StartupTalky

Tag: 📄Company Profiles

  • Zimyo Startup Story – #1 Human Experience 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 Zimyo.

    Zimyo is a one-stop solution to all HR needs that helps organizations build a 2X more productive, engaged, and satisfied workforce. It provides cloud-based HR solutions to businesses of all sizes. It offers comprehensive smart HR solutions – Payroll and Expense Management, Performance Management System, Employee Engagement, Employee Benefits, Time and Attendance, and Onboarding and Recruitment solutions.

    In just 3 years since its inception in 2018, Zimyo is serving more than 500 organizations with 100,000+ active users! StartupTalky interviewed the Co-founder of Zimyo, Mr, Ajay Kadyan to know the startup story of Zimyo. In this article, you’ll get an insight into how Zimyo was started, its business model, founders’ profile, and more.

    Zimyo – Company Highlights

    Startup Name Zimyo
    Founders Ajay Kadyan, Kumar Mayank
    Founded 2018
    Headquarters Gurugram
    Industry HR Tech
    Website zimyo.com

    About Zimyo and Its USP
    The Backstory of Zimyo – How it Started?
    Founders of Zimyo
    Zimyo – Business Model and Revenue Model
    Employee Culture @ Zimyo
    Growth of Zimyo
    Zimyo – FAQs

    About Zimyo and Its USP

    Incepted in 2018, Zimyo is one of the fastest-growing unified HCM platforms in the HR tech space that automates tedious HR processes, eliminates payroll errors, and enhances employee experiences. It is a one-stop solution to all HR needs that helps organizations build a 2X more productive, engaged, and satisfied workforce. Furthermore, its intuitive HR solutions help employer organizations to drive improved data-driven decision-making and get better business outcomes.

    Zimyo is a one-of-a-kind platform that uses smart technology to provide smarter experiences. The company’s philosophy is purely inclined towards a human-centric design that leverages the power of Artificial intelligence and Machine Learning to build highly efficient products. The platform boasts a voice-user interface to simplify complex tasks using speech to enhance user experience.

    Zimyo Startup Story
    Zimyo Logo

    The platform features a broad spectrum of modules (over 40+) to offer flexibility to its users. Around 95 percent of Zimyo’s partners find it the easiest platform to switch and set up their complex processes in no time. Further, the platform processes the entire payroll in less than 2 minutes for over 1000 employees in just 3 easy clicks. Its robust analytics-driven employee intelligence system increases team retention by 3X and enables leaders proactively with the power of on-demand data and insights to make quick and informed decisions.

    Zimyo’s embedded finance solution enables employee-centric organizations to offer a one-of-a-kind employee engagement experience with benefits like advance salary, employee loans, insurance, and investments. With this solution, Zimyo intends to make financial services more accessible for employees across SMBs. This can help companies attract and retain customers while providing hassle-free financial services.

    The Backstory of Zimyo – How it Started?

    Kumar Mayank, CEO of Zimyo, has a background in microfinance. It is during his stint with the industry that he realized the absence of “formal credit” for employees. These employees who worked all their lives in factories with a PF account and investments to show had no bank willing to lend them credit when they needed it. Kumar analyzed this gap and decided to create a way to make credit easily accessible to these employees.

    There was a need for identifying the mechanism of establishing if there was actual salary transferred, which brought the HR and Payroll of an organization into the picture. That’s how the journey began as Zimyo started an innovation drive that merged FinTech with HRTech from an employee-first perspective.

    Along with co-founder Ajay Kadan, who has extensive experience of over 10 years in product development, system architecture, and data analytics, Zimyo plans to bridge the gap between the credit market and SMB employees with their innovative solutions.

    List of Best Employee Engagement Software and Tools | 2020 | Features | Pricing
    Employee Engagement software aims to assist managers with maintaining employee awareness of corporate culture and increasing their level of investment as many of the employees are working from home.
    StartupTalkySweta

    Founders of Zimyo

    Ajay Kadyan and Kumar Mayank (CEO) are the founders of Zimyo.

    Ajay Kadyan | Co-founder, Zimyo

    Zimyo Founder
    Ajay Kadyan – Zimyo Co-founder

    Ajay has extensive experience of over 10 years in product development, system architecture, and data analytics. He has helped several organizations in the HR Tech, EdTech, and E-commerce space to build robust products. With his strategic leadership skills and critical thinking, Ajay has successfully built a highly efficient and collaborative team.

    Presently, Ajay works as the Co-Founder of Zimyo and spearheads the business with his deep comprehensive industry knowledge. He is currently focused on positioning Zimyo as one of the most preferred brands in the HR tech space. Besides, he works closely with the marketing team to improve Zimyo’s brand visibility and outreach. In addition to this, Zimyo has also joined forces with the sales team to increase client acquisition and improve conversion rate, while working closely with the product team to strengthen the product portfolio.  

    With his technical and functional knowledge, Ajay envisions empowering leaders and organizations across the world to offer true ‘employee experience’ to their employees, help them get the best out of their workforce, drive higher engagement, and build a differentiating human capital advantage.

    Kumar Mayank | Co-founder & CEO, Zimyo

    Kumar Myanak’s role as Zimyo’s Founder involves connecting with growth-focused organizations and helping them build a great organizational culture with the help of Zimyo’s product suite. He did his BA Hons in Economics from Delhi University and is an alum of IIM – Lucknow. Before starting Zimyo, Kumar Mayank was associated with well-known companies like Equitas Small Finance Bank, ING Vyasa Bank, and Janalakshmi Financial Services.

    With an extensive background in Microfinance, Kumar realized the lack of “formal credit” for employees. These Employees who worked in factories for their entire lives with PF accounts and investments to show for their work could not get credit from banks when needed. Kumar studied this gap and devised a way to make credit easily accessible to these employees.

    Zimyo – Business Model and Revenue Model

    Zimyo provides cloud-based HR solutions to businesses of all sizes. It offers comprehensive smart HR solutions – Payroll and Expense Management, Performance Management System, Employee Engagement, Employee Benefits, Time and Attendance, and Onboarding and Recruitment solutions. The platform charges a monthly fee from employers based on their needs and the number of employees. The basic package starts from INR 5999/PM/100 employees that can be customized as per their employer’s needs.  

    From the HR tech space, Zimyo has also entered into the embedded finance segment. It has extended its services to offer employee benets, tax-saving solutions, retirement plans, and financial assessments. Besides this, the platform has also integrated with other job portals to ensure an efficient hiring process.

    In such a short span, the platform has onboarded prominent clients with Zimyo including Bajaj Capital, Hillson Shoes, 88 Pictures, iMocha, Yethi, M2P, TheData Team, Fleetx, Riskcovry, and many among others. Apart from this, Zimyo’s direct integration with other job portals makes the hiring processes more efficient by eliminating the need for manual data entry on multiple sites and removing the need to check back in on job posts.

    How AI Is Transforming HR Department?
    Artificial intelligence is transforming HR by making it more efficient and unbiased. Contrary to what many people assume, AI has the power to enhance the concept of human contact in HR.
    StartupTalkyDevashish Shrivastava

    Employee Culture @ Zimyo

    Given the exacerbating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, physical & mental wellness, financial stability and job security have become top concerns for employees. To handle the crisis well, Zimyo is bringing employee wellness to the forefront. Being a people-centric company, Zimyo is emphasizing on “Employee First” culture by adopting policies such as group health insurance, reimbursement for COVID vaccinations, paid leave for vaccinations, paid medical leave for COVID positive employees, mental wellness & engagement sessions, and additional insurance cover for oxygen concentrators & medical emergency.

    In addition to this, Zimyo also supports its partner organizations in building a positive and productive work culture. It has partnered with various integrators to provide Benefits such as Insurance, Tax Saving Investment Options, Wealth Management Solutions, Expense/Credit Cards, and much more.

    Also Read: Importance of Work Culture in the Success of a Startup

    Growth of Zimyo

    Currently, Zimyo is serving more than 500 organizations with 100,000+ active users. Along with HRMS & other modules, Zimyo’s ‘Benefits’ module has also seen a high user adoption rate. A bunch of Zimyo’s existing partners have opted for Zimyo benefits and are very happy with the offerings under this newly launched module.

    It has also designed a bilingual mobile app to further ensure a seamless employee experience. The platform has received avg. 4.2+ ratings from its users on various platforms. Recently, Zimyo has been also recognized by G2 as a “High Performer” in the HRMS, Payroll, and Time & Attendance Software categories – earning a total of 7 accolades.

    In such a short span, the platform has onboarded prominent clients with Zimyo including Bajaj Capital, Hillson Shoes, 88 Pictures, iMocha, Yethi, M2P, TheData Team, Fleetx, Riskcovry, and many among others.

    Software as a Service—SaaS Revenue Model || StartupTalky
    The most significant change that the SaaS model brought is the SaaS revenue model. It swapped the single point of revenue with three essential phases – Initial sale → Retention → Expansion.
    StartupTalkyRishabh Rathi

    Zimyo – FAQs

    What is Zimyo?

    Zimyo is one of the fastest-growing unified HCM platforms in the HR tech space that automates tedious HR processes, eliminates payroll errors, and enhances employee experiences.

    Who are the founders of Zimyo?

    Ajay Kadyan and Kumar Mayank (CEO) are the founders of Zimyo.

    How Zimyo makes money?

    Zimyo provides cloud-based HR solutions to businesses of all sizes. The platform charges a monthly fee from employers based on their needs and the number of employees. The basic package starts from INR 5999/PM/100 employees that can be customized as per their employer’s needs.  

    When was Zimyo started?

    Zimyo was launched in 2018.

    How much funding has Zimyo raised?

    Zimyo raised seed funding of $1.5 million led by BEENEXT in September 2020.

  • Active.ai – Personalizing Customer Support With AI

    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 Active.ai.

    Companies in the B2C sector segment are progressively approaching an age of automated customer service, which is enhancing the brand experience for customers, thanks to technologies like AI-powered customer support bots.

    Founded in 2016, Singapore-based startup Active.ai is creating intelligent virtual assistant that is allowing businesses to design automatic and insightful customer support service. Active.ai has developed a successful, patented conversational AI platform for financial firms, insurance firms, and capital markets that can be quickly implemented. Here is more about Active.ai, the startup story, and how this startup is helping businesses take their customer support service to the next level.

    Active.ai – Company Highlights

    Startup Name Active Intelligence Pte Ltd
    Headquarters Singapore
    Industry Financial Services, Software, FinTech
    Founders Ravi Shankar, Parikshit Paspulati and Shankar Narayanan
    Founded February 2016
    Current CEO Ravi Shankar
    Products Morfeus, Triniti
    Website www.active.ai

    Active.ai – Latest News
    About Active.ai and How it Works?
    Active.ai – Name, Logo and Tagline
    Active.ai – Founders and History
    Active.ai – Mission and Vision
    Active.ai – Services and Products
    Active.ai – Business Model
    Active.ai – Revenue and Growth
    Active.ai – Funding and Investors
    Active.ai – Competitors
    Active.ai – Challenges Faced
    Active.ai – Future Plans
    Active.ai – FAQs

    Active.ai – Latest News

    In June 2021, Active.ai partnered with Talisma, which is a major customer experience solutions provider. Talisma’s technological products and solutions will be strengthened as a result of the partnership, which will allow it to incorporate a next-generation conversational AI chatbot into its platform and make it available to its BFSI clients.

    On their Conversational AI journey, BFSI companies may use Talisma and Active.ai’ s solutions. Active.ai and Talisma collaborated covers a wide range of use cases in Retail and Commercial Banking, Insurance, and Capital Markets, with solutions readily available on platforms like WhatsApp, as well as a full-proof seamless fallback for human assistance if needed.

    About Active.ai and How it Works?

    Active.ai is a Singapore-based fintech firm focusing on artificial intelligence, with a research and development center in Bengaluru. Active.ai has developed a cutting-edge, proprietary conversational AI platform for financial institutions, insurance firms, and capital markets that can be quickly implemented.

    Triniti, their artificial intelligence engine, was created to provide end-users with meaningful, intuitive engagement across many channels such as SMS, phone, and IoT devices. Triniti has been developed to empower businesses to build a deep connection with their customers. This artificial intelligence engine uses Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing, and Natural Language Generation technologies to cater to the specific customer support needs of financial institutions, insurance companies, and capital markets.

    Furthermore, this solution is backed by the knowledge and experience of an executive team with over 60 years of senior-level industry experience, as well as a thorough grasp of the strategic and operational issues that their clients are facing. Financial institutions, insurance firms, and capital markets are all moving fast to stay relevant to shifting client expectations, and Active.ai arrives just in time. The team at Active.ai sees an amazing potential whereby businesses can establish a natural dialogue and more meaningful relationships with their customers using sophisticated conversational AI.

    The following are some of the major characteristics of Active.ai

    • For balance queries and fund transfers, pre-built processes, pre-trained datasets, and pre-certified interfaces with Finastra are available.
    • Business rules, bespoke replies, and branding are all highly configurable features.
    • APIs are available for expanding functionality.
    • Supports iOS, Android, Web applications, the Facebook virtual agent, and Alexa and Google Assistant capabilities.

    Top 50 Fintech Startups in India 2021 | Indian Fintech Companies
    Fintech, short for financial technology, has become a crucial part of the globaleconomy., all financial tasks were completed through paperwork only, aspaper-based medium was considered to be the safest. But with the development oftechnology, internet has emerged as the preferred platform for fina…
    StartupTalkyAshwini

    Active.ai – Name, Logo and Tagline

    The “ai” in Active.ai stands for Artificial Intelligence as the enterprise is a creator of an artificial intelligence platform for enterprises that aims to provide conversational banking services.

    Active.ai Company's logo
    Active.ai Company’s logo

    Active.ai’s tagline says, “Conversational AI built for scale”

    Active.ai – Founders and History

    Ravi Shankar, Shankar Narayanan Srinivasan, and Parikshit Paspulati founded Active.ai in 2016.

    Founders of Active.ai
    Founders of Active.ai

    Active.ai CEO Ravi Shankar previously served at a managerial position in HDFC bank. He was the VP & Head of Non-Branch-Delivery Channels at ABN AMRO Bank N.V. From 2004 to 2009, Ravi was Group Executive Vice President at Yes Bank. He co-founded Nevales Networks Pvt Ltd., which is a cloud-based managed security service provider in 2010. In 2016, Ravi co-founded Active.ai

    Active.ai COO Shankar Narayanan Srinivasan started his career as a 3D Animator and went to become a serial entrepreneur. He co-founded companies like Cazh Pte Ltd( an online payment company that designed applications that let users make payments without revealing credit card and bank account numbers) and Tagit Pte Ltd ( a digital solutions company). In 2012, Shankar co-founded Fastcash Pte. Ltd, a unique platform that allows users to transfer value in the form of money, airtime, gift card, or any other tokens of value, and also digital content such as photo video, etc. through social networks and messaging platforms in a secure way.

    Active.ai CTO Parikshit Paspulati worked with IT companies like CSS Corp. He was the CEO of Singapore-based software company Mobilestruct Pte Ltd from 2005 to 2008. Till 2014, Parikshit worked as the CTO of digital solutions’ company Tagit Pte Ltd.  He founded an IT consultancy firm Finoculus Pte. Ltd in 2014. In 2016, he co-founded Active.ai with Shankar Narayanan Srinivasan and Ravi Shankar.

    The idea of starting Active.ai first hit Shankar Narayanan, when he lost his wallet during an international trip. He was calling his bank to block his credit and debit cards, but he realised that it was not easy to connect to the customer support due to busy networks, and endless IVR menus. This lead to the idea of using AI to handle customer support for a better user experience. He discussed the idea with his friends Parikshit Paspulati and Ravi Shankar, which led to the formation of Active.ai in 2016.

    The initial client of Active.ai was Axis Bank, followed by CIMB Bank, Income, FWD insurance, IndusInd Bank, and  Hdfc Securities. Today the startup has many clients across the globe.

    Active.ai – Mission and Vision

    Active.ai’s vision statement says, “Our vision is to create augmented AI services that is easier to train and evaluate. By integrating powerful data analysis tools, such as Power BI, with AI services and data sets we can easily visualize the accuracy of our models.“

    Active.ai – Services and Products

    With an AI product platform that can be supplied on the cloud, Active.ai created its own IP. The major goal is to solve complicated problems by connecting to banks via APIs and making information available to clients in a courteous and cost-effective manner.

    The multichannel platform enables its use on messaging platforms such as Facebook Messenger and IoT devices such as Alexa. The startup partnered with IBM, Infosys Finacle, Microsoft, and EdgeVerve Systems to provide financial services with 24-hour support via messaging and voice interfaces.

    The two main products offered by Active.ai are –

    1. Triniti – Triniti’s AI engine combines NLP and NLG components to let financial institutions communicate with consumers in a natural way. Its purpose is to automate some tasks between clients and banks, such as transactions and customer care. Triniti-powered chatbots are used to solve inquiries, saving banks’ time, money, and labor. Triniti’s algorithms are developed such that it can interpret customer’s intent, sentiment and emotions and interact with the customers accordingly.
    2. Morfeus – Active.ai’s middleware engine, which was created at the Bangalore Innovation Lab, operates as a Java program for a web server. It uses artificial intelligence to link front-end channels, allowing banks to communicate with their consumers through mobile, chat, or voice.

    Active.ai – Business Model

    Active.ai has a Software as a Service (SaaS) subscription-based business model. Active.ai’s quick growth and reputation in the banking industry has resulted in a high level of involvement and confidence among clients, ensuring a stable and secure relationship between banks and customers.

    Amigobulls (Now EnrichVideo) – Company Profile
    Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified informationon different startups and organizations. The content in this post has beenapproved by EnrichVideo (Amigobulls). Organizations can utilize big data analytics to leverage their data and find newopportunities. As a re…
    StartupTalkySarika Anand

    Active.ai – Revenue and Growth

    As per reports, Active.ai’s revenue for the calendar year 2020 was USD 2.47 million while the revenue was USD 1.84 million in the Calendar Year 2019.

    Active.ai – Funding and Investors

    Date Round Amount Lead Investors
    Sep 14, 2020 Funding Round — AMTD ASEAN-Solidarity Fund
    Jun 12, 2019 Series A $3M —
    Jan 1, 2019 Venture Round — InnoVen Capital
    Nov 13, 2017 Series A $8.3M CreditEase Fintech Investment Fund, Dream Incubator, Vertex Ventures
    Nov 14, 2016 Angel Round $3M IDG Capital
    May 4, 2016 Pre Seed Round $500K Kstart

    Active.ai – Competitors

    Active.ai’s top competitors are Wso2, Apigee, DigitalGenius, Yodlee, MuleSoft, Xignite, Bloomberg, Mashape, Yellow Messenger, snapLogic, Barchart,  3scale, and Thomson Reuters.

    Active.ai – Challenges Faced

    As more and more enterprises are adopting AI to create better customer interaction services, the industry is slowly becoming more competitive. Although the AI business is not overly saturated, it is highly specialized, making it rather difficult. It’s a multibillion-dollar sector with enormous potential.

    “AI has been available for 30 years, but businesses have just lately begun to use it. Today, enterprises world over are moving away from the mobile first vision to AI first with the core focus on customer engagement and new customer experience (CX),” says Ravi Shankar, Co -founder and CEO, Active Intelligence (Active Ai) Pvt Ltd.

    Moneyfront Company Profile – Simplifying Investment In Mutual Funds
    The content in this post has been approved by the organization it is based on. Mutual Fund [https://startuptalky.com/list-of-mutual-fund-startups/] is anexcellent investment tool [https://startuptalky.com/top-mutual-fund-apps-india/…
    StartupTalkyShubham Kumar

    Active.ai – Future Plans

    Active.ai is a company that has received a lot of positive comments from its customers. With SaaS subscriptions beginning at 1500 users per month, Active.ai has made this platform extremely scalable. The Active.ai team thinks that by utilizing this ground-breaking technology, any financial institution would be able to embrace Conversational AI and provide excellent customer service.

    Currently, Active.ai is operating throughout North America, Europe, Japan, and India. Active.ai employs about 40 employees across Singapore, Bangalore, and the United States. In the next few years, the company’s goal is to have 100 million end-users. The company also has plans to open offices in different locations across the globe and hire talent from different locations around the world.

    Active.ai – FAQs

    What does Active.ai do?

    Active.ai develops a successful, patented conversational AI platform for financial firms, insurance firms, and capital markets that can be quickly implemented.

    Who founded Active.ai?

    Ravi Shankar, a former Group Executive Vice President of Yes Bank, Shankar Narayanan, and Parikshit Paspulati founded Active.ai in 2016.

    Which country is Active.ai based in?

    Active Intelligence is a Singapore-based fintech firm focusing on artificial intelligence, with a research and development center in Bengaluru.

    Which companies do Active.ai compete with?

    Active.ai’s  top competitors are Wso2, Apigee, DigitalGenius, Yodlee, MuleSoft, Xignite, Bloomberg, Mashape, Yellow Messenger, snapLogic, Barchart,  3scale, and Thomson Reuters.

    How does Active.ai make money?

    To generate money, Active.ai uses a Software as a Service (SaaS) subscription-based business model.

  • Story of Marvel: From Comic Books to a Universe of Superheroes

    We all know Marvel. The world’s biggest and most celebrated Superheroes Fiction producer, but it is more than just that. If we peek into its history, it is as big as it gets. Starting from a pulp fiction comic producing name, it has travelled a journey that is not spoken much. This is an article covering that journey. From almost bankruptcy to producing an enormous Cinematic Universe and huge fandom. The journey, that is heroic in every sense.

    The Origins of Marvel
    Marvel – The Golden Age(1938-56)
    Marvel – Silver Age(1956-70)
    Marvel – Bronze Age (1970-85)
    Marvel – Modern Age(1985-present)
    The Marvellous Story
    Dissecting the growth of Marvel
    Lesser Known Facts about Marvel
    FAQs

    The Origins of Marvel

    Marvel came into existence in 1939. When a comic book publisher named Martin Goodman thought to make some cash from the growing market of comic books. The title was “Timely comics” under which the first comic was published as Marvel One. Comics were short books with an average of 32 pages and at that time were just starting out. They showcased some superheroes, with their usual work of fighting the bad and re-establishing peace in the world. Superheroes like the Human torch and submariner turned the air in the town. As the comics were making their cult, More superheroes came to uplift the ground for marvel. The most important was Captain America who made a debut in 1941 as a fighting soldier. That was an outbreak almost instantly.

    Timely Comics logo

    That era, now called the “Golden Era” of comics, was the beginning of Comics celebration and Marvel. If we look back to the history of ‘how comics have travelled through time’, we can map several ages depending upon their types and traits.

    Popular Subsidiaries Of The Walt Disney Company
    Walt Disney is a leader in the media and entertainment industry. This is mainly because of its subsidiaries like ABC, ESPN, Pixar, LucasFilms, Marvel, etc.
    StartupTalkyPV Vyshnavi

    Marvel – The Golden Age (1938-56)

    The Era of World War Two. The era in time when heroes like Superman, Captain America, Wonder Woman, and Batman came in their debut. These were patriotic heroes, fighting the evil and inaugurating peace. Many times Heroes could be seen fighting real world bad guys like Hitler in the comics. The time couldn’t be perfect, the heroes struck a chord and people loved them. It laid a strong base of love for Comics as well as Super Heroes. Even in the aftermath of the traumatic times, comics were seen as a way for children to ease up their fear of war, and to neutralise their anxiety.

    The Comic Age

    Marvel – Silver Age (1956-70)

    Then came the silver age when comics with a strong base became the mainstream source of entertainment among Americans. This was the time when the golden age heroes lost a little of their shine. Heroes were tailored with time, and then we had Spiderman and The Fantastic Four. These were more into the area of mystery and horror genres.

    Silver Age Representation

    Marvel – Bronze Age (1970-85)

    This was more commonly known as the continuing age, when the heroes from the past (Most famous), that is from the golden era continued to showcase some past issues like poverty and drug abuse.

    Marvel – Modern Age (1985-present)

    The time after 1985 is the modern age of comics that is still continuing, when superheroes from comics are taken from the books, to a new genre of Movies and Series and Spin Offs. The deep dive into the world of Science Fiction.

    Later on, after the inception, Martin saw a surge in readers as commissioned writers like Stan Lee and Jack Kirby started to write for the comics. They made the heroes more personal and neighbourhood friendly than ever. Heroes like Spiderman and Fantastic Four were a hit with this hack. With these characterisations and stories connected and rooted to normal life, These writers were a hit and they pioneered the time of young new talent of writers. Writers like Jim Steranko, who introduces Nick Fury (A Fictional Secret Agent) added in the wind’s direction. Revitalising of X-Men based on comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby and recurrence of Captain America as a patriotic soldier was a fad.

    The Marvellous Story

    Marvel Comics and superheroes
    Marvel Comics and superheroes

    After the golden age of comics and the success of heroes like Captain America, Martin changed the title to Atlas Comics. That experimented with new genres. Again in the 1960s, the comic producer changed its name to Marvel Comics after DC (Another Comic producer and their largest competitor) entered the market in the silver age. They both were the top players at that time. Soon Marvel got bigger and bigger and went public in 1991. As it got huge, management issues crept in and the company went almost bankrupt in 1996 and surprisingly sailed through the bankruptcy and got up again in 1998. Soon out of the pit, they started diversifying into digital comics and Marvel Cinematic Universe under the name of Marvel Studios. Which eventually was bought by Walt Disney in 2009.

    As Marvel diversified, They started to work on movies. In 2012 they dropped The Avengers, A film starring Iron Man, Captain America and Thor. All these characters were already hit and now a film starring all these was a recipe for success. In the 21st Century, Marvel saw that the most profits are from Toys and Video games of famous Heroes and merchandise of blockbuster releases.

    Dissecting the growth of Marvel

    (and How it managed to scale heights)

    I Hate Sequels. They are never as good as the first book – Connie Wills (American Writer)

    Ed Catmull, Pixar’s CEO, describes movie sequels as a form of “creative bankruptcy”

    It is evident with our personal experience too that, there is very little chance of a sequel doing better among fans than the original movie. But Marvel has kept redefining it again and again for over a decade now. If it happens once or twice, it’s luck but Marvel seems to have somehow found a formula for back to back blockbuster releases. Some of the key aspects that we can notice are –

    Equality to Flow and Renewal

    Marvel is trying (and succeeding) to follow initials and future growth. That means the comic giant is good in the continuity of its characters and the customer retention that comes with it. They are good at managing the past flow. Another thing is that Marvel is also in parallel renewing its ideas around superheroes to experiment.

    Exceeding Predictions

    Ask any Marvel fan, every movie is prediction proof. Marvel knows how to violate expectations in a fun way. Let us take an example of a famous franchise, Thor. The first part is super classic and establishes a good overview of the character, The second part is totally different in tone and the third is a comedy mixed with Hulk. This adds some suspense feel to Marvel releases.

    Rollercoaster tone

    This observation is more of an addition to the last mentioned step. If we pinpoint tones used in movies in the original order then we will find a graph that is a nice ZIGZAG figure. Showing the roller coaster of emotions or tones used in creating these movie masterpieces.

    Marvel knows how to retain its fans and that is how it has managed to create a Universe of Fandom out of comics.

    Lesser Known Facts about Marvel

    • During the early 90s, Michael Jackson tried to buy Marvel Comics. The reason behind it was that he wanted to star as Spider-Man in his version of the movie.
    • During Marvel’s boom in 1984, the head of Warner Communications’ publishing approached former Marvel editor Jim Shooter for licensing the publishing rights to the entire DC Comics universe.
    • DC refused the offer and continued to publish comics. Later on, DC became a hit with readers as Marvel hit bankruptcy in 1996.
    • Venom was created by a fan in 1982 in a contest held by Marvel Comics. Randy Schueller submitted a concept art for a storyline that involved Spider-Man upgrading his suit to all black for stealth purposes.
    • A character named Jihad was introduced eleven days before the 9-11 attack. Jihad was introduced as a character bent on world destruction and conquest. However, due to the sensitivity after the historical event of 9/11, the character was written off.
    • The King of Rock and Roll, Elvis Presley’s trademark haircut was based on the Marvel superhero, Captain Marvel Jr.
    • The Men in Black is owned by Marvel. Originally owned by Malibu Comics, Marvel bought the rights for The Men in Black in 1994. This would mean that all films, shows, and video games have been produced by Marvel.

    FAQs

    When was Marvel comics founded?

    Marvel Comics was founded on 1939 in New York.

    Who was first Marvel superhero?

    Sub-Mariner was the first Marvel Superhero.

    Some of the most popular Marvel superheros are:

    • Spider-Man
    • Iron Man
    • Captain America
    • The Hulk
    • Thor
    • Wolverine
    • Ant-Man
    • The Wasp
    • Black Widow
    • Captain Marvel

    Who is owner of Marvel Studios?

    The Walt Disney Company is the owner of Marvel Studios.

  • Story of Credit Fair: Now you can get Low-Cost Loans @ Point of Sale

    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 Credit Fair.

    Credit Fair is a consumer lending fintech startup that provides 0% or low-cost, short-term, unsecured installment loans at the point of sale. The startup’s unique credit assessment process has helped it achieve a quick turnaround time (TAT) of less than a day and a high approval rate, enabling more Indians to avail credit. Apart from that, Credit Fair helps borrowers build a credit ladder, i.e. a credit score to help them access credit from other lenders and at a fairer rate. In just 3 years, Credit Fair managed to onboard over 1,000 merchants including upGrad, Toppr, Asian Paints among many. It has disbursed about $9 million to date with a loan book of $4 million currently.

    StartupTalky interviewed Mr. Aditya Damani (Founder of Credit Fair) to get insights on the startup story and roadmap of the organization. In this article you’ll discover how Credit Fair was conceptualized, its business model, growth, funding, future plans, and more.

    Credit Fair – Company Highlights

    Startup Name Credit Fair
    Founder Aditya Damani
    Headquarters Mumbai
    Founded 2018
    Industry Fintech
    Website creditfair.in

    Credit Fair – About and Vision
    Credit Fair – Industry Details
    Credit Fair – Idea & Inspiration
    Credit Fair – Product/Service and USP
    Credit Fair – Founders and Team
    Credit Fair – Business Model & Revenue Model
    Credit Fair – Startup Launch
    Credit Fair – Challenges Faced
    Credit Fair – Funding and Investors
    Credit Fair – Advisors/Mentors
    Credit Fair – Competitors
    Credit Fair – Tools used to run startup
    Credit Fair – Current Growth & Future Plans
    Credit Fair – FAQs

    Credit Fair – About and Vision

    Credit Fair provides 0% or low-cost, short-term, unsecured installment loans at the point of sale. The short-term vision of the company is to be the preferred lender in sectors of education, healthcare, home dĂŠcor, and electric vehicles. Its long-term vision is to see every Indian have access to the right amount of credit at the right cost and at the right time.

    By 2025, the startup aims to positively impact the financial lives of over 1million Indians. This vision reflects in its efforts to enable low-cost loans for ‘Bharat’ i.e. people who are not served by banks and large NBFCs. Over 70% of Credit Fair’s loans are No Cost EMIs, hence offering better terms than even personal loans from banks.

    Credit Fair – Industry Details

    According to a report by BCG, the total value of digital lending is expected to be $1 trillion by 2023, driven by increased access to the internet and smartphones and increased digital purchases. As for the number of customers, 550 million people i,e, 46% of the population of India is currently underserved and makes up for the total addressable market.

    Credit Fair has estimated the market opportunity in its target sectors – health, education, solar rooftop, and electric vehicles to be over $20 billion of which 25% is funded by EMI taking its immediate addressable market to $5bn. These sectors are fragmented but large and experiencing a high growth rate, making them attractive.

    Top 10 Fintech companies providing Lending Services in India
    If you have a small business and startup and are looking to get a loan. Here are Top 10 Fintech companies that provide lending services in India.
    StartupTalkyPratyusha Srivastava

    Credit Fair – Idea & Inspiration

    The founder got the inspiration of starting a lending business in India while working at new to credit-focused lender, Oakam, and while advising private equity funds on setting up lending businesses. He saw people face issues rejections or delays in getting credit from financial institutions during critical life moments such as medical emergencies leading to reliance on informal channels that charge usurious interest of 10% per month and getting trapped in a debt cycle. This led to the idea of launching Credit Fair.

    Credit Fair – Product/Service and USP

    1. About 550 million Indians are underserved by traditional lenders because they are new to credit (NTC) or do not have a prime credit score
    2. Availability of credit at the point of sale is currently enabled through credit cards, penetration of which is less than 4%
    3. Borrowers in remote areas are also underserved by traditional banks due to the high costs associated with their onboarding, management, and recovery.

    Hence, there is a huge demand for formal credit that can be availed through simple processes.

    On the other hand, merchants, who are majorly SMEs, struggle with providing a point of sale financing options to their customers resulting in loss of potential sales. Second, their operations are mostly based on cash transactions, leading to process inefficiencies and high transaction costs.

    Credit Fair provides 0% or low-cost, short-term, unsecured installment loans at the point of sale. Its ticket size ranges from USD150-25,000 and tenure from 3 months to 3 years.

    The startup’s unique credit assessment process has helped it achieve a quick turnaround time (TAT) of less than a day and a high approval rate, enabling more Indians to avail credit. Second, by providing 0% or easy EMI, it is increasing access to low-cost credit hence, securing the financing health of the borrowers. Third, Credit Fair also helps borrowers build a credit ladder, i.e. a credit score to help them access credit from other lenders and at a fairer rate.

    Credit Fair Product/Service
    Credit Fair – Consumer App

    As for merchants, Credit Fair’s products and high TAT and approval rate help improve conversions and ensure stable cash flows for the partners, hence, overcoming the issues of low sales and lack of working capital. Second, digitizing cash flows will help merchants manage their cash flows better leading to efficiencies in operations. Finally, it will further the startup’s mission of financial inclusion as SMEs will be able to access credit and working capital loans, based on cash flows generated as a result of partnering with Credit Fair.

    Credit Fair – Founders and Team

    The founder, Aditya Damani, has a unique mix of fintech and institutional lending experience, having received a Banking Tech award while at new to credit-focused lender Oakam and TransferWise previously. He has also worked at PIMCO and advised private equity funds on setting up lending businesses.

    Founders of Credit Fair
    Credit Fair – Founding Team

    The team comprises over 50 members covering technology, credit, collections, sales, finance, and marketing functions. The team is young and shares a passion for the mission of the company as demonstrated through the values of ownership, curiosity, and obsession with customer satisfaction.  

    Credit Fair – Business Model & Revenue Model

    Credit Fair follows a B2B2C business model. It is offering a win-win proposition to both merchants and customers by providing 0% or low-cost, short term, unsecured installment loans at the point of sale. The interest costs of these loans are borne by the merchants to attract new customers while the borrowers seek installment facilities to manage their finances. In addition, the borrowers bear a nominal processing fee and in some cases insurance fee as well.

    Credit Fair – Startup Launch

    It started with acquiring partners in the home dĂŠcor sector through forming connections over LinkedIn and through cold calling. Because this sector was not actively served by big players such as Bajaj, the founders recognized an opportunity to develop expertise within the sector and provide products and processes suitable for customers within the home dĂŠcor segment. That helped Credit Fair become the preferred lending partner in the home dĂŠcor segment. Soon after they targeted the elective healthcare sector that also was vastly underserved by existing players.

    The team focused on serving their partner merchants better than the competitors by providing better approval rates, faster turnaround time, and competitive pricing. That has been a key factor in retaining partners and capturing a bigger share of their wallets as well as getting recommendations from existing partners to form new partnerships.

    Credit Fair – Challenges Faced

    One major challenge that Aditya faced is – Aligning the different teams within the company to focus on the company goals while managing risk. He often observed that the different teams such as credit, operations, collections, etc. would have their team goals which often wouldn’t add to the company’s growth or would be contradictory to the goals of other departments.

    One tool, that has been very effective to achieve team-company alignment is setting OKRs. The founders set company OKRs (Objectives & key Results) and based on it, each team lead has developed team OKRs. This has helped them identify key metrics for individual teams that together contribute to the company’s growth. The OKRs are reviewed quarterly and have been effective to give direction to all team members.

    Credit Fair – Funding and Investors

    Credit Fair has raised a total funding of $15mn, details are as follows –

    Date Stage Amount Investors
    June 2021 Seed $15 Mn (Debt + Equity) Equity – Anand Ladsariya and Alok Agarwal; Debt – Undisclosed

    Credit Fair – Advisors/Mentors

    Credit Fair’s board of advisors comprises of C-Suite from companies such as HDFC, IFC, PayU, and IBM.

    Best Indian Payment Gateways in 2020 | Payment Gateways for Business
    If you are looking for free payment gateway in India, these are the best Indian Payment Gateways which you can use for your business. Here you will get to know payment gateway charges in India & deals.
    StartupTalkyAshwini

    Credit Fair – Competitors

    Among large lenders, Bajaj Finance is its primary competitor. Among fintech lenders, Credit Fair’s competitors include companies such as Liquiloans, EarlySalary, ZestMoney, and Eduvanz.

    Credit Fair – Tools used to run startup

    The startup uses Slack for team communications, OKRs for goal setting and tracking, Jira for sprint planning in addition to using third-party services for managing certain business operations.

    Credit Fair – Current Growth & Future Plans

    • Credit has onboarded over 1,000 merchants including upGrad, Toppr, Indira IVF, Pristyn Care, Toothsi, Asian Paints, and Ampere.
    • It has disbursed about $9 million to date with a loan book of $4 million currently.
    • The startup’s month-on-month growth rate is 15%.
    • Credit Fair was selected to be part of Village Capital’s Finance Forward: India 2020 cohort.

    In the next two years, Credit Fair aims to establish partnerships with 5,000 merchants, reaching $15 million monthly disbursements. It is building its products to reach a $15M monthly disbursement rate and $75M Assets under management in 2 years. The funds will be used towards providing loss guarantee, expanding team, and marketing. It also plans to launch a P2P lending platform to further lower its cost of funding, hence keeping costs low for its customers.

    Credit Fair – FAQs

    What is Credit Fair?

    Credit Fair is a fintech startup that provides 0% or low-cost, short-term, unsecured installment loans at the point of sale.

    What is Credit Fair’s Business Model?

    Credit Fair follows a B2B2C business model. It is offering a win-win proposition to both merchants and customers by providing 0% or low-cost, short-term, unsecured installment loans at the point of sale.

    How much funding has Credit Fair raised?

    Credit Fair has raised total funding of $15mn (Equity + debt) from Anand Ladsariya and Alok Agarwal.

    Is Credit Fair an Indian Company?

    Yes. Credit Fair is an Indian company headquartered in Mumbai.

  • ITC Limited: One of India’s Foremost Private Sector Companies

    ITC Limited is an Indian global aggregate organization headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal. Established in 1910 as the ‘Magnificent Tobacco Company of India Limited’, the organization was renamed as the ‘India Tobacco Company Limited’ in 1970 and then to ‘I.T.C. Constrained’ in 1974. The specks in the name were expelled in September 2001 and the organization was renamed as ‘ITC Limited’.

    The organization completed 100 years in 2010 and during 2012-13, it had a yearly turnover of $8.31 billion and a market capitalization of $52 billion. It employs more than 30,000 individuals in over 60 areas in India and is part of the Forbes 2000 rundown.

    History & How ITC Was Started
    Products & Brands Under ITC
    Business Model & Marketing Strategy of ITC
    Growth Of Business
    Conclusion
    FAQs

    History & How ITC Was Started

    Understanding the ITC Business

    Tobacco Business

    Since the organization was to a great extent dependent on horticultural assets, it wandered into associations in 1911 with the ranchers of southern India for sourcing leaf tobacco. Under the organization’s umbrella, the ‘Indian Leaf Tobacco Development Company Limited’ was framed in the Guntur area of Andhra Pradesh in 1912. The principal cigarette processing plant of the organization was set up in 1913 in Bangalore.

    In 1918, leaf-purchasing focuses were made in southern India. ITC’s cigarette manufacturing plant at Munger was outfitted with a printing office in 1925, clearing the path for its first non-tobacco business. Even though the initial six years of the company’s presence were essentially committed to the development and union of cigarettes and leaf tobacco organizations, ITC’s bundling and printing business were set up in 1925 as a key in the reverse mix for ITC’s cigarettes business. It is today India’s most complex bundling house. More industrial facilities were set up in the next years for cigarette producing capacity all over India.

    In 1928, development started for the organization’s central command, the ‘Virginia House’, at Calcutta. ITC procured Carreras Tobacco Company’s plant at Kidderpore in 1935 to further fortify its essence. ITC set up an indigenous cigarette tissue-paper-production plant in 1946 to essentially lessen import costs and an industrial facility for printing and bundling was set up at Madras in 1949. The company obtained the assembling business of Tobacco Manufacturers (India) Limited and the integral lithographic printing business of Printers (India) Limited in 1953.

    Also read: Mukesh Ambani Is All Set To Revolutionize The E-Commerce

    Indianization Of Business

    The organization was changed into a Public Limited Company on 27 October 1954. The initial move towards Indianization was taken around the same time with 6% of the Indian shareholding of the organization. During the 1960s, innovation was given more concentration with the setting up of cigarette hardware and channel pole fabricating offices planned for accomplishing independence in cigarette production.

    Ajit Narain Haskar became ITC’s first Indian director in 1969, and this was important for encouraging Indian administration within the organization. As the organization’s proprietorship was logically Indianized, under Haskar’s authority, the name of the organization was changed from ‘Magnificent Tobacco Company of India Limited’ to ‘India Tobacco Company Limited’ in 1970.

    ITC likewise turned into the first organization in quite a while to begin staged-Indianization of capital; the Indian shareholding component of ITC developed from 6% to 25%. ITC went into brand sponsorship for different games, beginning from the Scissor’s Cup in 1971. Creative market crusades and electronic information handling began during the 1970s.

    In 1973, ITC set up its incorporated research focus in Bangalore, went for expansion, and wandering into innovative work. With the unfurling enhancement designs, the name of the organization was changed to ‘I.T.C. Limited’ in 1974. The Indian shareholding aspect increased to 40% during this time. ITC went into the cordiality part with inn business in 1975 with the ITC Welcomgroup Hotel Chola in Madras.

    ITC picked the cordiality segment for its capability to procure elevated amounts of outside trade, create the travel industry framework, and foster a huge scale of immediate and aberrant business. The shareholding went over 60% in 1976 and more lodgings were started by the organization in the next years. In 1979, ITC entered the paperboards business by advancing ITC Bhadrachalam Paperboards Limited. J N Sapru took over as the organization’s director in 1983 and universal development began with the obtaining of Surya Nepal Private Limited in 1985.

    The year 1986 saw overwhelming moves from the organization with the opening of an Indian eatery in the city of New York, the securing and renaming of Vishvarama Hotels to ITC Hotels Limited, and the setting up of two new pursuits – the ITC Classic Finance Limited and ITC Agro Tech Limited. ITC likewise went into the eatable oils industry with the dispatch of the ‘Sundrop’ brand of cooking oils in 1988. Tribeni Tissues Limited was gained in 1990. K L Chugh accepted the job of administrator in 1991, and ITC Global Holding Private constrained was launched as a universal exchanging organization (Singapore) in 1992.

    In 1994, every one of the inns under the organization was moved into the recorded backup organization ITC Hotels Limited. ITC, through the brand ‘Wills’, supported the 1996 Cricket World Cup.

    Y C Deveshwar took over as the organization’s administrator in 1996, and the corporate administration structure was re-framed to help the successful administration of various organizations. ITC left the eatable oils business and monetary administrations, sold the ITC Classic Finance Limited to ICICI Limited, and handed the ‘Sundrop’ business to ConAgra Foods Limited in 1998.

    In the year 2000, creative activity for ranchers called ‘e-Choupal’ began in Madhya Pradesh 2000. That year saw the dispatch of ITC’s ‘Wills Sport’ scope of easygoing wear with the first retail outlet in New Delhi and ITC’s entrance into stationery items and gifting business through the ‘Articulations’ scope of welcome cards and ‘Cohort’ note pads.

    An entirely claimed data innovation auxiliary, ITC Infotech India Limited was launched in 2000 and ITC Bhadrachalam Paperboards Limited was converted into ITC Limited. The name of the organization was changed to ‘ITC Limited’ precluding the spots and adjusting the system ‘No stops for ITC’ in 2001. A representative investment opportunity plan was presented, and a web-based interface for the organization was propelled. Backups for ITC Infotech were set up in the United Kingdom and the USA.

    Also read: India’s Beloved Airline [A Case Study]

    Products & Brands Under ITC

    Brands under ITC
    Brands under ITC
    • Cigarettes: Insignia, India Kings, Classic, Gold Flake, Silk Cut, Navy Cut, Scissors, Capstan, Berkeley, Bristol, and Flake.
    • Prepared Foods: Kitchens of India, Aashirvaad, Sunfeast, Mint – O, Candyman, and Bingo.
    • Way Of Life Retailing: Wills Lifestyle, John Players, and Miss Players.
    • Individual Care: Essenza Di Wills, Fiama Di Wills, Vivel Di Wills, Vivel, and Superia.
    • Welcome, Gifting, And Stationary: Brands incorporate Classmate, PaperKraft, and Color Crew. Propelled in 2003, Classmate proceeded to turn into India’s biggest scratchpad brand in 2007.
    • Security Matches: IKno, Mangaldeep, VaxLit, Delite, and Aim.
    Products under ITC
    Products under ITC
    • Incense Sticks: Ship, I Kno, and Aim brands of security matches and the Mangaldeep brand of agarbattis (incense sticks).
    • Nourishments: ITC’s real sustenance brands incorporate Kitchens of India; Aashirvaad, B common, Sunfeast, Candyman, Bingo! what’s more, and Yippee! ITC is India’s biggest vendor of marked nourishment with over Rs. 4,600 crores in 2012-13. It is available crosswise over 6 classifications in the nourishment business that include nibble sustenances, prepared to-eat suppers, organic product juices, dairy items, and dessert shops.
    • Individual consideration items incorporate aromas, haircare, and skincare classifications. Significant brands are Fiama Di Wills, Vivel, Savlon Soap, and Handwash, Essenza Di Wills, Superia, and Engage.
    • Lodgings: ITC’s Hotels division (under brands including WelcomHotel) is India’s second-biggest in-network with more than 90 inns throughout India. Brands in the friendliness area possessed and worked by its auxiliaries incorporate Fortune Park Hotels and WelcomHeritage Hotels.
    • Paperboard: Products, for example, claim to fame paper, realistic and other paper are sold under the ITC brand by the ITC Paperboards and Specialty Papers Division. Classmate stationery products that are popular for their quality are manufactured by ITC.
    • Bundling And Printing: ITC’s Packaging and Printing division work producing offices at Haridwar and Chennai.
    • Data Technology: ITC works through its completely possessed backup ITC Infotech India Limited.

    Also read: A Case Study of Thomas Cook

    Business Model & Marketing Strategy of ITC

    Established in 1910 as Imperial Tobacco Company of India, the organization at first managed tobacco items for a considerable length of time before broadening into non-tobacco items during the 1970s. ITC from that point forward has developed as a multi-business combination having business in different enterprises: Hotels, Lifestyle retail stores, prepared to eat division, confectionary segment, Paperboards portion, body care items and so forth.

    ITC is one of India’s prominent multi-business ventures with a market capitalization of $52 billion and a gross sales value of $10 billion. ITC is crowned among the world’s best big Companies, Asia’s FAB 50, the World’s Most renowned Companies by Forbes magazine, and as ‘India’s Most Admired Company’ in an overview directed by Fortune India magazine and Hay Group. ITC was also included as one of the world’s biggest practical worth makers in the buyer merchandise industry in an examination by the Boston Consulting Group. ITC has been recorded among India’s Most Valuable Companies by Business Today magazine. The company is among India’s ’10 Most Valuable (Company) Brands’ as indicated by an investigation led by Brand Finance and distributed by the Economic Times. ITC likewise positions itself among Asia’s 50 best-performing organizations arranged by Business Week.

    ITC’s business model and marketing strategies are as follows:

    Advantage Of Competition

    • Big Conglomerate: Throughout the years, ITC has turned into a huge combination offering a huge scope of items and administrations running from agri-products and nourishment items in the FMCG segment to IT solutions. Involvement in such a differing cluster of items and administrations has helped the organization raise as an unmistakable player in the market: cigarettes, hotels and paperboards, and packaging divisions.
    • Vast Experience: With 108 years of involvement in the Indian market, ITC has built a hearty conveyance structure that is parallel to none of its rivals present. This has helped the organization to comprehend the needs of the customers, making it monetarily solid and aggressive.
    • The X-Factor: ITC’s E-Chaupal activity planned for making the web accessible to Indian ranchers has contacted the lives of a large number of ranchers and their families in the provincial piece of the nation. ITC has expanded brand nearness through this social activity and has brought some brand quintessence focus to the firm.

    Use Of BCG Matrix

    ITC’s business sections are FMCG-Cigarettes, FMCG-Foods, ITC Infotech, Agri-Business, Hotels, Paperboards and Packaging, Branded Apparels, and Packaged Foods. Out of these, FMCG-Cigarettes is its money cow while Agri-Business, Hotels, Paperboards, and Packaging come in the “star” section for ITC. FMCG-Foods still gives off an impression of being a question mark for the firm while Branded attire and Packaged substances are ordered as canines for the firm.

    Distribution

    The organization works with its business channel; items are made accessible to the discount vendors through Carried and Forward Agents (CFA’s) which is then sent to the retailers in towns directly or through Small Wholesale Dealers to reach the customers in the remotest of Indian areas.

    Brand Value

    ITC has been positioned 772 on Forbes magazine rundown of top 2000 organizations all around. The brand has been esteemed at $51.5 billion as of June 2018. ITC also found a place at 239th position in the universe’s best bosses rundown of Forbes Magazine and Asia’s 50 greatest performing organizations rundown assembled by Business Week.

    Investigation Of Market

    Under the GST system, extra cess being charged over the GST of 28% on cigarettes and tobacco-related items, ITC has assessed a steady taxation rate of over 20%. Investigators have assessed that the organization’s deals volumes of cigarettes have endured a shot and has declined by over 5% in the last quarter. Remote trade profit over the most recent 10 years remained at $7.1 Billion of which agri fares comprised 56% of the offer. In the social division with direct work to more than 32,000 individuals and through drives like e-chaupal, social and homestead ranger service activity, and ‘Mission SunehraKal’, ITC has contacted the lives of a huge number of ranchers and their families in provincial India.

    On the earth front, ITC has been a Water Positive Enterprise (16 years straight), Carbon Positive Enterprise (13 years straight), and solid waste reusing Positive (11 years straight). This is the main undertaking in the realm of practically identical measurements to have accomplished and supported the 3 key worldwide lists of natural maintainability.

    Analysis Of Clients

    With its different scope of items and administrations, ITC caters to a diverse scope of clients going from the age group of 5-60 years and even more with its items running from Candyman and Mint-o to Aashirvaad and so on.

    Also read: FoodPanda (Ola) – Are you Listening to Your Customers?

    Growth Of Business

    Cigarette-to-cleanser producer ITC has revealed 10.69% year-on-year development merged net benefit at Rs 13,162.30 crores for the money related year 2018-19, driven by paperboards, paper and bundling, lodgings and FMCG business.

    “The organization had posted a united net benefit of Rs 11,890.78 crore in the budgetary year 2017-18,” ITC said in a recording to the Bombay Stock Exchange. United income from tasks expanded possibly by 4.55% to Rs 49,862.11 crore in FY19 when contrasted with Rs 47,688.5 crore in FY18. On the quarterly premise, the FMCG major posted an 18.72% development in net benefit at Rs 3,482 crore in the Jan-Mar period when contrasted with Rs 2,932 crore in a similar quarter of the most recent year. Income expanded to Rs 12,206 crore in Q4FY19 when contrasted with Rs 10,586.80 crore in Q4FY18, helped by exchanging openings oilseeds, wheat, and espresso in agribusiness, higher volumes and improved acknowledgement in paperboards and improvement in RevPar in lodgings. The working benefit (EBITDA) of the organization expanded to Rs 4,572 crore against Rs 4,144 crore in the year-prior period.

    “The organization conveyed one more year of strong execution despite a difficult working condition. The Cigarettes Business, affected by soak increment in assessments under the GST system, honed centre around conveying world-class items through nonstop advancement alongside top tier execution consequently solidifying its market standing,” ITC said in the trade documenting. A week ago, rival Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) revealed a 15.98% y-o-y development in united net benefit at Rs 6,060 crore for the money related the year 2018-19, against income of Rs 39,860 crore. ITC’s board has prescribed a profit of Rs 5.75 per customary portion of Re 1 each for the monetary year finished 31st March 2019, subject to the imperative endorsement, which will be paid on July 16, 2019.

    In a different advancement, the organization delegated Sanjiv Puri, Managing Director, as the Chairman of the Company with impact from May 13, 2019. Puri’s advancement comes after YC Deveshwar, ITC’s longest-serving Chairman, passed away on Saturday. Thus, Puri’s new assignment is Chairman and Managing Director of the organization. Following profit declaration, portions of ITC declined in negative territory to exchange at Rs 288.50 each, down 3.09% on the BSE.

    Conclusion

    ITC ltd. is a leading FMCG Company in India and for the last three consecutive years, it has shown accelerated growth in the FMCG portfolio. ITC has placed itself successfully as a market leader in various verticals and will continue to dominate through several brands.

    FAQs

    What is ITC Limited?

    ITC Limited is an Indian global aggregate organization headquartered in Kolkata, West Bengal. It has a diversified presence across industries such as cigarettes, FMCG, hotels, packaging, paperboards and speciality papers and agribusiness.

    What is the main business of ITC?

    ITC Limited is an Indian conglomerate with diversified businesses in Fast Moving Consumer Goods comprising foods, personal care, cigarettes, apparel, stationery products, incense sticks, safety matches, hotels, packaging and others.

    Which brands are under ITC?

    • Foods – Aashirvaad, Sunfeast, Candyman, Bingo, Yippee.
    • Personal Care – Essenza Di Wills, Fiama Di Wills, Vivel Di Wills, Vivel, and Superia.
    • Lifestyle – Wills Lifestyle, John Players, and Miss Players.
    • Stationery – Classmate, Paperkraft.
    • Matches & Agarbatti – AIM, Mangaldeep, Homelites.

  • Vayana Network- Aims To Solve Trade Finance For India’s SME Sector

    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 Vayana Network.

    With trade prospects diminishing amidst COVID-19, India’s small-and-medium enterprises (SME) sector — one of the largest in the world — could be exposed to life-threatening risks. With the government targeting an ambitious $5 trillion economy, trade was anticipated to climb steadily.

    Trade financing could be the answer to a lot of these problems. By giving sellers access to credit lines, helping them discern business demands, using predictive analytics to solve problems, recognize changing consumer trends, and optimizing their supply chain operations, SMEs could better withstand the downturn in business activity. Pune-based Vayana Network — one of India’s biggest trade finance companies – is perfectly positioned to help SMEs do just that, and more.

    Vayana Network- Company Highlights

    Company Name Vayana Network
    Headquarter Pune
    Founder Ram Iyer
    Founded 2017
    Sector Supply Chain Trade Finance
    Website vayana.com
    Registered Entity Name Vay Network Services Pvt Ltd

    Vayana Network- About and How It Works
    Vayana Network- Founder
    Vayana Network- Name, Logo and Tagline
    How Vayana Network was Founded
    Vayana Network- Vision and Mission
    Vayana Network- Target Market Size
    Vayana Network- Product/ Sevices
    Vayana Network- Business and Revenue Model
    Vayana Network- Startup Launch
    Vayana Network- Customers/ Clients
    Vayana Network- Funding
    Vayana Network- Advisors and Mentors
    Vayana Network- Acquisitions and Mergers
    Vayana Network- Recognitions and Achievements
    Vayana Network- Future Plans

    Vayana Network- About and How It Works

    Vayana strives to provide easy, digital access to low-cost financing to every enterprise – from large corporations to MSMEs – to help manage their working capital, grow business and create employment. Because of the relationships Vayana has cultivated over the years with corporates and financial institutions, most of the applications that it passes on to banks and NBFCs get approved quickly. The company trades on the trust it has built with all of its stakeholders, and it does so swiftly and successfully.

    Vayana’s data-driven digital platform enables identification onboarding, financing, and servicing of creditworthy SMEs at significantly superior unit economics compared to traditional lenders. This allows them to create and offer affordable, convenient financing to the entire supply chain. They are also India’s largest GSP and e-invoicing platform.

    Vayana Network- Founder

    Vayana Network is founded by Ram Iyer.

    Vayana Network Founder | Ram Iyer
    Vayana Network Founder | Ram Iyer

    Ram Iyer | CEO & Founder, Vayana Network

    Ram Iyer, Founder & CEO of Vayana Network, is a serial entrepreneur with over 25 years in the Cash and Trade space providing solutions to some of the largest Banks across the globe. At Vayana Network, Ram has led the company’s vision to democratize access to affordable finance for MSMEs. Previously, he was the co-founder and CEO of CashTech Solutions, a leading Cash Management vendor in Asia which was acquired by Nasdaq listed Fundtech (now a part of the Finastra Group). He has previously worked with Accenture in their management consulting business.

    He is a management graduate from IIM Ahmedabad and an Engineer from Mumbai University. A guest speaker at various Fintech & Trade forums, Ram brings an exceptional understanding of B2B trade, payment ecosystems, and technology.

    Hiring Funda

    Irrespective of hierarchical positions, they attract people who see themselves as ‘producers’ and ‘creators’ and not ‘managers’. They also are keen that everyone joining sees their role as something very significant – not just to the company but to their own professional and personal journeys.

    Best Financial Business Ideas For 2020 | Financial Industry
    Here we’re getting on to understand about finance. What is finance? How it’sestablished? What are the categories of finance? How a person or the company canget funded? What is the effect of finance on company and economizing? And how tobegin an economic business and the various impressions about …
    StartupTalkyPiyush Mishra

    Vayana Network- Name, Logo and Tagline

    Vayana Network Logo
    Vayana Network Logo

    Vayana: The Act of Weaving

    Originated from Sanskrit, Vayana represents its vision of building meaningful Trade Financing relationships between Businesses and their Supply Chain partners.

    How Vayana Network was Founded

    Vayana is not Ram’s first entrepreneurial stint, Ram Iyer was previously the co-founder and CEO of CashTech Solutions, a leading Cash Management vendor in Asia which was acquired by Nasdaq listed, Fundtech in 2004.

    After CashTech, he began selling banks systems to help manage companies’ trade finance. That’s when Mr. Iyer realized that there was a need and potential for a company like Vayana after several bankers he worked with told him that even though trade finance was a lucrative proposition, volumes of credit applications were quite low.

    Choose From The Best Trade Business Ideas
    Trade business ideas are essential financial ideas. It includes the purchasingand selling of product and services. There are monetary transactions being donein exchange for the product and services. Exchange can occur inside an economybetween the producers as well as the consumers. Trading busin…
    StartupTalkyBaishali Das Adhikari

    Vayana Network was started with a vision to democratize the access to trade finance to the smallest of enterprises. Team Vayana designs tailor-made, affordable, closed-loop programs to meet the financing demands of businesses and their supply chain partners with simplicity and speed.

    The employees, partners, and investors fully understand how Vayana Network operates as it is just as crucial as what they accomplish to create value for all stakeholders. Together, Vayana strives to provide easy, digital access to low-cost financing to every enterprise – from large corporations to MSMEs – to help manage their working capital, grow business and create employment.

    Vayana Network- Vision and Mission

    Vayana Network was started with a vision to democratize the access to low-cost trade finance to the smallest of enterprises. They believe that for an economy like India to achieve momentum, the millions of hard-working small wheels (i.e. Micro and small businesses) must run smoothly and financing is critical to this.

    Vayana’s mission, therefore, is to ensure that every entity on a supply chain, from the largest to the smallest, can access financing affordably and conveniently. They strive to make financing an integral, seamless part of the trade process and not a separate activity.

    Razorpay Success Story- Facilitating the SME’s with effortless online payment mechanisms!
    When smartphones and the internet took the world by surprise, it opened multipleopportunities for different sectors to pioneer the evolution of a morecontemporary world. One of these sectors was the online payment industry. In thesame field, with the vision to revolutionize the online payment mec…
    StartupTalkyVidhi Punamiya

    Vayana Network- Target Market Size

    Through Supply Chain Finance Vayana is looking to address a short-term trade credit gap of $ 260 Bn faced by Small and Micro Enterprises in India.

    India has about 63 Mn MSMEs of which only 5% have access to formal sources of financing. The cumulative financing gap faced by MSMEs left out of the formal system, is about $260bn.

    SCF market in India today is approx $10 Bn, which is less than 1 % of India’s GDP. In the next 5 years, we expect the market to be roughly 4% of India’s GDP, which is the case today in countries like China. This growth will be backed by the increasing formalization of the economy brought about by GST and E-Invoicing initiatives of the government, RB

    [ Sources- IFSC report on Financing MSME, RBI report authored by UK SInha and other sources.]

    Vayana Network- Product/ Sevices

    Starting from big ‘anchor’ companies at the top of the supply chain, they can detect, analyze and leverage the ‘creditworthy networks’ of downstream buyers, using real-time data. The digital process of onboarding is quick, painless, saving time, effort, and cost

    • SMEs can access affordable finance easily. A simple one-click process removes friction, enabling high utilization
    • Banks and FIs gain access to an expanded book from new segments which they could not viably access till now
    • ‘Anchor’ corporates enjoy the benefits of expanded supply chain coverage – predictable cashflows, increased sales, and frictionless supply chain relationships.

    And all of this without requiring any change in internal systems and processes.

    10 Business Ideas To Start Micro, Small And Medium Enterprises (MSME)
    This post is dedicated to 10 business ideas centered around MSME ( Micro, smalland medium enterprises ). Countries across the globe are doing their best toimprove the condition of MSME and hence, the economy. Small and medium businesses or companies are corporations whose staff andoutputs aren’t…
    StartupTalkyDevashish Shrivastava

    Vayana Network- Business and Revenue Model

    Vayana’s technology & services platform enables their partner Banks and FIs to build a scalable and profitable portfolio, retain it and grow over time. The entire cycle from sourcing to settlement is managed by Vayana, hence partner institutions pay Vayana a service fee on the financed portfolio. Vayana is also a leading GSP (GST Suvidha Provider) offering a seamless API gateway for Corporates, Institutions, and MSMEs for their GST, EwayBill, and eInvoicing compliance needs; against platform fees.

    Vayana Network- Startup Launch

    The core emphasis of Vayana Network, when launching the company, was to build a process that is scalable and serves to solve the most critical need of any business i.e. freeing up the cash flow. One of the key needs for this process to run successfully was to create something that is so easy to use that one forgets that it is there.

    Initially, a lot of their business was driven via more of one to one interaction, but as they have grown from strength to strength they are now very well entrenched in the psyche of both the corporates as well as their FI partners, who appreciate the know-how and key knowledge we bring to the table for all the concerned parties, thus creating a healthy and meaningful trade network.

    Vayana Network- Customers/ Clients

    One of the key driving philosophies was to keep the process as simple as possible or as our CEO states “Dal – Chawal will never go out of fashion, as oppose to exquisite continental food that is good but, in the end, you will always crave simple food as it solves for your basic need.” Similarly, there are multiple solutions that are available in the market, but all businesses from large corporates to the SMEs are looking to solve for the key pain area i.e. freeing up their working capital allowing them to do business at a much larger scale and this is where Vayana comes in by managing the entire trade financing network in such a manner that business no longer needs to worry about the credit crunch and concentrate on what they do best, growing the business.

    Vayana with its simple & robust processes allows it to onboard large corporates as well as the smallest of MSMEs with equal ease in the shortest possible time thus eliminating long and tedious onboarding processes.

    Vayana Network- Funding

    Date Stage Amount Investors Name
    2017 Series A & B $ 9 Million Chiratae Ventures, Jungle Ventures & Recruit Strategic Partners

    Vayana Network- Advisors and Mentors

    The company is blessed with a strong set of experienced professionals and seasoned entrepreneurs on its Board and advisors like Dr. Marti G Subrahmanyam, Mr. Kannan Ramasamy, and Mr. Kalyan Basu.

    Vayana Network- Acquisitions and Mergers

    The company is open to acquisition opportunities in allied areas of strategic interest and has already made 2 acquisitions in the last two and a half years. Vayana focuses on lean teams working on some great models/ ideas in the space of facilitating B2B trade and where both teams see a great cultural fitment and commonality of interest. One such acquisition was of SahiGST in 2018 – a leading cloud-based ASP; to further strengthen our GST and E-Way Bill Portfolio. The next acquisition (not yet public) is in the B2B payments space.

    Xpressbees – Blends Happiness With Logistics And Supply Chain Activities!
    Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified informationon different startups and organizations. The content in this post has beenapproved by the organization it is based on. Receiving and delivering goods are the indispensable part of every industry.Collecting the resour…
    StartupTalkyMandagiri Praveen Kumar Reddy

    Vayana Network- Recognitions and Achievements

    Vayana has been recognized as “Fast Learner” Fintech Startup at Fidelity WyAQ Award 2020 and has also won NASSCOM’s ‘Emerge 50’ in the Fintech category in 2019.

    Vayana Network- Future Plans

    Vayana Network is successfully servicing clients from over 25 industries, further impacting more than 20,000 MSMEs and 300-plus supply chains and processing more than 1.7 million invoices. Vayana has a CAGR of 300 percent, with an organic growth rate of up to 45 percent. The company recently finished financing $USD 5 Bn (Rs 37,000 crores) on their platform.

    Currently present in the US, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and Indonesia, the company is targeting either Japan, South Korea, or Taiwan next.

  • How Cloud Tailor is using ML to deliver Personalized Fashion Styling

    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 Cloud Tailor.

    Cloud Tailor is a D2C mobile app that enables Personalized fashion styling, fashion visualization, recommendations, order placement, tracking, and fulfillment. It is the only tech-enabled personalized fashion brand in India – Serving global women customers from India. StartupTalky interviewed Susmitha Lakkakula (Founder, Cloud Tailor) to get insights on the startup story and roadmap of the organization. In this article, you’ll discover how Cloud Tailor was started, its journey to date, marketing strategies, revenue model, and more.

    Cloud Tailor – Company Highlights

    Startup Name Cloud Tailor
    Founding Team Susmitha Lakkakula, Rudra Pratap, Mahesh Patel
    Headquarters Hyderabad
    Industry D2C Fashion
    Website cloudtailor.in

    Cloud Tailor – About and Vision
    Cloud Tailor – Industry Details
    Cloud Tailor – Idea & Inspiration
    Cloud Tailor – Product and USP
    Cloud Tailor – Founders and Team
    Cloud Tailor – Name, Tagline and Logo
    Cloud Tailor – Business Model & Revenue Model
    Cloud Tailor – Launch and Marketing Strategies
    Cloud Tailor – Challenges Faced
    Cloud Tailor – Achievements & Milestones
    Cloud Tailor – Funding
    Cloud Tailor – Advisors & Mentors
    Cloud Tailor – Competitors
    Cloud Tailor – Tools used to run startup
    Cloud Tailor – Future Plans
    Cloud Tailor – FAQs

    Cloud Tailor – About and Vision

    Cloud Tailor is a D2C mobile app that enables Personalized fashion styling, fashion visualization, recommendations, order placement, tracking, and fulfillment. Cloud Tailor’s unique asset-light ‘Online + Offline’ global fulfillment business model ensures the best quality and price outcome for personalized fashion in guaranteed timelines.

    Vision: To be the ‘One Stop Shop’ for all personalized fashion choices for global women.

    Mission: To simplify and enhance personalized fashion choices for global women.

    “We as founders believe that we have the right mix of technology skills, marketing focus, idea intensity talent, prior startup experience to make Cloud Tailor the No. 1 ‘top of the mind’ brand for personalized fashion across the globe” says Susmitha Lakkakula, Founder, Cloud Tailor

    Cloud Tailor – Industry Details

    Cloud Tailor Industry
    Ladieswear Fashion – Market Size

    The Women’s wear industry is a 185 Billion USD valued business per annum globally. The correct estimates of the Personalized fashion industry are not available since it is a completely fragmented market and there are no organized players in the market now.

    As per the founder’s discussions with multiple fashion experts and market leaders in this domain, the team has estimated the market in India to be a minimum of INR 8000 Crores per annum driven primarily by domestic consumption. The overseas market order fulfillment in India is an extremely under-served market accounting for only 2% of all organized personalized fashion orders. There is a huge scope to present a brand and offer timely dispatches in the best possible price points to overseas customers for their personalized fashion requirements.

    Also Read: How is AI being used in Fashion Industry

    Cloud Tailor – Idea & Inspiration

    The primary inspiration was the founders’ constant lookout for market segment gaps and under-served requirements. They excel at building an organized online solution to cater to offline requirements in society. The founding team saw a huge gap in the ‘Professional Services’ for personalized fashion, as Susmitha Lakkakula, and her husband, Rudra Pratap, faced a lot of issues trying to place orders to tailors, following up, and trying to reach them over the phone and in-person for updates and progress. The duo decided that it was time for someone to simplify this workflow and accept the challenge. Thus Cloud Tailor was born.

    The first set of validators of Cloud Tailor were Industry veterans such as Mr. M C Cariappa (President, Marketing and Sales, Jockey India) and 10 boutique owners with whom the team did the idea-bounce back. All of them immediately suggested that they get started on the startup. Since they conceptualized the initial business plan and structure in Covid times in March 2020, Susmitha had to take police permission for vehicle pass to go around to meet fabric and sewing machine traders, talk to cutting masters, tailors, and other intermediaries to understand how the personalized fashion industry functions and the crucial cogs in the machinery. Susmitha went about doing online courses on fashion on Udemy and other portals. Rudra went about bringing the first UX and UI mobile app screens to life by personally sketching them. He then digitized them and hired a Flutter developer – Tarun Dak from Ahmedabad to bring them to life on Google Cloud, Firebase DB, and Flutter.

    The first MVP app version in flutter was made live in the Play Store and iOS store in January 2021. To scale it to the next level, the team sought to onboard Mahesh Patel, who was then the National Head for eCommerce and online sales at Jockey India. He introduced Susmitha to M C Cariappa who was his boss. Mahesh loved the idea and scale possible and joined Cloud Tailor as Co-founder. M C Cariappa was the 1st full-time advisor to join Cloud Tailor.

    The team decided to fire on all cylinders and put their personal savings together to get the professionally designed app UX and UI did by Lollypop.design. When Anil Reddy (Founder, Lollypop) listened to their vision and idea, he immediately agreed to help them build the best UI app for Cloud Tailor and also offered to personally design the ‘Cloud Tailor’ logo. The current app in development at its App and Cloud Development center in Hyderabad is being built around the researched UX and UI designs made by the same team at Lollypop.design, who had made Myntra, Paytm money, housing.com, Swiggy, Vodafone idea, and the Aditya Birla app among many others.

    Zara Business Model that makes it Fashion Retail Giant
    Zara is a Spanish fashion retailer known for fast fashion. Learn about the business model of Zara which makes it the leader of Fashion retail.
    StartupTalkyRoshni Tamta

    Cloud Tailor – Product and USP

    USP and innovation:

    1. Only tech-enabled personalized fashion brand in India – Serving global women customers from India
    2. Cloud Tailor app (Beta is live on Android and iOS) is the only mobile app that has a full fashion styling, learning, social sharing, order placement, tracking, and rewards program
    3. It fulfills global orders for ‘Any Style – Any Design’ – Exclusively for women’s wear
    4. The entire backend fulfillment and stitching/shipping also happens through the ‘Cloud Tailor Operations app’ and browser applications at its dedicated Cloud Tailor Fulfillment Centers
    5. ML-based recommendation and upselling engine within the app
    6. VR visualization of dresses styled by the customer or by the fashion designer within the app
    7. Cloud Tailor has been running the Hyderabad Fulfilment Center for the last 5 months (as of Oct 2021) and is now scaling the Fulfilment center operations to Gurgaon, Kolkata, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune, Chennai, and Ludhiana in the next 4 months
    8. This gives a never-before option to Cloud Tailor’s overseas customers to choose the city for the styling and stitching of their fashion
    9. It is currently serving customers in 4 countries (US, Australia, UK, and Singapore) apart from India
    10. The startup has a full-time team of app and cloud developers at its Hyderabad Software development office
    11. Cloud Tailor is guided by a well-accomplished team of advisors from Jockey, Amazon, Geodis, GATI, and TESCO Retail in this rapid scale-up process
    12. The Cloud Tailor customer app has been made by the lollypop.design team which has made the Myntra, Paytm money, Vodafone India mobile, housing.com, and Swiggy apps. bringing vast industry expertise into its app
    Cloud Tailor

    Key problems Cloud Tailor is solving:

    • One-Stop-Shop for all personalized fashion – No more boutique hopping for different categories of personalized fashion
    • Professional and Trained staff – Customer-centric app and offline interactions
    • Tech powered organized solution in the organized boutique market across the world
    • Overseas customers – One Stop Shop (aka mobile app) for all their personalized requirements
    • Customers can now select their home – city (for local styling cues and nuances) for all stitching orders while being based in any country globally
    • Guaranteed delivery dates – No more follow up with the tailor and No more repeated calls and anxiety
    • On app fabric options to select and tag to the orders
    • Huge opportunity for job creation for its on-app Fashion Designers (It limits to NIFT, NID, and Pearl Academy graduates and alumni for now)
    • Dedicated ‘Fashion Designer’ for Cloud Tailor Gold club members
    • ML-based recommendations of wardrobe shortlisting of styles – Shorten order decision cycles
    • Save all measurements on the app and tag them to the profile – Checkouts will now be a breeze
    • Doorstep measurements option in serviced pin codes for that exact fit as required
    • Lifetime free alterations for its orders – No more hunting for alteration tailors
    • Social Styling options – Share your designs and images on the Cloud Tailor app – Tag them on social as well – Let someone else order your style – Earn redeemable buttons
    • On app ‘Loyalty Program’ – Cloud Tailor Buttons – Redeemable on order value
    • Offer a professional work environment with good benefits to its staff

    Cloud Tailor – Founders and Team

    Susmitha Lakkakula, Rudra Pratap and Mahesh Patel are the co-founders of Cloud Tailor.

    Susmitha is leading the company formation, strategy, USP, and product features. Rudra handles the mobile app and cloud part of the work and also the offline expansion and the details. Rudra and Mahesh Patel are friends and have known each other for the last 14 years Mahesh has a sharp business acumen has come from a business family in Gujarat. He is an expert at going to market, branding, online sales, and business partnerships at a global level. He immediately liked the idea to join as a co-founder when Susmitha and Rudra both had gone for his housewarming in Bengaluru in January 2021.

    Cloud Tailor Co-founders
    Cloud Tailor – Founding Team

    Susmitha Lakkakula | Founder & Full Time into Cloud Tailor

    • Masters in software engineering: BITS Pilani (Software Engineering)
    • EPBM – IIM Kolkata
    • MSc – Information Science: Osmania University
    • Work Experience: Wipro Technologies/ Quantum/ Dell/ Quest (Total 19 Yrs)

    Rudra Pratap | Co-Founder, Cloud Tailor

    • Masters in software engineering: BITS Pilani (Software Engineering)
    • EPBM – IIM Kolkata
    • BCA – Utkal University
    • Diploma in Advertising and PR: NiA
    • Work Experience: Wipro Technologies/ Reliance / Aliens Real Estate/ Cosyn/ raksan (Over 19 years experience)

    Mahesh Patel | Co-Founder, Cloud Tailor

    • Bachelors in Hotel Management, Sunway College University, Kuala Lumpur
    • Executive MBA, NIMT
    • Work Experience: Jockey (Page Industries), Shop CJ, Reliance, Spencers, Aditya Birla Retail

    Cloud Tailor Team

    Currently, Cloud Tailor has a total of 8 Full-time employees and 4 part-time employees. The founders are very selective in hiring as they need to be sure that the person will be able to don multiple hats when required, is flexible to adapt to a startup, and think like an entrepreneur when it comes to the customer.

    The founding team had initially booked ‘bookmytailor’ as the name of the brand and also got it Trademarked. Eventually, they realized that it did not signify the Technology depth of the startup and also the aspect of workflow happening virtually and seamlessly. Hence they brainstormed for over 3 days and found that ‘Cloud Tailor’ was an apt depiction of what they intended to be perceived as by their customers. It also had a nice ‘Cloud’ connotation to it which signifies both the ‘Cloud virtual part’ as well as ‘the cloud nine’ significance which meant satisfaction and happiness.

    When they approached Lollypop team, Anil himself volunteered to design the logo. There were multiple iterations and logo designs they ran through over 45-60 days and eventually zeroed in on the one. The founders went ahead and trademarked the ‘Cloud Tailor’ word mark and this has been registered to as well.

    Cloud Tailor Logo

    The tagline: ‘You Design, We Stitch’ also signifies the importance of the customer in the whole process and also that the customer is a part of the whole cycle. Mita, Rajesh, and Anil from the Lollypop team played a crucial role in sharing options and also shortlisting the logo options down to the last 3.

    Illustration of various Cloud Tailor Designed 

    Cloud Tailor – Business Model & Revenue Model

    Cloud Tailor offers a simple and reliable tech-based solution for personalized fashion solutions for global women.

    Cloud Tailor Business Model
    Cloud Tailor Revenue Model

    Cloud Tailor’s revenue model is driven by 4 sources:

    • Hyper Personalized Fashion: Style – Order – Track – Socialize. Repeat. ML-based recommendation engine
    • Ready to Fit: The Tatkal version of ‘Personalized Fashion’. Tag your saved measurements >> Select ‘Ready to Fit’ SKU >> Place Order (dispatch in 24 hours)
    • Accessories: Select from the hand-picked accessories to match your fashion: Clutches, Tote Bags, Belts, Handbags, and many more
    • B2B Clothing Line / Personalized Fashion Outsourcing: Dedicated styling/stitching unit setup to service other brands/boutiques anywhere in the globe

    Since the startup operates across all styles and design segments in women’s wear, each order is unique and thus its prices depend on the order type, the accessories, the work and time required to complete the order.

    Cloud Tailor – Launch and Marketing Strategies

    The team at Cloud Tailor used WhatsApp marketing and created small flyers on Canva and posted them in the gated community Whatsapp groups. They had their first order on the 2nd day of the first post. After that, the startup had a constant stream of orders and also because the team generated a lot of goodwill with the experience of their first critical set of customers whom they took special care of.

    They also did a small budget Google Analytics campaign for the US, Australia, and the Middle East to place its brand amongst the target group there. Apart from Whatsapp, they also used Facebook marketing with boost posts. Initially, the team also ran branding runs on the boosting on FB and Instagram.

    “We will still attribute our earliest quick success to the importance of closed WhatsApp groups of residents/ladies for maximum impact” – Susmitha added.

    Cloud Tailor hired a social media agency in July 2021 and like any online marketing hack, social media planning takes time and patience. The startup plans to do Customer Testimonial reels, Live comments, user stories, and process reels on how Cloud Tailor’s app enables easier and faster order design and placement. It Social calendar is also made and executed by the social team. Another important thing that the startup did, was to hire Social media interns from MBA colleges who would track the trends and act as growth hackers for the startup.

    The startup is in talks to use popular apps with specific partnerships for coupons and branding. It is currently running a tight ship and is diligent in its spend for the agency and interns process. The startup would enhance the team strength and build more branded content in due course in a planned manner.

    Cloud Tailor has grown mostly by customer word of mouth and repeat sales – since there is no other brand around who provides a similar service and a mobile app. Hence its best ROI was in spending time with its existing customers and nurturing their trust to be able to build credible support and core referral and brand ambassador group.

    Insane Marketing Strategies Successfully Implemented Ever | StartupTalky
    Do you love Marketing? Which is your Favourite? Here, we’ve made a list of some Insane Marketing Strategies that were successfully implemented. Check the article.
    StartupTalkyKaran suri

    Cloud Tailor – Challenges Faced

    1. Being Software Engineers by career and training: The founding team learned basics of fashion, garments, styling, sketching, fabrics, machinery, repairs, manpower requirements
    2. Learning the fashion domain intricacies and nuances during COVID time with an infant at home and pre-teen
    3. Placement and ROI of fulfillment centers
    4. Overseas cities where they can scale for orders
    5. Differentiation factor communication to customers
    6. Keep increasing repeat order comfort with existing customers

    Cloud Tailor – Advisors & Mentors

    Cloud Tailor
    Cloud Tailor – Advisors

    Cloud Tailor – Achievements & Milestones

    Cloud Tailor’s biggest achievement – Highest Order Value from Single customer so far in Sep 2021: Rs. 51000 (From a repeat customer in the US, Houston). This shows the potential and scale the startup can grow to.

    Some of the Current Milestones achieved by Cloud Tailor are –

    1. Beta versions of Android and iOS apps LIVE
    2. Hyderabad Fulfillment Center Operationally break-even within 4 months of commencement
    3. M C Cariappa, President (Jockey – Page Industries) joined as a full-time advisor
    4. Abhishek Dwivedi, Head (TESCO – Soft Development) joined as a full-time advisor
    5. Harry Lagad, Regional Director (GEODIS) joined as a full-time advisor
    6. Chirag Bhuva, Leader – Asia Pac, Amazon Business Customer Services joined as a full-time advisor
    7. Started Software Development Office in Financial District, Hyderabad with 2 Full-Time Developers on payroll
    8. Full System Architecture on AWS with API interfaces and ML-based systems designed and approved by the team – Development in progress
    9. Achieved 70% customer repeat orders every month due to the convenience
    10. Average Order value in Aug 2021: Rs. 3000

    Cloud Tailor – Funding

    The team has bootstrapped Cloud Tailor through the current scaling stage and is currently raising funds to scale it faster, build the app and cloud development teams, set up 2 company-owned fulfillment centers and 6 partner-owned-operated fulfillment centers.

    Cloud Tailor – Competitors

    Cloud Tailor is an only tech-enabled personalized fashion brand in India – Serving global women customers from India.

    Cloud Tailor – Tools used to run startup

    Few tools which Cloud Tailor uses to run the startup –

    1. Zoho books – accounting
    2. Canva – posts design
    3. AWS – Stateless Architecture – Lambda, EC2, Cognito, Jitsu, Pinpoint, Postgres, API Gateway
    4. Knowlarity: IVRS
    5. Razorpay Payment Gateway
    6. Razorpay Payroll

    11 Best Sales Intelligence Platform & Tools | Sales Solution
    Companies use sales intelligence software to improvise on the quality & quantity of sales leads. Check these 11 best sales intelligence solutions
    StartupTalkyRishabh Rathi

    Cloud Tailor – Future Plans

    Short term goals [end 2022]:

    1. 1 million MAU
    2. INR 2 Crores in ARR / GMV
    3. Stable Ver 3 of Cloud Tailor app and backend operations apps
    4. Fulfillment centers in 4 cities
    5. Brand Interaction Signature kiosks/centers in 4 cities
    6. 3 B2B partners for ‘managed backend fulfillment’
    Cloud Tailor Projected Growth

    Long term goals [by 2025]:

    1. 10 million MAU
    2. INR 100 Crores in ARR
    3. VR View of fashion styled
    4. Fulfillment centers in 7 cities
    5. Aggregated Partner operations in 7 Tier 2 cities
    6. Brand Interaction Signature kiosks/centers in all 7 cities
    7. 10 B2B partners for ‘managed backend fulfillment’

    Cloud Tailor – FAQs

    What is Cloud Tailor?

    Cloud Tailor is a D2C mobile app that enables Personalized fashion styling, fashion visualization, recommendations, order placement, tracking, and fulfillment. Its unique asset-light ‘Online + Offline’ global fulfillment business model ensures the best quality and price outcome for personalized fashion in guaranteed timelines.

    Who founded Cloud Tailor?

    Susmitha Lakkakula, Rudra Pratap, and Mahesh Patel are the co-founders of Cloud Tailor.

    Is Cloud Tailor funded?

    No. Cloud Tailor is a bootstrapped startup.

    What is the tagline of Cloud Tailor?

    Cloud Tailor’s tagline – ‘You Design, We Stitch’ signifies the importance of the customer in the whole process and also that the customer is a part of the whole cycle.

  • PokerDangal – India’s Largest Online Poker Gaming 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 PokerDangal.

    One great aspect of digitization is the fascinating online games that are taking on the world at a skyrocketing speed. It’s literally like being in this global village of the dream world. To make the online gaming zone more interesting and taking it on the edge, this group of four brilliant entrepreneurs namely Varun Mahna, Varun Puri, Karan Gandhi and Shashwat Jain launched PokerDangal in the year 2017.

    PokerDangal – Company Highlights

    Startup Name PokerDangal
    Headquarters Delhi
    Founders Varun Mahna, Varun Puri, Karan Gandhi and Shashwat Jain
    Sector Online Gaming
    Founded 2017
    Parent Organization Xeta Networks Pvt. Ltd.
    Website pokerdangal.com

    About PokerDangal and How It Works
    PokerDangal – Industry Details
    PokerDangal – Founders and Team
    How was PokerDangal Started?
    PokerDangal – Name, Tagline and Logo
    PokerDangal – Startup Launch
    PokerDangal – USP and Innovation
    PokerDangal – Business Model and Revenue Model
    PokerDangal – Startup Challenges
    PokerDangal – Funding and Investors
    PokerDangal – Acquisitions and Mergers
    PokerDangal – Competitors
    PokerDangal – Growth
    PokerDangal – FAQs

    About PokerDangal and How It Works

    PokerDangal is an Indian online poker gaming platform. It is the flagship product of Xeta Networks Pvt Ltd, an online gaming company from Hatu, Kolkata, West Bengal, India. The game, as goes its title, is a poker game, developed with an aim to redefine Poker in India. PokerDangal was founded in 2017 by Varun Mahna, Varun Puri, and two other co-founders, Shashwat Jain and Karan Gandhi. PokerDangal is currently registered in Kolkata and headquartered in New Delhi. It also has small offices in Kolkata and Chennai as well.

    On www.pokerdangal.com, the users can opt to play a range of exciting tournaments and cash games in a safe game-playing environment.

    PokerDangal is available for desktop users, along with the users of Android and iOS, where they can play three variations of poker:

    • Texas Hold’em Poker, the most popular of the variations in the world
    • Four card pot limit Omaha
    • Five card pot limit Omaha.

    Though the four card pot limit Omaha was already there even before PokerDangal, the five card pot limit Omaha was first introduced by PokerDangal, which has gone on to become the most favourite variation of poker on the platform now. The fast speed and the wide range of probabilities and possibilities are some of the factors that distinguish the five card variation from the rest.

    “It appeals to the statistical and analytical abilities in people,” said Varun.

    While playing any of the three variants of the poker matches in PokerDangal, the players can choose to play individual cash games or get involved in a tournament. Emotional control, analytical ability and strategy are 3 important characteristics that define a good player from the other players.

    The online is at par with the physical game in nearly all thinkable aspects. However, there are only a couple of differences that exist between a physical game and the online PokerDangal. For instance, a player can change his/her strategy when playing a physical game of poker based on the observations from the other players. Another point of difference is that while on a physical game of poker an individual can concentrate only on one game whereas on online PokerDangal he/she can play multiple games together.

    The guiding principle of PokerDangal is to enrich the online gaming industry in India along with extending a safe, reliable, and fun ecosystem for the players of the country.

    EasyPoker Success Story – Play Poker with Friends | Multiplayer Poker App
    EasyPoker was founded by 4 friends in 2019. It lets interested people host poker games through their platform. Know about EasyPoker Founders, Business model, startup story
    StartupTalkyRishabh Rathi

    PokerDangal – Industry Details

    The online gaming industry is a brilliant example of a flourishing industry. With the emergence of fantasy gaming platforms and other gaming brands offering a wide range of games of varied nature to the audiences, the gaming industry looks at a bright future ahead.

    The Indian online gaming sector has already reached $1.027 billion in 2020, which stood at around $543 million only in 2016, thereby showing a growth of ~17.3%. The current trajectory that it is exhibiting now would make the industry climb to $2 billion by 2023. Furthermore, the number of online gamers in India, which currently stands at 360 million, is estimated to grow to 510 million by 2022.

    The online poker games, holding the hands of PokerDangal, have already started to disrupt the online gaming industry of India with huge potential.

    How to earn money from online poker games in India

    PokerDangal – Founders and Team

    Varun Mahna, Varun Puri, Shashwat Jain and Karan Gandhi founded PokerDangal in the year 2017.

    The Xeta Networks and PokerDangal founding team.
    The Xeta Networks and PokerDangal founding team.

    Varun Mahna, Founder & CEO – Varun pursued his MBA from XLRI Jamshedpur and graduated in B.E Computer Science from BITS Pilani. Before PokerDangal, he was in the position of HR Lead at Star Sports.

    Varun Puri, Founder & COO – Varun Puri holds a bachelor degree in Mechanical Engineering from BITS Pilani. This is not his first time being an entrepreneur. His first venture was Neevtech India which is a leading exporter of agricultural machinery to Europe.

    Shashwat Jain, Co-Founder & CTO – Shashwat did his Engineering from IIT Dhanbad and has headed the position of VP Analytics for quite a few ventures like Box8, Amazon, Mu Sigma, etc.

    Karan Gandhi, Co-Founder – Karan holds a degree in B.Com from Delhi University and has previously worked in big brands like Zomato and NDTV.

    Currently, PokerDangal has a team of 25 people with the key members being Manan Sobti, Sahil Parakh, Anurag Upadhyay and Akshat Bharadwaj. This team is a close-knit unit with zero attrition in the last 2.5 years.

    How was PokerDangal Started?

    Varun Mahna, the founder of PokerDangal, was a student of BITS Pilani when he was first introduced to poker in 2005. Varun and his friend Varun Puri joined various poker groups and enjoyed playing poker during their university days.

    Varun next joined XLRI Jamshedpur, where poker was again a favourite. With the passage of days, Varun’s love for the game only grew. He then went on to join Star Sports and this is the first time when his attention was drawn towards online poker.

    Varun soon found his interest in online poker and switched to the online form of the game. Online poker was yet a new concept back then but had the potential to disrupt the gaming industry. To leverage this opportunity, Varun decided to found his own company along with his engineering batchmate Varun Puri, Shashwat Jain, Karan Gandhi under the name Xeta Networks, the parent company of PokerDangal, which eventually gave rise to the latter.

    The founders and co-founders together invested close to Rs. 30 lakhs from their personal savings and initially started working from a friend’s house.

    PokerDangal logo
    PokerDangal logo

    The PokerDangal team wanted a catchy name and the one that signified high octane action. The founders turned to be big fans of Bollywood and the movie Dangal inspired them to get an apt name for their gaming startup. There’s a line in the movie that says that “Dangal is not only a physical battle but also a mind game where one has to out-think their opponent.” That is what stayed with the founders and that’s how they decided to call the platform PokerDangal, as it is a mental duel.

    The tagline of PokerDangal is ‘Where Skills Meet Fortune’, which is built with an endeavour of redefining Poker in India. Besides, they also use #AbDangalHoga, which is again inspired by Dangal.

    The logo is a thoughtful mixture of acute sumo who is ready for a battle. It is coloured in a mixture of blue and white and is ingeniously crafted where a silhouette of a sumo wrestler is embedded on one of the chips of poker along with containing the initials of PokerDangal “PD”.

    PokerDangal – Startup Launch

    “We provide an online poker platform available on iOS, Google Play Store and Desktop versions for the users. A user can download our app, create their account, complete their KYC and profile and start playing at a time and place of their convenience.” says the founder proudly.

    Interestingly, users can also deposit and withdraw money in their bank accounts. The business of online gaming is differentiated on customer acquisition, customer retention and customer engagement. With PokerDangal’s core strengths of understanding user behaviour, data analytics, and operational excellence, the tea was able to outpace the market on each of these 3 levels. The prime success in this business depends on how well is the CAC: LTV optimized.

    Since its inception, the team has made major changes to the product and the way they conduct business. The product has been upgraded multiple times post the feedback from the users. Also, they have consistently integrated the feedback to create a better product and this is an ongoing process.

    “From a policy point, we made a big change in April 2018 when we introduced instant cash-out on the platform. A user can withdraw their money 24/7/365 and the money hits the bank account in less than 10 seconds,” said Varun Mahna.

    PokerDangal – USP and Innovation

    The USP of PokerDangal lies in the fact that the platform takes an interest to popularise poker in India and serves as a safe, interesting, and rewarding gaming platform for the existing poker players of the country.

    PokerDangal was the first platform to introduce the five card pot limit Omaha. Furthermore, it also serves as a platform that allows the players to play at multiple tables simultaneously.

    PokerDangal – Business Model and Revenue Model

    PokerDangal has mainly 2 revenue streams.

    1. The first revenue stream is from the tournaments the platform conducts. They charge a 10% service fee on the entry fee for a tournament.
    2. The second revenue stream is from the cash tables, where the platform charges a 3-4% service fee on the amount wagered by the users on the tables.

    9stacks Success Story – Play Poker Online & Earn Money | Funding | Founders | Business Model
    According to a report by Flurry Analytics, India is the 2nd country after US interms of online mobile gaming. Again, according to Google KPMG report publishedin May 2017, the online gaming industry in India across platforms is estimatedto reach $1 billion by 2021, with 310 million gamers. The da…
    StartupTalkyChayanika Goswami

    PokerDangal – Startup Challenges

    The toughest part for PokerDangal was for them to sustain the concurrent traffic on the platform. To make this happen, they came up with a brilliant “refer a friend” program which fueled the traction and incentivized players to refer their friends to play on the PokerDangal platform. Poker as a game is typically learned and played in a group and hence each user on the platform had a circle which the team leveraged to its benefit with this campaign.

    So ideally PokerDangal made its users its brand ambassadors where they were getting tremendous value to refer their friends as well. Refer a friend as a marketing tool has multiple benefits – it is relatively cheap and it creates a very positive brand image for the consumers being referred. For the initial months, spends on this campaign were very limited but the team did a lot of strategic tie-ups to ensure that they are reaching out to the target consumers most effectively. As a part of the plan, they also tied up with some of the top B-schools and Engineering colleges in the country and promoted PokerDangal during their annual festivals and meets. Interestingly, those partnerships are still in place and PokerDangal is now the official gaming partner for colleges like XLRI, MDI, etc.

    Also, one of the most challenging parts was when PokerDangal was just 6 months old and wanted to raise some funds to scale the business operations. The founder team identified that to sustain in the industry it is important to hasten their user acquisition which in turn required a significant spend. So they decided to reach out to a few angel investors to understand the sentiments about the industry and they got a lot of positive responses from the people whom they reached out to. And they were finally funded by an angel investor in July 2018.

    PokerDangal’s biggest success was successfully implementing instant cash-outs which allows the users to withdraw their winnings in just 30 seconds to their bank accounts 24/7. This strategic shift was a huge change in the way the team conducted the business operations.

    Gamerji Success Story | e-Sports Tournament Platform | Funding | Business Model | Founders
    Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified informationon different startups and organizations. The content in this post has beenapproved by the organization it is based on. With the board games and the outdoor games going out of the trend, came in thee-sport games that …
    StartupTalkyVidhi Punamiya

    PokerDangal – Funding and Investors

    PokerDangal has raised a total of Rs. 7.30 crores in its latest funding round. The funding stabilized PokerDangal and helped in scaling the operations optimally.

    Date Deal Type Amount
    Jan 2021 Series A Rs. 7.30 Crores
    Aug 2018 Angel Investors –

    PokerDangal – Acquisitions and Mergers

    In the first year, PokerDangal acquired a struggling poker platform named PokerMet. The team acquired PokerMet’s user base, assets and merged its operations with PokerDangal.

    PokerDangal – Competitors

    Some of the big players in this segment are Adda52, Pocket52, and PokerStars. The sector is very cut-throat and one has to be on their toes to stay competitive. The focus on providing a delightful customer experience is a key differentiator for this online gaming business. The users need a platform where they have complete faith and hence it is important to be transparent in the policies and actions. PokerDangal is amongst one of the firms to have the best customer support system and that was the key to their growth. Also, this was the first company in the country to introduce instant cash-out and 5 cards PLO which are hugely popular with the user base.  

    PokerDangal – Growth

    • The registered user base of more than 2,00,000 players.
    • A monthly deposit of more than INR 4.9 Crores.
    • The business saw a 14x growth over the last 12 months.
    • The average monthly turnover is INR 60 Crores.
    • The monthly revenue clocked in October 2019 was INR 2.5 Crores.
    • Tagged as an EBITDA positive company.
    • Amongst the top 4 real money poker sites.
    • PokerDangal is about to enter the fantasy/rummy business.

    PokerDangal – FAQs

    Who are the Founders of PokerDangal?

    Varun Mahna, Varun Puri, Shashwat Jain and Karan Gandhi founded PokerDangal in the year 2017.

    What does PokerDangal Offer?

    PokerDangal offers a plethora of exciting tournaments and cash games to the players who want to put their skills to test in online Poker.

    How much is PokerDangal Funding to date?

    PokerDangal has raised a total of Rs. 7.30 crores in its series A funding round.

    How much is PokerDangal’s Turnover?

    A monthly deposit of more than INR 4.9 Crores. The business saw a 14x growth over the last 12 months. The average monthly turnover is INR 60 Crores. The monthly revenue clocked in October 2019 was INR 2.5 Crores.

  • Tea Bro: India’s first Pre-Brewed Tea Liquid Decoction

    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 Tea Bro.

    As per the Tea Board of India [Guwahati Tea Auction Centre], the Indian Tea industry is a massive $33bn market. With a vision to bring innovation to the way people consume tea, Kartic Sharma founded Tea Bro in 2021. Tea Bro manufactures and sells India’s first Pre-Brewed Tea Liquid Decoction (An Instant Tea offering).

    StartupTalky interviewed Mr. Kartic to get insights on the startup story and roadmap of the organization. In this article, you’ll discover how Tea Bro was started, its business model, future plans, and more.  

    Tea Bro – Company Highlights

    Startup Name Tea Bro
    Founder Kartic Sharma
    Headquarters Gurugram
    Founded 2021
    Industry Food & Beverage (Tea)

    Tea Bro – About and Vision
    Tea Bro – Industry Details
    Tea Bro – Idea and Inspiration
    Tea Bro – Product and USP
    Tea Bro – Founder
    Tea Bro – Name Meaning and Logo
    Tea Bro – Business Model
    Tea Bro – Launch
    Tea Bro – Challenges Faced
    Tea Bro – Funding
    Tea Bro – Competitors
    Tea Bro – Recognition
    Tea Bro – FAQs

    Tea Bro – About and Vision

    Tea Bro manufactures and sells India’s first Pre-Brewed Tea Liquid Decoction (A Instant Tea offering). They are Tea Farmers from Assam and control the entire supply chain of Tea from Farm to Cup.

    Tea Bro is a startup with a clear mission to – “To serve high-quality Instant Tea to the Tea loving nation”. This patent-pending product is a ‘Ready to Drink’ Tea which is pre-brewed to perfection from the finest Assam Teas with love and care. Just add Tea Bro to a cup of hot water and Done! Your cup of tea is ready in 5 sec. Enjoy the perfectly balanced Milk Tea (in 5 Exotic Indian Flavours), Instantly!

    Short Term Vision – a) To serve high-quality Tea (Instantly) to its Tea loving nation. b) To bring in innovation in the Tea industry and the way high-quality tea is farmed, processed, blended, and served.

    Long Term Vision – a) India-wide distribution channel (online and offline). b) Sales abroad for its tea offering.

    Tea Bro – Industry Details

    1. Tea in India is a USD 33Bn dollar market. Indians last year consumer 110Mn kgs of tea per year.
    2. Tea is the second most drunk beverage in India after water.
    3. The Instant Tea market is the only sector in India that is on the rise.

    (Source: Tea Board of India, Guwahati Tea Auction Centre)

    In the next 5 years:

    1. With rapid urbanization and essentially people having less time to do the daily chores themselves, Kartic (Founder, Tea Bro) believes that Instant Tea will be a very common phenomenon in most of the household. If you see markets like the USA, which is a fairly urbanized market – has more demand for instant offerings (tea, coffee, soda) than the actual ones.
    2. In the next 5 years, the Instant Tea market should at least make up about 15% to 20% of the Tea consumption in India.

    The Good Life Company – Experience the Exquisite Blends of Tea and Coffee
    The Good Life Company serves you the best of Tea and Coffee from around the globe. Read to know more about TGL Founders, CEO, Success Story, Revenue, Business Model, etc.
    StartupTalkyChayanika Goswami

    Tea Bro – Idea and Inspiration

    Kartic is from Assam and his family has been involved in the Tea industry for over 3 generations. They have seen the industry closely for the last 38 years and have realized that there has been very little improvement/innovation. Moreover, the way people consumed tea has also been the same for over 50 years now. A TeaBag was also introduced to the world about 40 years back. The last innovation in which Instant Tea was offered was ‘Powdered Instant Tea’, which was made by a process called Spray Drying.

    They found that there was no way in which companies were able to offer good quality tea in a ReadyToDrink manner. That’s when it struck that he can do something to solve this problem. After months of R&D, they came up with Tea Bro. This patent-pending product is a ‘Ready to Drink’ Tea which is pre-brewed to perfection from the finest Assam Teas with love and care. Just add TeaBro to a cup of hot water and Done! Your cup of tea is ready in 5 sec. Enjoy the perfectly balanced Milk Tea (in 5 Exotic Indian Flavours), Instantly!

    They’ve had tremendous responses from Tea connoisseurs and Tea blenders and tasters about its high quality and Tea innovation. In the last 2 months, since the startup has been live, the market response (where ever Tea Bro is present) has been encouraging.

    Tea Bro – Product and USP

    Tea Bro’s patent-pending product is a ‘Ready to Drink’ Tea which is pre-brewed to perfection from the finest Assam Teas with love and care.

    TeaBro
    TeaBro Products

    How does the product work?

    Just add Tea Bro to a cup of hot water and Done! Your cup of tea is ready in 5 sec. Enjoy the perfectly balanced Milk Tea (in 5 Exotic Indian Flavours), Instantly!

    What problem is Tea Bro intending to Solve?

    • TeaBags – In using TeaBags the process of brewing is never complete. By the time brewing is complete the temperature of the water goes down. Therefore, there is never a good tea drinking experience with tea bags.
    • Premixes are easy to use but lack the quality of the cup. Premixes are made by a process called Spray Drying. Tea is only spray-dried at or above temperatures of 180C. At this temperature range, all the constituents of Tea (its flavors, aroma, enzymes, polyphenols, etc) are all burnt off. Therefore, essentially Premixes have more of a punch of masalas rather than tea.

    USP of Tea Bro

    Tea Bro is a new category in the instant Tea market. It manufactures and sells India’s first ‘Pre-Brewed Tea Liquid’. This patent-pending product is a ‘Ready to Drink’ Tea which is pre-brewed to perfection from the finest Assam Teas with love and care.

    Tea Bro – Founder

    Kartic Sharma is the founder of Tea Bro. Being an engineering & management graduate from the University of British Columbia, Canada, Kartic has been associated with companies like Accenture, Invest India, and Delhivery before founding Tea Bro.

    The word ‘BRO’, is used very often in urban and rural India now. Even if a person does not know English very well, would know the meaning of this word. Kartic wanted to have the name of the company which is most relatable to the masses. Tea is and will be its main product always. Hence Tea Bro.

    Tea Bro Logo

    Tea Bro – Business Model

    Business Model of Tea Bro –

    • Sales (Online + Offline)
    • Institutional Sales (hotels, offices, flights, trains, Indian army, etc)

    Tea Bro – Launch

    • Channels – Tea Bro did pop-up kiosk across Gurgaon (in apartments, offices, co-working spaces, events, etc). This helped people to get introduced to its concept and innovation
    • Online sales have been working well for the startup for now
    • Tea Bro got an institutional Purchase Order from a large office and a hotel
    • Instagram Reels have been very helpful to get a large reach for Tea Bro

    Amul Marketing Strategies, Branding Strategies & Marketing Mix
    Check out the 6 major aspects of Amul’s Marketing strategies that managed to touch our hearts. Know the marketing mix of Amul, pricing strategy, etc
    StartupTalkyGorish Dua

    Tea Bro – Challenges Faced

    The main challenge faced by the startup was introducing its product in modern retail. They have a huge listing fee. The team worked a deal with them to offer more margin in comparison to high capital costs for listing fees and it worked better for Tea Bro.

    Tea Bro – Funding

    Tea Bro is currently a bootstrapped startup.

    Tea Bro – Competitors

    Currently, Tea Bro doesn’t have any direct competition for its offering, ‘Pre-Brewed Tea Liquid’. It is the first company in India to make a product of this sort and therefore for the product and the process, it has a ‘Patent Pending’ status. Instant Tea has traditionally been offered in Tea Bags or Premixes. There are hundreds of companies in India that retail these. Tea Bro is the first company in India to offer ‘Ready To Drink’ tea in a ‘Pre-Brewed Tea Liquid’ format.

    Best Competitor Website Analysis Tools | List of Top 10
    Do you wish to surpass your competitors and excel in your business? Here is a list of top 10 Competitor Website Analysis Tools to help you.
    StartupTalkyNiharika Kalyankar

    Tea Bro – Recognition

    Tea Bro has been nominated by Industry Outlook and Fortune magazine to feature in the ‘Top Upcoming startup edition’.

    Tea Bro – FAQs

    What is Tea Bro?

    Tea Bro manufactures and sells India’s first Pre-Brewed Tea Liquid Decoction (A Instant Tea offering). They are Tea Farmers from Assam and control the entire supply chain of Tea from Farm to Cup.

    Who founded Tea Bro?

    Kartic Sharma founded Tea Bro in 2021.

    What is Tea Bro’s USP?

    Tea Bro is a new category in the instant Tea market. It manufactures and sells India’s first ‘Pre-Brewed Tea Liquid’. This patent-pending product is a ‘Ready to Drink’ Tea which is pre-brewed to perfection from the finest Assam Teas with love and care.

    Is Tea Bro funded?

    No, Tea Bro is a bootstrapped startup as of 2021

    How does Tea Bro work?

    Just add Tea Bro to a cup of hot water and Done! Your cup of tea is ready in 5 sec. Enjoy the perfectly balanced Milk Tea (in 5 Exotic Indian Flavours), Instantly!