, MoneyTap
    Kunal Varma, Bala Parthasarathy, Anuj Kacker – Founders, MoneyTap

    MoneyTap CEO, Bala Parthasarathy is the co-founder of multiple startups in Silicon Valley, including Snapfish (sold to Hewlett Packard). He has contributed immensely to the growth of Snapfish by gathering 100M users and $300M in revenue. Bala also volunteered for UIDAI under Mr Nandan Nilekani in 2007. He started AngelPrime, an angel investment firm in 2011 (now Prime Venture Partners). While working with AngelPrime he helped shape companies like ZipDial (sold to Twitter), EZETap, Happay, etc.

    Kunal Varma is a serial entrepreneur, who founded Whimsia Custom Works, a company for customized merchandise, and Aspirare, which designs learning programs and assessment solutions for job seekers and college graduates. Kunal along with Anuj Kacker also co-founded Tapstart, a job discovery platform.

    Anuj Kacker is the COO of MoneyTap. Anuj has experience in diverse fields courtesy of working with established brands such as Airtel, Reliance, and JWT. He co-founded Tapstart which grew to 300K users and turned profitable within two years. Anuj exited Tapstart in 2015 to join MoneyTap.

    With a small office in Mumbai and the headquarters in Bengaluru, the MoneyTap workforce is comprised of 30 people, as per 2019 data.

    MoneyTap – The Idea And Launch

    MoneyTap Founder
    MoneyTap Founder

    MoneyTap was founded keeping in mind the needs of the middle class. The salaried class is often constrained by monetary issues when it comes to satisfying needs. These needs can be anything like medical needs, school fees, or house rent.

    The trio observed that just a minimal amount of credit could help the middle class take care of these needs easily. But extensive paperwork and formalities make people apprehensive about taking loans unless it’s a huge amount. Moreover, credit cards and personal loans are not very popular in India.

    Besides, the middle class also finds it humiliating to borrow money from family and friends. MoneyTap was the solution to this conflation of issues.

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    MoneyTap Logo
    MoneyTap Logo

    The name MoneyTap was chosen because the app allows users to get money simply at the tap of the finger.

    MoneyTap – How it Works?

    The MoneyTap app, launched in partnership with the RBL Bank and several NBFCs, issues collateral-free credit up to a limit of Rs 5 Lakhs. The founders added that consumers can borrow anywhere between Rs 3,000 and Rs 5 Lakhs from the app and choose from among several repayment options with regards to time ranging from 2 to 36 months. MoneyTap and RBL also launched the RBL MoneyTap credit card. The card can be used like any other credit card for making online and offline payments. Users can also transfer money from the MoneyTap app to their bank accounts directly.

    MoneyTap offers loans at an interest rate as low as 1.08% per month, and 13% to 18% per annum.

    Consumers have to pay a one-time setup fee of Rs 499 along with taxes which is payable to the banking partner directly for blocking the credit limit.

    We are trying to get the middle-income group to use our application. For us, the sweet spot is someone who earns in the salary bracket of Rs 40,000 – 50,000 monthly. However, we also don’t mind it being lower.

    The founders also add that the money gets replenished as soon the customers start paying their EMIs. For example, an amount of Rs 30,000 borrowed (out of the credit limit of Rs 5 Lakh) will get replenished as the person pays their instalments over time, thus becoming available for borrowing in the future. Further, the onboarding of customers happens through a chatbot interface wherein the system instantly connects to the banking system and the credit bureau to find out the credit history of the customer. The money then gets approved accordingly.

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    MoneyTap – Business And Revenue Model

    MoneyTap adheres to strong business fundamentals since money lending requires attention to detail. The way it makes money is through a revenue share with banking partners. Every time a customer gets approved for access to a credit line for a lifetime, a small fee of Rs 500 is charged. Once the customer spends some money for one year, the money is recovered. Also, the usual interest paid by the customer along with the processing fees that are charged every time a person borrows also increases profitability.

    MoneyTap is designed to be a product company running on the backbone of data science, technology, and product thinking. It is also focused on low-cost, tech-friendly solutions to pave the way towards increased revenue.

    MoneyTap – Customer Acquisition

    MoneyTap was successful in building a large customer base within a short period. Within eight months of its inception, the company acquired 300,000 registered users from 14 cities in India.

    MoneyTap acquires some of its customers organically. The company also markets its products through Google, social media, and content marketing.

    According to Bala, there are a billion consumers in the country, and MoneyTap serves only 1% of them. He considers that even doubling this figure to 2% is a huge win.

    MoneyTap – Funding and Investors

    Date Stage Amount Investor
    Jun 14, 2017 Series A $12.3 million Sequoia India, New Enterprise Associates, Prime Venture partners
    Jan 28, 2020 Series B $70 million Sequoia Capital India, RTP Global, Prime Venture Partners, Aquiline Technology Growth & MegaDelta Capital

    MoneyTap has raised $82.3 million in 2 rounds of funding to date. In the latest round, MoneyTap raised funding worth $70 Million (500 Crore) in January 2020. Here are the funding and investor details of MoneyTap.

    The funding, as stated by Bala, has strengthened the leadership position of the consumer lending firm by improving credit accessibility for other customer segments.

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    MoneyTap – Challenges

    The most challenging thing in the consumer lending business is acquiring capital at low costs.

    Some of the major challenges faced by MoneyTap are:

    • Identifying trustworthy borrowers to whom credit can be disbursed without the fear of default.
    • Maintaining strong relations with banks and NBFCs.

    MoneyTap – Competitors

    Finomena is MoneyTap’s #1 competitor. Finomena was founded in 2015 in New Delhi. Like MoneyTap, Finomena also operates in the consumer finance space.

    Other major rivals of MoneyTap are, PaySense and ZestMoney. Both of these companies, founded in 2015, function in the same segment. While PaySense is located in Mumbai, ZestMoney is located in Bangalore.

    Besides, CreditVidya and Delhi-based Revfin also competes with MoneyTap.

    MoneyTap – Achievements

    MoneyTap has more than 5 Million downloads. However, this number isn’t indicative of customers who hold a credit line, since the rejection rate from the pool of applicants can be as high as 60-70 per cent. This high rejection rate is due to the rigorous checks done by the app’s algorithms.

    Almost 90 per cent of MoneyTap’s customers who have been issued credit lines are active and have drawn credit multiple times through the app. The average lending size of the company is Rs 30,000–35,000 and the average age of the customer is 28–30 years.

    MoneyTap is currently operational in 60 Indian cities, with the majority of its users coming from the top metros like Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Chennai. The company is planning to expand its footprints to 200 cities soon. MoneyTap also claims to have its non-performing assets well within the one per cent mark.

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    MoneyTap – Awards And Recognitions

    MoneyTap was awarded the ‘Best Innovative Lending Product/Service’ in the Payment & Fintech category at the 8th India Digital Awards. The award show was organized by the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI). MoneyTap was also awarded the leading FinTech Company in the lending category at PICUP Fintech 2017.

    MoneyTap – Acquisitions And Mergers

    MoneyTap is not actively looking for acquisitions. Bala tells that MoneyTap might acquire companies sharing similar values.

    MoneyTap – Partners

    MoneyTap launched its product with RBL Bank, its first banking partner. With the help of RBL’s Technology, MoneyTap was able to serve customers with quick decisions and quick access to the money round the clock. Moreover, RBL Bank also provides a MoneyTap-RBL Credit Card with the credit line.

    In 2017, MoneyTap announced a partnership with Aditya Birla Finance Limited (ABFL). MoneyTap also has several other banks and NBFCs as partners.

    In December 2020, MoneyTap announced its partnership with Pawtect with a view to offering Pet Insurance Policies to their employees.

    MoneyTap – Future Plans

    MoneyTap’s plans include:

    • It is looking to expand to more Tier II and III cities in India, and to global markets with South East Asia and the Middle East.
    • The company currently claims to have a loan book of 1000 crores and aims to make it 5000 crores by 2021.
    • Expanding services to 200 cities in India.
    • Building partnerships with more banks.
    • The company currently targets customers in the age group 29-31, with average incomes of INR 30,000-INR 40,000 per month, but is planning to reach out to groups having income as low as Rs 10000-15000 soon.
    • MoneyTap has also received an NBFC license in September 2019 and plans to launch its own NBFC company soon.

    MoneyTap – FAQs

    What is MoneyTap?

    MoneyTap is a Fintech company that aims to deliver quick and flexible personal loans to individuals.

    Who are the Founders of MoneyTap?

    MoneyTap was founded by Bala Parthasarathy, Kunal Varma, and Anuj Kacker in 2015.

    How much is MoneyTap Funding?

    MoneyTap has raised $82.3 million in 2 rounds of funding. In the latest round, MoneyTap raised funding worth $70 Million (500 Crore) in January 2020.

    Who are the investors of MoneyTap?

    MoneyTap Investors includes:

    • Sequoia Capital India
    • RTP Global
    • Prime Venture Partners
    • Aquiline Technology Growth
    • MegaDelta Capital
    • New Enterprise Associates

    Who are the top competitors of MoneyTap?

    Some of the top competitors of MoneyTap are:

    • Finomena
    • PaySense
    • ZestMoney
    • CreditVidya
    • Revfin