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 Fizzy Fern.
Everyone wants to look good. Looking good not only helps us feel good, but studies have shown that looking good and presentable has many benefits like high confidence level, higher chances of getting a job and even more earnings. One of the major factors of our looks is our skin. A soft and flawless skin makes us look better and healthier. This is the reason, why the skin care products industry is growing rapidly around the world.
There was a time when the skin care market was flooded with products which contained harmful chemicals which in the long run caused damage to the skin. But with more and more research being done on skin care products, people have now become aware of the adverse effects of using chemical containing skin care products. As such, natural, ayurvedic and chemical free skin care products are what the consumers are looking for today.
Considering this increasing demand for chemical free skin care products, Fizzy Fern, aims to manufacturing premium quality products which are soft on the skin. These products do not contain harsh chemicals like sulfates and parabens and are cruelty-free too.
Fizzy Fern, aims to manufacture premium quality products which are soft on the skin. These products do not contain harsh chemicals like sulfates and parabens and are cruelty-free too.
Fizzy Fern – Industry Details
The revenue earned in the skincare segment in India is $1,510 Million in 2019. The market is expected to see a growth of 2.5% CAGR in 2019-2023.
Fizzy Fern – Founders and Team
Robin Chopra, Nitasha Chopra and Sugam Mehtani are the Co-Founders of Fizzy Fern.
Robin Chopra : Robin Chopra is the founder of the FizzyFern. He has experience working with leading FMCG and Media Companies like SABMiller India and Times of India Group.
Nitasha Chopra : Nitasha is Robin’s partner in business and life. She was a banker prior to the inception of Fizzy Fern.
Sugam Mehtan : Sugam is the co-founder of Fizzy Fern and also Director of Carbone Products (India).
Fizzy Fern – The Idea and Starting Up
Skin care was always a passion for Robin. He understood that in today’s world, to combat the ill effects of pollution and stress, good skin care products are essential as they help one look and feel healthy and beautiful. Besides Nitasha being a girl was naturally interested in skin care. So they kept exploring the idea over a couple of years. Since they also had manufacturing facilities within the extended family, they finally decided to take the plunge.
Fizzy Fern – Name and Logo
We wanted to have a more international name that sounded fresh as well as soft.
Fizzy Fern Logo
After almost 2 months of brainstorming, the founders came up with the name Fizzy Fern. Fizzy means lively and Fern is a plant. So the name means a lively plant.
Fizzy Fern – Product
Fizzy Fern has a wide range of products for face care, lip care, body wash, body lotions, scrubs and body massage oils. Besides, the company also has a special range of skin care products for men. Fizzy Fern aims to establish itself as a name associated with premium gifting. So the company has designed great looking boxes containing different skin care products, which are ideal for gifting.
We are a skincare brand that also lays great emphasis on the whole unboxing experience.
Fizzy Fern has first of its kind packaging for their products. The products are packed in beautiful cardboard tubes, which give a premium look to it.
Fizzy Fern Products
Fizzy Fern – Business Model
The Fizzy Fern business model has taken the hybrid distribution channel right from the beginning. Fizzy Fern products are available in all leading e-marketplaces like Amazon, Nykaa, Flipkart, Smytten and PayTM and also in the offline retail channel in select markets viz, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Dehradun.
Fizzy Fern – Customer Acquisition
While a little push here and there gets you the initial trials, if the product is good and keeps the promise, you’re sure to win in the longer run.
As said above initial user came from online marketplaces like Amazon, Nykaa etc from the initial stage. Fizzy Fern’s Face Pack, Hair Oil, Sunscreen and Rose Lip Balm were the products that became popular among its early set of customers. Good and positive word of mouth publicity helped the company to broaden its customer base gradually.
We have not taken any funding and thus we are extremely cautious of every penny that we spend. Hence, it’s only been organic launches and organic growth that we’ve seen till now.
Fizzy Fern – Challenges
The most challenging part is to live up to the promise of soft skincare products.
Besides, Robin considers competing with big names in the skin care products industry as one of the major challenges.
Fizzy Fern – Competitors
I won’t say, competitors, we’re honestly far away from competing with a lot of brands; but yes, there are definitely brands that we draw a lot of inspiration from
Robin is personally a big fan of the Forest Essentials and Kama Ayurveda. He looks up to these two brands and hopes to create a similar experience with the fizzy company.
Fizzy Fern – Future Plans
Fizzy fern in the long run, wants to increase its production and market reach. It aims to win consumers with high-quality products.
Fizzy Fern – FAQs
What is Fizzy Fern?
Fizzy Fern manufactures premium quality skincare products which are soft on the skin and does not contain harsh chemicals like sulfates and parabens and are cruelty-free too.
Who are the Founders of Fizzy Fern?
Robin Chopra, Nitasha Chopra and Sugam Mehtaniare the Co-Founders of Fizzy Fern.
What are some Fizzy Fern products?
Fizzy Fern has a wide range of products for face care, lip care, body wash, body lotions, scrubs and body massage oils. Besides, the company also has a special range of skin care products for men.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verifiedinformation ondifferent startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by Labkafe.
Educational institutions have a crucial role to play in a country’s development and growth. Schools, colleges, universities, and educational centers are places where the future workforce of the nation is nurtured . For building strong institutions, having the right infrastructure is a prerequisite. However, the process of accumulating, organizing, and setting up the necessary infrastructure can be tiresome. This is where Labkafe takes the charge.
Labkafe is a Kolkata based startup that provides equipment and furniture for laboratories, helping build a wholesome learning zone for young minds.
Labkafe is a one stop destination for laboratory equipment and furniture. It offers numerous products comprising glassware, chemicals, labware, quality lab accessories required for labs, and much more.
Labkafe: Laboratory equipment installed at Sido Kanhu Murmu University.
The team at Lab kafe believes that quality labs and lab experts form the core for innovation and creativity. It envisions making laboratory equipment affordable and accessible, thereby rendering innovation feasible. Labkafe is the school lab equipment suppliers in Kolkata.
Labkafe – Industry Details
Lab equipment industry forms the backbone for research and innovation in diverse fields. Apart from healthcare/pharma companies, one of the major markets for lab equipment and furniture are educational institutes & research institutes. The factors contributing to high demand of lab products in education institutes are:
Government’s emphasis on strengthening educational infrastructure.
Increasing prominence of technology and experiment driven education, especially in emerging private schools/institutes.
Innovation learning through robotics, AI, language labs and other technology based environments in K-12 schools.
Labkafe – Founders And Team
Aniket Thakur and Hitesh Kumar are the founders of Labkafe. Sunil Panda and Amrit Raj later joined the duo as co-founders, giving a boost to the venture. The four worked together at Jindal Stainless Steel plant. At Labkafe, they now work in unison through shared executive responsibilities.
Lab kafe’s Founders and Team
Aniket Thakur is the Chief Executive officer (CEO) of Labkafe. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering from NIT Durgapur.
Hitesh Kumar is the Chief Operating officer (COO) and looks after operation and logistics. He is from NIT Durgapur as well.
Sunil Panda is the Chief Marketing officer (CMO) and heads the sales and Marketing department of Labkafe. Sunil is a mechanical engineer from NIT Rourkela.
Amrit Raj is the Chief Strategies Officer (CSO) and manages strategic tie-ups within Labkafe. He is a mechanical engineering graduate from NIT Jamshedpur.
Labkafe currently is a team of 22. The company generally hires through reference.
We maintain timelines for all the projects & don’t have any work hours – said Aniket, about Labkafe’s work culture
All four co-founders, given their academic and professional background, have been exposed to different laboratory equipment and materials. Their deliberation over the not so developed industry of laboratory equipment in spite of the consistent demand led them towards the ideation of Labkafe.
I was working in a steel plant quality department in Jajpur Odisha. For some basic material testing, I had to travel a lot from Bhubaneswar to Ahmedabad carrying material samples. This made me realize lack of proper laboratory infrastructure in our country. Also, while working in quality lab, we used to face lots of problems procuring exact specified lab equipment for testing. That inspired us to create a portal to address bottlenecks of procuring lab products.- Aniket Thakur
They discussed the idea with their colleagues to seek opinions and received mixed responses. Nevertheless, everybody gave an unanimous verdict with respect to the demand for laboratory equipment—it was, is, and will continue to stay.
Finally, Labkafe was realized and has created 12000+ lab equipment & 200+ lab furniture so far. Most of the products manufactured are under “Labkafe” label. Customer needs are prioritized and the design layout/material are tailored to meet user requirements.
Labkafe’s turnkey solution has eliminated middle men and multiple vendors, resulting in the reduction of procurement costs and making it affordable. Labkafe provides wide ranging services—designing, furniture and lab equipment fabrication, allied services (LPG/Pipeline connections, interior decoration etc), instruments installation, training, manpower development, annual maintenance and financial support to institutes.
Labkafe – Funding
Bootstrapped with just Rs 1 lakh, Labkafe is a profitable and successful business today, boasting stock that includes more than 12,000 lab equipment items and over 200 lab furniture designs. “Based on design layouts and subject matter, materials are supplied to customers,” explains the founder, adding, “Most products are manufactured under our brand name ‘Labkafe’.”
Labkafe – Name and Logo
Labkafe logo
The Labkafe team was searching for names related to labs. But was not getting good name with web domain. Then finally the problem got solved over a cup of coffee. The team was sipping Nescafe coffee in the canteen, and from Nescafe, the idea of the name “LabKafe” came.
The name ‘Labkafe’ was finalized as it eases the procurement work of educational institutions and lets them relax, like a cafe provides a soothing time to its customers.
Labkafe – Business Model And Revenue Model
With a technical background, the four co-founders have worked together in crafting a practical business and revenue model.
The laboratory equipment are highly specialized, needs field expertise, installation support and thorough understanding based on the customer’s requirement. The Labkafe team provides the necessary technical support to the customer. This helped Labkafe minimize competition, avail high margin, maintain high entry barrier, procure high order basket values and improve its brand value.
Labkafe’s average order basket value is around 1 lakh INR. It focuses on generating revenue by selling products directly to institutes. For the same, they have also designed specific lab packages for secondary and senior secondary schools pertaining to CBSE/ICSE/State board curriculum. This makes it convenient for schools and in turn reaps revenue for Labkafe.
Labkafe – User Acquisition
The Labkafe team acquires customers through:
Marketing channels: Email campaigns, cold calling, Facebook marketing, Google ads, and word of mouth. GeM (Government E-Marketplace) is another great platform that has boosted Labkafe’s sales.
Labkafe maintains a sales team for high value potential leads.
Labkafe’s notable clients include: DRDO, Air Force-Gwalior, State Forensic science lab, ONGC, Baidyanath Pharma, NIT Rourkela, NIT Allahabad, IBSD, St. Xavier group, GD Goenka group, and the DPS group.
Besides its on-going expansion in India, Labkafe is also exporting its catalog to three countries: Canada, Nigeria, and Bhutan.
Initially, Labkafe sold industrial products and the team was extremely confident about the startup take off right from beginning, given the team’s expertise in the domain. Gradually, it dawned upon the Labkafe team that the sector was fraught with stiff competition, low margins, and complex procurement routes of the industries. Moreover, the payment delay from clients resulted in unbalanced cashflow.
So, the team started to experiment and identify a niche for avoiding financial crunch. School labs were found to be a fit and finally in July 2016, Labkafe pivoted to selling lab equipment and furniture to schools. Since then, the margins have increased significantly and the procurement decision making process has been simplified.
Labkafe has used email campaigns and other media instruments to reach out to customers. With experience, Labkafe began to focus on big ticket orders wherein lab expertise was required. It then started to work with universities/ research institutes (from planning to execution). This includes:
Designing labs as per the directions of HODs.
Submitting DPR (Detail Project Report) for final approval.
Labkafe has gained recognition and carved a niche for itself in the lab equipment industry. It is now a government recognized startup. At present Labkafe is spread across Kolkata, Ranchi, and Ambala. Its sales team is targetting West Bengal, Jharkhand, Bihar, and Odisha.
Labkafe’s annual turnover for FY 2018-19 stood at 8.17 Crores and is expected to reach 23.4 crores for financial year 2019-20.
It is now looking to expand services and cover the pharmaceutical industry and diversify its global reach.
FAQs
What is Labkafe?
Labkafe is one of the top startups in Kolkata that provides equipment and furniture for laboratories, helping build a wholesome learning zone for young minds.
Who is the founder of Labkafe?
Aniket Thakur, Hitesh Kumar, Sunil Panda, and Amrit Raj
What is the lab supplies market growth?
The global lab supplies market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 7.1% from 2020 to 2027 to reach USD 49.6 billion by 2027.
How big is the lab supplies market?
The global lab supplies market size was estimated at USD 29.1 billion in 2019 and is expected to reach USD 30.6 billion in 2020.
Which segment accounted for the largest lab supplies market share?
North America dominated the lab supplies market with a share of 37.0% in 2019. This is attributable to rising R&D investment in this region that is creating the need for laboratory products.
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 Wink & Nod.
As correctly said “the richest man in the world is the man who can sleep in peace at night.” With the fast and hectic lifestyle of modern times, the importance of quality sleep has become more essential. With the same vision, Sandeep Prasad launched Wink & Nod in 2017.
Wink & Nod is an innovative sleep-focused company that is driven by a vision to create a one-stop brand that caters to the sleeping needs of the modern Indian consumer. As a company, it understands the importance of quality sleep in today’s stress heavy world, hence it wants to become a trailblazer in the sleep industry in the Indian market. Keeping in line with this, the company focuses on using the best quality and non-toxic fabrics and materials by certifications like CertiPUR-US® for foam and Oeko-Tex® Standard 100 for fabrics.
Most of Wink & Nod’s targeted consumers lie between the age of late 20s to late 40s and belong to the working class. With an increase in stress levels and long working hours, people aren’t able to find the time to focus on sleep. Wink & Nod intends to provide the same and at the same time eliminate the hassle of shopping for these products by providing online options to choose from and delivering them to the customer’s home.
Wink & Nod’s vision is to create a one-stop brand that caters to all sleep needs of a consumer, a brand that resonates with sleep and redefines the overall sleep experience of the user. Apart from mattresses, this firm also sells bed sheets, pillows, comforters, and other sleep accessories. The products are not only aesthetically pleasant by looks and amazing to feel, but also are non-toxic, affordable, and are backed by innovative technology.
The shift from traditional players to Wink & Nod will be gradual but is something that people are willing to do once they understand the products and the value it holds. A mattress has typically been a low-involvement product and has been seen as something that is placed on top of your bed. The consumer adapts to the idea when he understands that a mattress is a place where the average person spends one-third of their life and that they can actually help improve their sleep.
To get the consumers aligned to this thinking, Wink & Nod provides them a 100-day trial on the mattresses, earning the most crucial element behind a product’s success – their trust in the product. Nobody likes change, but some changes are for good, and that is what this company wishes the consumers to understand. Before starting any marketing activity, Wink & Nod dives into the customer personas, map their behavior, how they spend their day, and understand why they require a product like this.
“We try to be in these touchpoints via various modes of communications, experimenting on offline activities and focusing on customer engagement.” Said Sandeep Prasad.
Additionally, Wink & Nod has tried to shift from the conventional notion of mattress purchasing as a tedious task, and have made the process enjoyable for the consumers. For customers who are confused about buying which kind of mattress, it has dedicated sleep experts who assist them with the right mattress based on their needs. Wink & Nod, as a brand, connect with millennials. The content used for communications follows a quirky-fun tonality focusing on maximum consumer engagement. So even if they do not purchase the product, they still remember Wink & Nod.
Not to forget, Wink & Nod follows a personalized and unique packaging style with the aim of providing a delightful experience to the customers. The Wink & Nod team understood the gap in logistics in India and worked towards solving it. Hence, even something as large as a mattress gets delivered packed inside a box, and at the same time gives the customers a joy of unboxing it.
Wink & Nod – Target Market Size
The existing mattress market is pegged at a total size of around US $1.5 Billion, and growing 10% year-on-year. While most mattress buying has traditionally been from the unorganized sector, the split between the two segments is around 50-50 as of now. This is largely driven by a few offline brands driving the industry. Within the organized segment – the online space, which has become active in the last 4-5 years, occupies ~10% of the segment (i.e, 5% of the industry).
However, Wink & Nod is looking to position ourselves as a one-stop-solution for all sleep-related products. This is a much bigger market, roughly estimated at the US $5 Billion. It includes sleeping accessories like pillows, mattress protectors /toppers, etc. A significant portion is comprised of the bed and linen sector which is pegged at around the US $3 billion.
The industry is in its initial years of technology disruption and is undergoing rapid developments. The market is expected to shift from 5% eCommerce to 30-35% eCommerce in the next few years. With 4-5 new-age brands co-existing in the market, each brand can carve out its own specific niche, through their products, services or marketing. These businesses will be online-first direct to consumer brands with some offline presence in terms of experience stores
Founders of Wink & Nod and Team
Wink&Nod Founder, Sandeep Prasad
The Core Team at Wink & Nod consists of the following members:
Sandeep Prasad: Sandeep is the founder and CEO at Wink & Nod. He is a former VC investor who keeps a keen eye on operations and growth. Sandeep earlier worked as an investment banker in New York, a strategy professional in Chicago and as a consultant in Pittsburgh. These high-pressure jobs made him recognize the value of a good night’s sleep.
Vishal Mundhra: Vishal is the CTO and go-to guy for all technology-related issues of Wink & Nod. He is a business-technology entrepreneur and an advisor to global businesses. His past experiences include being a product manager and the head of the user experience group at TIBCO Software. In this role, he led large scale business transformation initiatives for Fortune 1000 companies.
Aditya Labroo: Aditya is the COO at Wink & Nod, and a former investment associate at Guild Capital, a US-based early-stage Venture Capital Firm. His experience of the startup life also comes from being a founder at FairFrog, a niche online marketplace. Aditya was also an options trader at the Dutch firm Optiver, based out of Amsterdam.
Keerthi Balakumar: Keerthi is the brilliant mind behind all products at Wink & Nod. He is a former Innovation Manager at AB InBev India who was dealing with their fine portfolio of alcoholic products often left him yearning for a comfortable place to sleep off after long days at work.
Ankit Raj: Ankit is the CMO at Wink & Nod and he is responsible for all marketing activities at Wink & Nod. Armed with deep insights into consumer’s persona and consumer behavior, he ensures that Wink & Nod is heard amongst the masses and then slept on by the masses.
How was Wink & Nod Started?
All of this began with working for a VC fund in Florida, which focused on investments in nascent-stage consumer brands. Working as the COO of a luxury eCommerce watch company as part of the VC fund, Sandeep saw a steady rise in the US and European based startups that were completely disrupting the mattress and sleep market by bringing products like mattresses and pillows from offline channels to online channels. Additionally, seeing innovation in the products spiked his interest.
The catalyst to start the business was the pursuit of his parents for a good mattress. “They spent more than three weeks in this quest and ended up buying a mattress for a hefty sum of INR 30,000. Upon asking my mother what mattress she had purchased, she was not very sure. The experience of my parents and the potential opportunities in the Indian mattress industry sparked the idea of building a startup focusing on sleep.” Said the founder Sandeep!
A rigorous analysis of the market followed by this experience of his parents made him quit his job. Sandeep raised capital from his boss and utilized it to build the platform. A college friend of his, Vishal assisted in building the website. A fellow worker from his previous company had some contacts in Hong Kong and helped him with the required sourcing partners. Furthermore, Vishal had some contacts in design and warehousing companies from Mumbai. After coming back to India, Sandeep teamed up with a few people from the eCommerce and logistics sector and went on to launch Wink & Nod.
Wink & Nod – Name, Tagline and Logo
Wink & Nod Logo
The name Wink & Nod was finalized after careful consideration and elimination process. The idea was to come up with a name in which people could relate to sleep, and at the same, had to give the name a second thought to perceive the meaning of it. This would create that extra moment of consideration in their mind, giving it just the right time to make some space and rest in mind. Additionally, it needed to speak to the Millenials in their tone. So, Wink & Nod is a subtle take on the fact that when one is feeling sleepy, the head starts nodding, the eyes start winking.
Wink & Nod – Startup Launch
Sandeep connected with his network of the ecosystem of mattress suppliers at the start of his entrepreneurial journey. Then, it was mostly about testing an MVP in the market and making quick iterations based on feedback. He reached out to his contacts, friends, and relatives and also started spending slowly on social media. The initial traction was slow but he realized that whenever he spoke to the customer, he/ she would definitely go ahead and buy. So, Sandeep set up an in-house lead generation and lead conversion process, wherein he had a couple of people who would call and convert customers along with him. This gave Wink & Nod the initial boost to reach the first 100 customers and test out the MVP.
“Speaking to the customer directly also gave me more insights into what customers wanted. This helped us nail the product-market fit in our subsequent iterations.” Says Sandeep.
Since its inception, Wink & Nod’s primary focus is to provide consumers with comfortable quality sleep at an affordable rate. And it has been successful in doing the same. With certifications like CertiPUR-US® for foam and Oeko-Tex® Standard 100 for fabrics, Wink & Nod ensures that only the best reaches the consumers. Another attraction for the company has been the wide range of product offerings, which cater to all sleep requirements in a bedroom. These products include mattresses, pillows, bedsheets, comforters, towels, sleep spray, amongst many others. With constant innovation and the addition of new products in the portfolio, this venture has had the constant attention of its customers.
“We are in a slew of launching an Ayurveda mattress with the sole intention of providing a quality sleep using all-natural materials. Lastly, as mentioned earlier, solving the logistical issues that come with purchasing a mattress by delivering the mattress in a box also attracted a large customer base for us,” added Sandeep.
Wink & Nod – Business Model and Revenue Model
The business model of Wink & Nod is that of a direct-to-customer eCommerce brand. The unit economics is a first-order profitable one, which means that it doesn’t need a high repeat rate to get profitable on a unit customer level. Additionally, it has forayed into several accessories and is witnessing a significant number of repeat purchasers. Products like pillows, comforters, bedsheets, and towels are doing extremely well. Compared to similar products in the market with the same specifications and quality, these products are priced fairly, keeping in mind the Indian consumers.
For instance, a mattress ranges between INR 4000 -INR 42000 depending on the thickness and dimensions. Since Wink & Nod sources it directly from manufacturers and sells to the customers, it can pass on the cost advantage to customers. Secondly, logistics is another high cost for traditional mattress companies, since mattresses are bulky products. Wink & Nod delivers the mattresses in compact vacuum-sealed boxes which saves costs in transportation as well as storage. Hence, further reducing the cost and passing it as a benefit directly to the customer.
Being an online consumer brand, it doesn’t have to absorb high fixed costs and overheads concerning offline stores or shell out high retailer margins. All these efficiencies in the business model of the company enable it to use the best quality raw materials and a superior quality product at an affordable price. All these factors set Wink & Nod apart from others since all the materials are internationally certified and safe to use.
The major challenge as a company for Wink & Nod was solving the fragmented and unorganized logistics in India for a product like theirs. In case a mishap occurs, the consumer always holds the company selling it accountable rather than the delivery service. Hence, the team had to solve this issue at a two-fold level. They went on to build a very strong customer support infrastructure to assist customers throughout the post-purchase process. The infrastructure includes people as well as tools to provide shipping support to customers. Additionally, they innovated the packaging of the product by providing our consumers with products as large as a mattress packed inside a box.
Wink & Nod – Competitors
Talking about the Indian market, which is where Wink & Nod’s focus is now, some of the competitors in the space are Wakefit, SleepyCat, etc. apart from the traditional incumbent ones like Sleepwell, Kurl On, etc. Each of these companies has carved out its own niche positioning in the space and hence is not directly competing for the same set of customers at the same time.
The fact that Wink & Nod’s vision is to build a sleep-focused brand rather than a mattress brand, differentiates it from several competitors in the market.
“We have launched about 15 products in a span of two years – more than any other brand in this space. Each product has its own learning curve in terms of R&D, product-market fit, supply chain complexity, etc.” Says Sandeep.
With each successful product in the portfolio, Wink & Nod’s competitiveness as a sleep brand increases exponentially and at the same time, it has a differentiated offering from the rest of the mattress players. When it comes to the products, each of Wink & Nod’s products has something unique in it – that’s the company’s core product innovation philosophy. For example, it’s Emperia mattress (the premium mattress) has a proprietary cool-touch cover which is not available anywhere else in India. Secondly, its Carbon pillow, with the charcoal-infused memory foam is another product that is being sold only by Wink & Nod. On a more generic level, it’s products really differ in terms of the materials with the highest quality, supreme safety, and internationally certified materials.
Wink & Nod – Funding and Investors
Wink & Nod has raised two rounds of seed funding from Guild Capital, a US-based VC firm. Currently, it is looking to raise a Series A round.
Wink & Nod – Growth
Growing at a monthly rate of 5-10%
Consistent monthly improvement in marketing efficiency
Reduced our overall customer acquisition cost
Launched a line of sleep based products
Team size has grown from 2 to 25 plus in 18 months
Available on major e-commerce websites like Amazon, Paytm Mall, amongst others.
Two experience stores in Pune
A new product line launching soon
Wink & Nod – Awards
One of Top 10 startups in Wharton Startup Challenge
Listed amongst the ET top 50 (or top 100) startups
Apart from this, Wink & Nod has had various feature articles in magazines and papers like TOI, Business World, among others.
Wink & Nod – FAQs
Who is the founder of Wink and Nod mattress?
Sandeep Prasad is the Founder of Wink & Nod.
What is Wink and Nod?
Wink and Nod is a startup that deals with sleep solutions that includes mattresses, bedsheets, pillows and more!
Is there a trial period with Wink and Nod?
Yes, Wink and Nod provides a 100 day trial period for their mattresses.
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 NG Corp.
There are many reasons to restrict the amount of time you spend in front of an electronic screen. For example, more hours sitting at a computer or smartphone means fewer hours of being physically active, and looking at a computer screen at night can stimulate the brain and make it difficult to fall asleep.
In line with this vision & mission, the NG Corp. company has recently launched a range of India’s 1st EyeSafe LED TV and EarSafe Earphones. Read everything about NG Corp, how it was started, founders, target market, products, awards, and future plans.
NG Corp is a millennial consumer durables brand launching remarkable products that are safe for our sense organs. It was started to add Health & Safety to Technology! The company started with a vision to make consumer electronics safer. It has a mission to design, develop & launch Consumer electronics which will make gadgets healthier/safer.
Here’s a short 1 minute video on how NG EyeSafe TV’s BlueFilm Technology works and makes the TV harmless for your eyes! NG Corp’s patented technology protects your eyes from High Energy Blue Light causing Red Eyes, Irritation, Headache, Cataract, Cancer, Sleep cycle disorder, etc. by absorbing 90% HEV Blue Light & 100% UV Rays.
NG Corp – Target Market Size
The consumer durables industry in India was worth USD 20 billion in 2019 & is expected to be worth USD 36 billion by 2023. As of now the company is into LED TV’s space which was valued at US$ 4 billion in FY 2018 and is growing at nearly 16% CAGR with Smart TV’s segment growing at nearly 42% CAGR as per ET, Mint & BCG Report. Current LED TV penetration in Indian households stands at ~65%.
NG Corp – How It All Started?
All we have heard while growing up was watching more TV might cause some sort of adverse effects on our eyes. We didn’t really understand the semantics behind that constant advice, and kept viewing TV inspite of the multiple warnings.
When Meet, owner of NG Corp, saw a kid being yelled at for the same, he went back to his childhood days. He thought let’s dig into this and see the logic behind these warnings and found shocking results and he knew then that he had to do something about this problem. Meet started doing frantic research to understand why exactly our TV’s are harming us and talked to multiple experts from his professors to manufacturers to optometrists.
Meet finally found that TV’s emit blue light which is harmful and on getting enough data to prove this, his work began on identifying a solution to this. He used his college labs, piles of books, GB’s of the internet and came up with a theory.
Meet Shah, founder of NG Corp, started participating at various B-Plan competitions where he won prize money and used that capital for practical prototype building. Finally this process of creating and testing came to an end in January 2020 when he successfully completed all the testing, launched a prototype and he was ready to launch it for the world.
NG Corp – Product/Services
On going through the research cycle, the team found that all screens be it mobile phones, computers or LED TV’s emit harmful high energy, short wavelength blue light which hits retina directly and our human lens aren’t able to filter them out because of its high energy.
This blue light causes problems like Red eyes, Cataract, Headache, Irritation, Dopamine level imbalance and is also linked with breast & prostate cancer.
Blue Light Effect
This is where their product steps in. The company’s patented BlueFilm Technology absorbs 90% of these HEV Blue light & 100% UV Rays thereby making TV harmless for your eyes.
NG TV Panel has 5 additional layers compared to normal LED TV Panel as below to make TV harmless:
No other LED TV is safe for your eyes and they have a patented right on this innovation of theirs. Hence, this is the USP, NG Corp is banking on. The company have successfully completed their pilot tests and launched the product on Amazon, Snapdeal & few select retail outlets & have already started the work on making Earphones Safe for your ears next!
Hence, now you can binge watch on your Favorite shows or movie with your lights off and need not worry at all about the TV harming your eyes.
NG Corp – Founders & Team
Meet Shah is the sole founder of NG Corporation.
Meet Shah, Founder of NG Corporation
He is a Chemical Engineer & a MBA Graduate from NMIMS, Mumbai. He have always known somewhere that his calling is entrepreneurship. Since a young age, he had been inclined towards Entrepreneurship.
Meet’s very first start up was in 8th std- booksmash.in where he sold used books online. It worked well but he had to shut it down due to his 10th board exams. As soon as he got free from both board exams and entered college, Meet came up with his second start up idea- chocoweaver.in where he made customized chocolates, catering to any wish of the customer from flavor, to shape to inscribed messages, he did it all!
But with the rapid development of technology & his family business’s background in the CE Space, Meet could see how huge the space is, how fast it is changing & how there is a lack of homegrown brands which are nimble and have a New-Gen thinking. And after a few years NG was born!
“I learned a lot from my previous experiences and it formed the basis of this start up. NG wouldn’t exist today if my past endeavours hadn’t happened. So it seems, every rock in my way guided me to NG!”, added Meet Shah, founder of Next-Generation Corp.
They currently have a team of 5, where 2 are into manufacturing, 1 is on field sales & 2 of them are working on digital marketing & customer support.
“The story of finding the name isn’t as interesting as one would expect it to be, but i knew one thing since the beginning. THIS IS THE FUTURE OF TV! Protecting and helping pave an easier path for our future generations is our duty. Hence the name NEXT GENERATION.”, said Meet Shah, talking about the name of the company.
Health is wealth is a motto every one of us has heard at least once in our lives. And protecting as essential an organ as our eye, is very vital.
NG Corp – Business & Revenue Model
The company sell their own manufactured LED TV’s directly to customers via Offline & Online channels.
NG Corp – Startup Launch
The products were launched officially on 15th Jan 2020 for pre-ordering and got their 1st lot of 100 LED TV’s on 15th March 2020 and they dispatched 94 units in 3 hours itself. They are paused right now due to COVID-19 but all set when markets reopen.
To gain these orders, pre-launch buzz was very important and played a major role. The team used WhatsApp majorly to let the offline stores know what’s coming their way via tutorial videos, power points and sales visits.
For phase-2 of growth, NG Corp have come with a unique 1st time ever in the industry module for bringing the offline retailers on board to sell NG Products from their stores. Currently, nearly 65% of LED TV’s sold in India is sold through offline channel and people visit the stores before making a buying decision. Hence, no brand can ignore the offline channel if they wish to grow and reach maximum household and win consumer trust.
They have named this module as E-SSD Omnichannel module where the retailer gets monopoly rights for his serviceable pin code and becomes the company’s Offline Retail Partner for the same. He will hence earn a commission whenever the product is sold online, as well as earn a margin when sold offline from his own store. NG have already onboarded 19 offline stores on this platform and are in talks with many other major retailers for West India.
The company is currently incubated at Atal Incubation Center, NMIMS at Mumbai and have their Marketing & Sales Team operating from the incubation center SBM, NMIMS.
NG Corp – Funding & Investors
NG is a Bootstrapped company currently. The founder invested the starting fund of INR. 15 Lac, off which INR. 4 Lac came from winning various business plan competitions.
The team has one of the largest distribution houses of Mumbai as their mentor, Etronics Global Distributors LLP which has been in this business since last many years and holds distribution rights for multiple brands for area of Mumbai & Gujarat.
Having his father be in the same business since last 22 years also helped Meet have an edge as he got an access to lot of retailers, suppliers, industry veterans who were glad to help him at any stage and support him in the same.
NG Corp – Recognition & Achievements
1st Prize at Smart Pitch, IIT Bombay
NG have won 3 awards for the idea:
1st Prize at Smart Pitch, IIT Bombay.
Among top 8 at Chancellor’s Challenge, SVKM Group from 268 applicants.
Among 10 Selected startups at Atal Incubation Center under NITI Aayog from 541 applicants.
What are your thoughts on this new innovative LED TV? Have you bought a NG Corp LED TV? Have you ever experienced NG Corp TV? If yes. then do share us your experience on India’s 1st LED TV that is safe for our ear and eye.
Feel free to reach us and share your feedback. We would love to hear from you. Do comment us in the comments section below. Happy Reading.
NG Corp – FAQs
Who founded the NG TV company?
Meet Shah is the founder of the NG TV company.
What is unique about EyeSafe LED TV?
The company’s patented BlueFilm Technology absorbs 90% of these HEV Blue light & 100% UV Rays thereby making TV harmless for your eyes.
And NG TV Panel has 5 additional layers compared to normal LED TV Panel as below to make TV harmless:
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by the Samaara Tea.
What is the beginning to a good day look like? Do you like tea? Do you relish it? Is it your everyday ritual to start your day with a cup of amazing tea? And when that cup of tea is just perfect, does it not give you utmost satisfaction? THAT! Utmost satisfaction is what Tea gives you every single morning. Chai (Translation: Tea) is something that runs in the blood of many Indians. Chai is like oxygen for many. The morning ritual starts with a cup of Chai for many people. It’s what gets people going. But as time advances so do people’s choices.
The Indian Tea market is driven by the increasing demand of the beverage in the country, preferred by various socio-economic classes. Since Tea is an inexpensive beverage, and is consumed across all socio-economic consumer groups. Its affordability has been a major catalyst which has supported the popularity of tea across various developing markets, a majority of whom belong to low income groups. India is famous for its diverse flavours and tastes and has been a pioneer in the tea industry.
Samaara strives to give their customers the best. And we leave no stones unturned to give our customers the best.
Samaara Tea is a premium tea venture by Jivraj Tea Company, Bhagal, Surat. They already have an international market presence in the Middle East, South Africa, USA, UK, New Zealand, Europe and Singapore. Their Product ranges in Black Tea, Green Tea, Tea Bags and Instant Mixes.
Samara brings a variety of teas to excite various taste buds. Exported to over 25 countries worldwide, Samaara has been serving premium tea for the past 3 years. With a lot of people loving Samaara for the quality it provides, it has been able to make its presence felt globally. Samaara always strives to deliver quality products and with exceptional on-time service. The company constantly pushes its limits and brings out new products to serve the customers.
As the markets change, so does the approach and that is what has kept Samaara loved by everyone. The quality and taste of the Samaara range is unparalleled and that’s the reason, the connoisseurs vouch for it. With its tea variants of Strong Aroma, Loose Green Tea and Instant Tea Premix, Samaara hopes to add more flavours and increase its product line. Samaara is all set to delight everyone around the world with its taste and quality!
Samaara Tea – Founder
Samaara Tea is founded solely by Mr. Dheer Shah.
Dheer Shah | Founder, Samaara Tea
Mr. Shah has worked with Jivraj Tea company Education Background – Bachelors in Business Administration. His past time hobbies are Reading, Travelling and Listening Music. The main objective behind launching the brand was to make it a premium Tea Brand Which has its own stand in Export market and attract more youthful customers.
The work culture of the company, which is fun and a team who has a hunger for knowledge. The team is always hustling to provide the best product to their customers and be that cup of strong tea everyone is looking for. They don’t have a specific format for Hiring Candidates. It is based on a mix of merit and experience.
As the markets change, so does the approach and that is what has kept Samaara loved by everyone. The quality and taste of the Samaara range is unparalleled and that’s the reason, the connoisseurs vouch for it. With its tea variants of Strong Aroma, Loose Green Tea and Instant Tea Premix, Samaara hopes to add more flavours and increase its product line. Through travelling and interacting with new people around the world. Samaara has been composing and serving a beautiful symphony of flavours and textures to the tea lovers globally.
Samaara Tea has the perfect fusion of age-old traditions that are infused with contemporary taste and strong colour. They provide the best quality packaging which helps in retaining the aroma of tea. Exported to over 25 countries worldwide, Samaara has been serving premium tea for the past 3 years.
Samaara Tea – Name, Tagline & Logo
The brand serves tea to millions of cups every morning. The brand is named after a loving father’s beloved daughter- “Samaara.”
Samaara Tea Company Logo
Samaara Tea – Vision & Mission
Samaara wants to create their online presence in India and they wish to make maximum sales from their website (under construction) only. Their Goal is to provide a beautiful symphony of flavours and textures to the tea lovers globally.
Samaara Tea – Target Market Size
The global tea market reached a volume of 6.2 Million Tons in 2018, registering a CAGR of 5.63% during 2011-2018. The global tea market is expected to witness a CAGR of 4.5%, during the forecast period 2020-2025. Black and green tea are the two most widely consumed products, with a market share of almost 39.19% and 30.54% respectively, in 2018. In 2019, the global tea market reached a volume of 6.5 million tons.
According to a new report by Expert market research titled, ‘Indian Tea Market Report and Forecast 2020-2025‘, the Indian tea market consumption reached a volume of almost 1.10 million tons of tea in 2019. The market consumption is further expected to grow at a CAGR of 4% in the forecast period of 2020-2025 to attain 1.40 million tons by 2025. In case of India, it can be estimated that between 2019 to 2025 the tea production and consumption level will be increased at a CAGR of 2.88% and 2.25% respectively. The production and consumption level expect to touch the value of 1665.57 Million Kg and 1275.86 Kg respectively by 2025.
Every flavour of Samaara tea has a unique aroma and is made up of customary blend. The secret behind Samaara Tea is that it comes right from the tea gardens in Assam and is infused with all the goodness of nature. The tea for this premium brand is hand-picked delicately and methodically processed which brings forth the perfect cup of tea with rich flavours and arousing aroma. The quality of the tea leaves, captivating aroma and strong flavours is what sets Samaara Tea aside.
Samaara Tea’s rich quality remains unmatched and with its alluring variety of blends. Every little component is finely taken care of by them and Samaara treat tea with utmost respect and care. Every blend of it goes through different quality control procedures just so that their dear customers can have their perfect cup of tea and kick-start their day with high energy. Apart from that, every batch that is manufactured undergoes blind tasting that is taken up by renowned tea masters just so that the taste their consumers get is of the highest quality that makes various taste buds beg for more. Because it lasts longer, and more consumption i.e. approximately 330 cups per KG.
Samaara started with a premium range of tea blends from Assam and is now also into marketing some scrumptious snacks that will add the perfect element of something sweet and something salty to tea time! Initially, Samaara started in South Gujarat, India, but it slowly spread its wings and is now reaching globally to sell its strong and aromatic tea blends.
Samaara Tea – Business & Revenue Model
The current business model used is of a D2C brand in-order to streamline the buying journey and allows them to retain full control of the manufacturing, marketing, and distribution of our products. The key to success for them was to understand that consumers still want what they have always wanted: quality and convenience. By using a D2C approach, they were able to cater these points.
Samaara Tea – Customers/Clients
Samaara Tea launched their Social media with creatives that focused on a campaign #kadakhai that was created keeping in the mind. The main USP of the product which is strong aroma tea. To increase brand awareness domestically and internationally, they associated it with lifestyle and food bloggers to spread the word and share their experiences with the product. Also, Samaara Tea drove various PR coverages to build an awareness in the world of Media.
Samaara Tea being an FMCG company, the major challenge they faced was shipping and shipping cost. To solve this, they started using recyclable materials for packaging.
Samaara Tea – Future Plans
The company’s current turnover is 7 Crores, internationally.
Years
Product Variants
Geographies
Team size
Turnover
Today
5
Middle East, South Africa, USA, UK, Europe, Singapore, New Zealand and India
4
Domestic – 0 International – 3 Crores
After 5 years
8
+Asia Pacific
15
Domestic – 60 Cr International – 40 Cr
After 10 years
10
Grow Deeper
100+
Domestic – 150 Cr International – 100 Cr
After 15 years
10
200 +
Samaara Tea is trying to take over the Tea market worldwide with its unique flavours. Have you tried Samaara Tea? If yes, then do share your experience. Feel free to reach us and share your feedback. We would love to hear from you. Do comment us in the comments section below. Happy Reading.
Samara brings a variety of teas to excite various taste buds. With its tea variants of Strong Aroma, Loose Green Tea and Instant Tea Premix, Samaara hopes to add more flavours and increase its product line.
Who is the founder of Samaara Tea?
Mr. Dheer Shah is the sole founder of Samaara Tea.
Who is the parent of Samaara Tea?
Samaara Tea is a premium tea venture by Jivraj Tea Company, Bhagal, Surat.
How Samaara Tea is different from other brands?
Samaara always strives to deliver quality products and with exceptional on-time service. The company constantly pushes its limits and brings out new products to serve the customers.
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 Tattvan.
Today a tiny fraction of Indians in large urban cities and smaller towns, cities, and villages have access to the kind of healthcare they deserve. Mr. Ayush Atul Mishra launched Tattvan in 2016 with the passion and idea to bring quality healthcare to the masses.
At Tattvan, the team strives to bridge the gap by bringing the best healthcare on earth to everyone, especially to residents of small towns and cities. They believe that for India to outgrow and develop, all its citizens must have access to the most exceptional healthcare in the world. Tattvan was founded to realize this belief into a fruitful reality.
Read this article to know all about the Tattvan E-Clinic, Startup Challenges, Founder, Growth and its success story.
Tattvan delivers world-class healthcare to residents of cities and towns where it is lacking. At Tattvan’s e-clinics, visitors receive medical care that is as good as the best in the world. Also, their e-clinics cost less than they do in regular hospitals and clinics. Tattvan has innovatively used existing technologies to bring the highest quality healthcare to the masses. It has succeeded in bringing together engineers and physicians to deliver unbeatable healthcare services to those lacking it.
At Tattvan e-clinics, patients are examined by leading specialists at a fraction of the cost of regular OPDs. They opened the first telemedicine clinic in Bareilly and since then, opened many more in cities across North India. Tattvan E Clinics India was included in “Silicon India’s Top 10 Telemedicine Companies in India 2019”.
Tattvan – Target Market Size
Globally the size of the healthcare industry is well over four trillion dollars. Developed countries own the bulk of this industry, but India has a well-established healthcare industry as well. The total size of the healthcare industry in India is well over $100 billion and expected to reach a little more than $370 billion within two years. The online pharmacy industry in India is growing rapidly. Capturing the exact size of India’s healthcare industry is hard because so much of the industry is unorganized.
At roughly $100 billion, the Indian healthcare industry is among the most significant healthcare industries in the world. Telemedicine’s share of this industry is small today, yet it is growing. In 2020, the telemedicine industry will grow to be approximately $32 million.
While it is an almost insignificant fraction of the entire domestic healthcare industry, telemedicine is still in its infancy. As public awareness about telemedicine grows, the industry will multiply, perhaps even exponentially. In five years, Mr. Ayush estimates the telemedicine industry will generate revenues of several hundred million dollars annually.
The Tattvan team is targeting a market whose size exceeds $100 billion. They know there is a high demand for good quality healthcare across India because except for the largest metro cities, the quality of healthcare is substandard. Concerning market share, among leading telemedicine companies, have the most significant market share.
Tattvan – Founders & Team
Mr. Ayush Atul Mishra is the founder and CEO of Tattvan.
Ayush Atul Mishra | Founder, Tattvan
Mr. Ayush Atul Mishra is a healthcare market researcher and a MedTech market enthusiast with a decade-long experience in healthcare research and analytics. Currently, he is the Managing Partner at Growman Research Group (GRG), one of the fastest-growing global healthcare market research firms based out of India.
Tattvan – How It All Started?
This journey began when the founder, Ayush Mishra suffered from an accident and couldn’t be treated in his hometown because it lacked proper healthcare facilities. The accident and events following his injury were a wake-up call. He realized there were countless others like him suffering needlessly because they didn’t have access to sound healthcare. That’s how the idea to open e-clinics in locations where existing healthcare facilities were inadequate took root.
The team consulted with a few leading players in the healthcare industry, including doctors in leading hospitals. After interacting with them, they knew that they were on to something big. These industry professionals encouraged and guided the Tattvan team, which gave them the confidence to put the plans into action. And that’s how Tattvan was born.
Tattvan comes from the Sanskrit word Tattva which means qualities in the body and in all matter which are Earth, Water, Fire, Air, and Ether.
Tattvan – Startup Launch
At Tattvan, the priority was to educate people about telemedicine. As mentioned, Tattvan opened the first telemedicine clinic in Bareilly. Since Bareilly is a tier 2 city people were unfamiliar with the concept. Hence the team marketed Tattvan using radio promotions, newspaper advertisements, and pamphlets.
The patients who could only be treated at big hospitals in Delhi needed to know that Tattvan could make their life hassle-free. Without leaving their towns, such patients could be treated by doctors practicing in renowned hospitals in Delhi. The most significant advantage was that positive word of mouth about Tattvan quickly spread. Every patient who visited Tattvan had an excellent experience and shared the same with others.
“Tattvan’s success is highlighted by the superb treatment outcomes of those we treat. For example, in Bareilly, distraught parents brought their three-year-old child who had been prescribed anti-seizure medication. Because of the drugs, the child was suffering immensely. He could not engage in playful activities like other children his age. A doctor at our e-clinic requested the boy’s parents to have him undergo a few tests and scans. Once completed, the doctor realized the boy had been incorrectly diagnosed and should not take the anti-seizure medication. The doctor tapered off the boy’s medication and transformed him into a happy and active three-year-old again.”, says Ayush recalling a success story.
Numerous such success stories have helped spread positive word of mouth about Tattvan. People come to Tattvan because it has earned their community’s trust.
The most challenging part of this business was shaping the perception that e-clinics are no different from traditional clinics. In many small towns and cities in India, patients expect that every visit to a doctor entails a shot. Many don’t feel they have been treated unless they are injected. Patients also expect a doctor to use a stethoscope to examine them. At Tattvan e-clinics, doctors examine patients over a screen which means they don’t give a shot or use a stethoscope.
Thankfully the team has successfully molded the perception of e-clinics. Today patients are being treated at its e-clinics and they know that these e-clinics are as good as or better than the best hospitals anywhere. This perceptual shift was brought about by effectively treating patients. As word of mouth about Tattvan’s successes spread rapidly, people began to trust the brand. Today Tattvan enjoys incredible goodwill wherever it has clinics.
The growth of the online doctor consultation market during the ongoing Pandemic has been tough for Tattvan E-Clinic. There has been a huge spike in the number of online consultancies during these difficult times which has been a challenging task for Tattvan and its Team.
Tattvan – Growth
Tattvan has been going from strength to strength. Tattvan is currently operating 5 telemedicine clinics in UP and Uttarakhand, 9 mobile centers in rural UP and 1 in Kabul. With over half a dozen successful e-clinics in India and abroad, Tattvan is treating patients in Afghanistan and parts of Africa. It is also making a foray into China.
According to a report by Practo, online doctor consultations have increased 500% since March 2020, as five crore Indians are now accessing online healthcare amidst the COVID-19. And, this number has increased since then which has been a major challenge to the telemedicine industry.
“In the future, we expect to open several dozen e-clinics across India and overseas. We believe we have the expertise and business model to bring quality healthcare to millions.” said Mr. Ayush Atul Mishra.
Feel free to reach us and share your feedback. We would love to hear from you. Do comment us in the comments section below. Happy Reading.
Tattvan – FAQ’s
What is Tattvan?
Tattvan delivers world-class healthcare to residents of cities and towns or wherever it is lacking.
What is an e-Clinic?
e-Clinic is a web-based clinic management system designed to help users manage and monitor their clinic over the day using any available device.
Who is the owner of Tattvan?
Ayush Atul Mishra is the owner of Tattvan.
What services does Tattvan provide?
Tattvan strives to bridge the gap by bringing the best healthcare on earth to everyone, especially to residents of small towns and cities.
What are some startup challenges faced by Tattvan?
The most challenging part of this business was shaping the perception that e-Clinics are no different from traditional clinics.
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 LaYuva.
The E-commerce industry in India is growing at a very fast pace. Most of us now prefer to order our essentials online rather than buying from any brick-and-mortar shop. The revenue from the e-commerce industry is expected to grow from the USD 39 billion in 2017 to USD 120 billion in 2020. The annual rate of growth in the e-commerce industry in India is 51%, which is the highest in the world. Considering the growing popularity of e-commerce in India, Rahul Bahukhandi and Haifeng Yang(alias: Tim), founded LaYuva, in 2018. LaYuva offers high-quality imported items to the Indian consumer.
Startuptalky interviewed the founder of LaYuva, Rahul Bahukhandi to understand and know more about the company.
Discover more about LaYuva by reading the complete article
LaYuva is a share and earn platform and provides cashback to those who share their products on any social media network and helps in sales generation. LaYuva offers high-quality imported items to the Indian consumer. It imports goods directly from manufacturers in different countries of the world and sells these imported items in India at reasonable rates.
LaYuva also has a share and earn feature, wherein customers can earn money by sharing the products on social media platforms. Besides, it is the first of its kind e-commerce site in India that operates on a multilevel marketing model. LaYuva is a built-in multilevel marketing model, which helps the users set up their businesses by optimally utilizing their offline and online connections.
LaYuva – Vision & Mission
LaYuva’s vision is to provide access to high-quality imported products and a better lifestyle for its users. Through its ‘share and earn’ feature and multi-level marketing model, the company also aims to create entrepreneurs.
Its mission is to build a one-stop platform for both sellers and customers where users can purchase premium imported household products and create an ecosystem that facilitates individuals to start and scale up their own multilevel marketing business.
LaYuva – Industry Details
The Indian e-commerce market is currently pegged at USD 36 billion and is touted to exceed USD 100 billion by 2022.
LaYuva – Founder & Team
Rahul Bahukhandi and Haifeng Yang. (alias: Tim) are the founders of LaYuva.
Rahul Bahukhandi & Haifeng Yang| Founders, LaYuva
Rahul Bahukhandi has rich experience in the mobile VAS and internet industry. He worked in organizations such as UCWeb, an Alibaba Group company and Baidu, one of the largest AI and internet companies in the world.
Haifeng Yang whom Rahul met during his stint with UCWeb is a Chinese citizen who has diverse experience of working in the handset and mobile internet companies including Huawei, UCWeb and Baidu.
The Company has a team size of 100 employees at present with around 35 of them based out of the Gurugram office while the remaining operate from China.
LaYuva – How It All Started?
Any startup begins with a thought or idea to change a setting which is causing inconvenience to people at large.
Rahul and Tim were having a discussion one day as to how customers have limited options of daily household products to choose from and the available ones are highly priced. Likewise, the sellers have limited quantity and variety of products to offer and have to incur a substantial cost for procuring the products.
This discussion struck the idea in their mind. They thought that they could bridge this gap and make available a wide variety of high-quality imported products from international markets at reasonable rates to both customers and sellers.
Rahul and Tim had rich experience of working in a handset, internet and mobile VAS companies. So they decided to use this experience to create a platform that integrates the capability of the internet and provides convenience to users and sellers to shop and sell from anywhere. They established connections with manufacturers from Europe, Asia, Australia and America, and started importing products directly from them without involving any middlemen.
The Company’s logo comprises of 3 hearts which signifies – Supplier, Platform & Customer.
We want to appeal to the youth and encourage them to become entrepreneurs. That explains the use of ‘Yuva’ in our name. We associate ‘La’ with fun and hence the name that struck the chord was ‘LaYuva’.
LaYuva – Product
While in most e-commerce platforms sellers register on the platform to sell products, LaYuva imports high-quality products and premium brands directly from international manufacturers/brands. It imports products in the fashion, clothing, electronics, beauty and skincare, home utility and home decor categories.
The company has a robust supply chain network that spreads across Europe, Asia, Australia and America. LaYuva is working with a network of resellers who promote their products online and offline. It offers cashback on every purchase to all the customers.
LaYuva received funding from Onion OMALL, a China-based cross-border e-commerce platform specializing in social retailing. The Company is using this fund to increase its product range and launch new product categories. It is also working to boost its supply chain network.
LaYuva – Business Model
The basic premise of LaYuva ’s business model revolves around Multi-Level Marketing.
A user can become an executive member by purchasing a goodie bag worth INR 1990/- from LaYuva. In return, the user gets a gift along with the cash coupons worth INR 2000. On becoming an executive member, a person can earn up to 40% of cashback on sharing or purchasing LaYuva’s products.
The next level which an executive member can aspire to reach is a manager which will require him to have 40 executive members, which includes at least 10 direct members under him. The other alternative is that the team’s accumulated sales should be over INR 1,20,000. In that case, too, the person qualifies to be a Manager.
On becoming the manager, the person will start getting 25% of the commission of what the executives under him will get as cashback. Thus, the manager will start getting rewarded for the chain he has formed and all sales happening through his chain will earn him extra money by way of commission. A manager can become a director by having a team of 30 managers (either Direct/ Indirect) including him/her. Here too, the other qualifying criteria to become a Director is that the Manager’s team’s accumulated sales should be over INR 50,00,000.
LaYuva’s Business Model
Once the person achieves the target and becomes a director, he/she can start earning 25% commission of what his/her team will get as cashback. Over and above this, the director will also earn a 25% commission of the management bonus received by all the managers in his team in addition to 25% of his manager’s (direct +indirect) settled monthly cashback.
Every member, irrespective of their position will get 10% – 40% cashback in their wallet for every product they purchase or share. There is also an instant incentive when any member builds his team and gets a new executive on board. When an executive gets another executive on board, he will get a cashback of INR 500.
Similarly, a manager getting an executive to join the team will get INR 800 cashback for the direct executive and INR 200 for the indirect executive. In the case of a director, the cashback amount increases to INR 1000 in the case of a direct executive. For indirect executive addition, the director will get INR 200 cashback and when a manager under a director invites an executive under them, the director still gets INR 100.
As such one can simply start to earn money through share and earn with LaYuva. Or can register with it as an executive member and start a multilevel marketing business to sell word-class imported items.
LaYuva – Challenges
As is always the case the initial days for any organization are the most challenging. The major challenges faced by LaYuva were, hiring and retaining a stable team to take care of operations, identifying sources for importing products and managing the financial cash flow of the business.
We managed to sail through all the challenges and have successfully completed one year of operations.
Though there are many major players like Amazon and Flipkart in the e-commerce market, LaYuva is unique in its own way. While in most e-commerce platforms sellers register on their platform to sell products, LaYuva imports products directly from the manufacturers. Thus, LaYuva procures imported goods at low cost and passes on its customers’ benefits.
LaYuva – Achievements
LaYuva has successfully expanded its customer base. It is now delivering products to Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Chandigarh, Pune, Gurgaon, Nagpur, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Bhubaneshwar, Indore, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Kanpur, Jammu & Kashmir, Ludhiana, Mohali, Gangtok, Nainital, Jabalpur, Chennai, Surat and Gandhinagar. The company earned a revenue of USD 5,00,000 in 2018-19.
LaYuva – Future Plans
LaYuva plans to expand its supply chain network to import quality products from more countries. Also, it’s ready to sell products in other SEA countries apart from India. The company plans to add more product categories in the future.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved bySIDBI.
Small business owners and entrepreneurs in India’s underdeveloped areas can get loans, credit, insurance, access to savings accounts, and money transfers via microfinance. Many who do not have conventional financial capital profit from microfinance.
Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) is a non-profit financial institution dedicated to assisting India’s micro, small, and medium-sized businesses in their growth and development.
As of May 2021, SIDBI is hiring IT experts, including a Chief Technology Officer.
SIDBI, which panders to the funding needs of micro, small, and medium enterprises, stated that it aims to promote and improve the flow of credit to such businesses and resolve both economic and technological gaps in the MSME ecosystem. The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) will employ information technology professionals on a contract basis, including a chief technology officer (CTO), to improve customer service in the face of technology’s growing importance.
About Sidbi and How it Works?
The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) is India’s apex regulatory authority for microfinance institution regulation and certification. It is governed by the Ministry of Finance of the Government of India, which is based in Lucknow and has offices around the country. SIDBI is a commercial bank established in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Small Industries Development Bank of India is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Industrial Development Bank of India, which was founded under a special Act of Parliament in 1988 and went into effect on April 2, 1990. The bank provides services such as promoting, financing, and developing the micro, small, and medium-sized firm sector, as well as coordinating the functions of institutions involved in similar activities.
Its objective is to provide refinancing and short-term lending to businesses, and it is the MSME sector’s primary financial institution. SIDBI also manages the functioning of organizations that do similar tasks. The bank provides debt funding to small and medium-sized businesses in the form of loans. Beverages, meals, banking institutions, financial institutions, industrial, mechanical, and electrical parts, database software, cloud computing, E-commerce, and many more industries are served by the bank.
Through the SIDBI Foundation for Micro Credit, SIDBI is actively involved in the creation of Micro Finance Institutions and assists in the extension of microfinance through the MFI method. Its promotion and development program focuses on the promotion of rural businesses and the development of entrepreneurship.
It runs a refinance program called Institutional Finance with the aim to expand and support money supply to the MSE sector. SIDBI assists Banks, Small Finance Banks, and Non-Banking Financial Companies with Term Loans through this program. SIDBI lends directly to MSMEs, in addition to refinancing operations.
Functions of SIDBI :
The SIDBI refinances loans made to small businesses by banking institutions.
Assists in the expansion of marketing channels for Small Scale Industries’ products.
It provides small-scale businesses with services like factoring and leasing.
In semi-urban areas, promotes employment prospects in small-scale industries.
Starts the process of upgrading technology.
Allows credit to flow to Small Scale Industries as working capital or term loans.
Sidbi – Mission and Vision
SIDBI’s mission statement says “To facilitate and strengthen credit flow to MSMEs and address both financial and developmental gaps in the MSME eco-system”
SIDBI’s vision statement says, “To emerge as a single window for meeting the financial and developmental needs of the MSME sector to make it strong, vibrant and globally competitive, to position SIDBI Brand as the preferred and customer – friendly institution and for enhancement of share – holder wealth and highest corporate values through modern technology platform.”
Sidbi – Name, Logo and Tagline
SIDBI stands for Small Industries Development Bank of India.
Sidbi’ s Company Logo
Sidbi – Founder and History
The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI), established on April 2, 1990, by an Act of the Indian Parliament, serves as the primary financial institution for the promotion, financing, and development of the Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise (MSME) sector, as well as for the coordination of functions of institutions engaged in similar activities.
SIDBI’s activities have stayed committed to the national goals of poverty reduction, job creation, and entrepreneurial development in the MSME sector. The following are significant landmarks in SIDBI’s history:
Founded in 1990;
Microfinance foundation built-in 1994;
Technology bureau for small enterprise (TBSE) established in 1995, which later became India SME technology services.
SIDBI venture capital limited;
Credit guarantee fund trust for micro and small enterprises;
SMERA rating ltd.
India SME Asset Reconstruction Company Ltd., founded in 2008. (ISARC)
Setup MUDRA in 2015
2016 – Trade receivables discounting system (TReDS)
In 2017, a certified credit counselor was established (CCC)
Launch of MSME pulse and CriSidEx in 2018
Sidbi – Products and Services
SIDBI is a non-profit organization that manages and finances the different organizations involved in the development of small businesses. SIDBI runs a refinance program in which it provides term loan assistance to banks, small finance banks, and non-banking financial firms in order to sustain the money supply.
SIDBI’s 16.73 percent holding, which is the largest individual holding, is held by the State Bank of India. The following are some of SIDBI’s additional services:
Small-scale industry refinancing (SSI)
It provides aid with SSI import and export.
It offers SSI with seed cash and low-interest loans.
SIDBI assists with factoring, leasing, and HP financing, among other things.
Sidbi – Revenue and Growth
Sidbi, increased its net profit by 9% to INR 630 crore in the quarter ended December 20 from INR 578 crore the year before.
SIDBI received a liquidity support of INR 15000 crore from the Reserve Bank of India in April as a special refinance facility at the repo rate in April 2021 to deal with MSME funding during the pandemic, in addition to the government’s drive for MSME financing. From INR 816 crore in Q3’FY’20 to INR 840 crore in Q3’FY’21, the company’s net interest income increased by 3% .
“The credit growth to the MSME sector has been strong despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and this has helped us to achieve encouraging financial performance with a boost to our loan book” said, V Satya Venkata Rao, deputy managing director, Sidbi. “We have also managed to keep our asset quality under check by. Our focus will be on sustaining the growth and scalability with various measures targeted towards recovery and strengthening of the MSME ecosystem.”
The top 10 competitors in SIDBI’s competitive set are moolya, LetsVenture, ah! Ventures, Startups.co, GREX Alternative Investments Market Pvt. Ltd., BitGiving, Applyifi , Equity Crest, TermSheet, Smergers, Startify, Catapooolt and Gust.
Sidbi – Awards and Achievements
From time to time, SIDBI has received a number of international prizes and honors. Several of SIDBI’s models are being copied more and more these days (i.e. MFI led inclusive growth, community linked financing model, Industry Association-BMO- led financing model, participatory development approach, cluster development – both hard infrastructure development support as also Making Market Work For MSMEs through business development service).
SIDBI was named the winner of the SABERA – Social and Business Enterprise Responsible Award 2020 in two categories: “Most Innovative Development Sector Project” and “Responsible Business of the Year.”
SIDBI’s responsive, inclusive, and impact-oriented activities for instilling entrepreneurship culture under Mission Swavalamban were recognized with this award. It also looked at creative approaches/initiatives that enhance the enterprise ecosystem and ease access to financial and non-financial services for entrepreneurs in India via digital bouquet offers.
In light of the growing role of technology, the Small Industries Development Bank of India would engage information technology specialists on a contract basis, including a chief technology officer (CTO). SIDBI, which provides funding for micro, small, and medium-sized businesses (MSMEs), stated that its goal is to improve and enhance credit flow to MSMEs while also addressing financial and developmental gaps in the MSME ecosystem.
Sidbi – FAQs
What does SIDBI do?
The bank provides services such as promoting, financing, and developing the micro, small, and medium-sized firm sector, as well as coordinating the functions of institutions involved in similar activities.
When was SIDBI founded?
The Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) was established on April 2, 1990.
What are the objectives of SIDBI?
To boost the marketing of small-scale industry products. Upgrade technologies while also doing small-scale unit upgrading. To provide additional financial help to the ancillary and smaller industry on a small scale. To promote sectors that provide jobs.
What companies do SIDBI compete with?
The top 10 competitors in SIDBI’s competitive set are moolya, LetsVenture, ah! Ventures, Startups.co, GREX Alternative Investments Market Pvt. Ltd., BitGiving, Applyifi , Equity Crest, TermSheet, Smergers, Startify, Catapooolt and Gust.
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 Enguru.
India is the world’s second-largest English-speaking country. Contradictory to this data, there are many Indians who are not confident to speak English. While speaking good English is much needed to get a good job in India, many educated youth are not equipped to speak fluent English. However all thanks to the boom in the ed-tech sector, learning English is no longer tough or boring.
An ed-tech startup that is working towards simplifying speaking English is enguru. Established in 2014, it is a mobile app that teaches English in regional languages, all the way from the basics to more complex job-specific functional English.
Founded in 2014, by Arshan Vakil & Udit Hinduja, enguru English learning app is a self learning app, that aims to solve the problem of access to a high quality English language training. It offers industry-specific English courses in over 12 different vernacular languages & has a focus on speaking through AI-enabled stimulated conversations.
This is also the only educational app that is available both on android and iOS and also the JioPhone – an extremely popular smart feature phone which has sold over 70 million devices in less than 2 years.
The app makes learning easier as it starts teaching the users right from the basics up to more complex conversations. Users go through a placement test when they first use the app, which identifies their starting point. This test includes a combination of English proficiency and general preference questions including reasons for learning English and career aspirations etc.
The app course is split into 10-minute short modules. Each module consists of a lesson and a conversation or comprehension. Lessons comprise a variety of questions including image, text, audio and speech questions coupled with an adaptive algorithm that ensures questions are based on the user’s past performance and career preferences. Conversations are based on workplace-specific scenarios that force users to speak into the app and provides feedback on their pronunciations.
Also, there are live classes that students can take. With live classes, enguru app aims to provide their users with an even more personalized learning experience by connecting students from across the country with Cambridge qualified English teachers in an online group setting. The first live class is completely free. Students then subscribe to various plans by using enguru coins. It covers one topic a day at multiple times, thereby giving students the flexibility to choose a time slot as per their schedule.
The company also partners with organizations across India to upskill their staff or students. This is done through a second app – enguru for enterprises – which is similar in most ways to the free B2C app. Key differences include dashboard access to track and monitor user progress, customized programs based on organization needs, & operational support.
What differentiates enguru is the focus on employability which goes beyond just marketing collateral as is the case with many of its competitors. Emphasizing on its USP, CEO Arshan Vakil says-
“One of the most important learning was to focus on immediate benefit through industry specific content. Our target audience likes to learn things that are directly related to their careers. Industry specific courses which allow them to learn functional vocabulary related to their jobs is critical in keeping them engaged and potential making them pay. This is something only we offer.”
enguru app screenshot
enguru – Target Market
There are over 400 million internet users in India with 250 million non-English speaking internet users. Non-English speaking internet users is expected to reach 550 million by 2021. enguru’s core focus is on young adults between the ages of 15-34 which makes up 75% of internet users in India.
A recent report by Google & KPMG projected online education in India to grow at 52% to reach over USD 2 billion by 2021. The report included English language learning as a key category in online education in India.
enguru has two core target audiences within India. The primary target customers are young adults – college students, recent high school and college graduates looking for jobs and working professionals who are still relatively new to the workforce. More specifically, the focus is on young adults who are looking to enter fields like retail, automotive, hospitality, IT, BPOs, BFSI.
The secondary target audiences are general English learners, especially women. For housewives, English is aspirational and often also a way to create job opportunities.
Arshan Vakil along with his friend Tahem Veer Verma started Kings Learning Private Limited (enguru’s parent organization) in 2014.
Tahem and Arshan were roommates at the University of Pennsylvania for 3 years and both lived in Mumbai from 2012-2014. They moved to Bangalore to start Kings Learning in February 2014. They recruited the head of content and programs, Laurie May from the UK and built the tech team starting with tech lead Sanju Kurian. In 2017, Tahem left Kings Learning to pursue higher studies and Udit Hinduja joined the team in June 2017 as COO.
Presently, Arshan Vakil is the CEO and founder of enguru. Hegraduated with a dual degree, cum laude, with a BSc in Economics from the Wharton School and BSc in System Science Engineering from Penn Engineering. Before founding the company, he was working as a product manager and founding member (1st employee) at Hopscotch, an eCommerce company in Mumbai. At this time he also founded a mentorship initiative called Project Vahana, which helped undeserved young adults get career ready. Having worked as a Product Manager and having a degree in System Engineering, he focuses a lot of his time on enguru’s products. In addition to product management, he also leads all digital marketing, analytics, and finance.
Arshan Vakil,Founder & CEO, enguru
Udit Hinduja is the COO of enguru. He graduated with a B.A. in Economics & Politics from New York University in 2012. He then moved to Mumbai and worked at KPMG for a year and a half in their advisory practice. After KPMG, He worked at Micro Housing Finance Corporation (MHFC), an urban microfinance company that provides small-sized home loans to low-income families to help them buy houses. After 3.5 years at MHFC, he joined Arshan – his friend from school in Mumbai – at enguru as COO, where he oversees the entire B2B vertical – from sales to operations.
Arshan is tech-savvy and has a very clear vision around the product. As an engineer, he has a keen sense of how the app should look and feel, what features should be added and product road map for the future. He also has a very analytical mind, so he understands user trends and makes data-driven decisions based on app metrics.
Udit loves delivering a premium service to clients and has a solid knowledge of what it takes to run a sustainable business. He handled the entire business side of enguru – client partnerships, operations, etc. His attention to detail and obsession with processes have allowed the company to scale up its enterprise partnerships & got them to close INR 2.5 Crore in revenue for FY 18-19, a 100% increase in FY 17-18 figures.
Currently, enguru has a team of 50 members. The company has an open, flat culture, where employees are empowered to learn & grow. They also offer several benefits to staff, including ESOPs, medical insurance & training.
enguru was started with a mission to ensure that access to English language training does not become an impediment to career opportunities. The idea is to provide affordable employability focused English language & communication skills training through innovative technology products and then helping link English speaking levels to appropriate job opportunities.
The idea of a self-learning app struck Arshan Vakil when he noticed how poor English training hampers career growth while working as a Product Manager at an e-commerce start-up and running a mentorship initiative for undeserved youth. English was an impediment across the board- from the kids they mentored in the program who were looking for basic entry-level positions in retail, hotels, etc. to Engineering graduates with whom he worked and struggled with internal communication. enguru co-founder, Tahem Verma, was already working in education and recognized how much students struggled with English due to the lack of focus on English training. This was the exact moment when they recognized there was a big opportunity here and a high latent demand for affordable English training. With the zeal to solve this problem, they launched enguru in 2015.
“enguru is envisioned to solve the problem of access to high-quality English language training. English is the language of the workplace in India yet most students do not have access to good English language training, which hampers their career growth. The majority of Indian students study in their local languages with English just being one subject – they inevitably only learn to read and write English to pass exams and are not able to speak well, which is what is expected in the workplace. This issue is prevalent across various levels, right from engineering and medical students to industries like retail and hospitality. The need for an accessible and effective English learning tool across the spectrum cannot be debated. Our 30 million downloads with very little marketing are proof of this.”, said Arshan Vakil, co-founder.
Arshan and Tahem began with an offline English Language business. The founders always knew that they wanted to go online but the initial approach was to understand the users, their needs for English, behavior patterns and access to technology, etc. One of the most important learning was to focus on immediate benefit through industry-specific content.
enguru– or English guru – came about to create a brand that resonated with the Indian audience. A “guru” is a revered figure in Indian culture, and they wanted to ensure that the users felt that they were learning English in a safe environment, from their English guru. The guru logo is inspired by a design Arshan saw on a t-shirt worn by his father. They wanted it to be the first name that came up when you thought of spoken english enguru app.
enguru Logo
enguru – Startup Launch
When the company was launched in 2014, they started by teaching students English offline in their centers.
To get students to come to the centers, we used a combination of online marketing, SEO & leveraging interest from nearby educational institutes. Most people who visited our offline centers for classes were either working professionals or college students, most of whom found us online via Google searches or student referrals – Arshan says about the initial days of the startup.
Their app was launched in early 2015 – first with only general English as a course and no regional language capability. They saw a massive increase in engagement when they added industry-focused courses and vernacular languages to the app as part of enguru 2.0. With version 3.0, they launched the popular conversation modules, which gets users to speak out into the app and practice various industry-focused scenarios (for eg. Greeting a customer in a retail outlet).
The enguru business model is simple. The company currently has two apps – enguru spoken English app (B2C) and enguru for enterprises (B2B).
The enguru B2C app has close to 30 million downloads and is available for free. In August 2019, they also launched live video classes on the app – this is the primary source of monetization from the B2C app. Currently, users can book classes by using enguru coins earned through playing levels or by paying money. Live classes are still at a relatively nascent stage, so prices have been heavily discounted to gain initial traction.
The enguru B2B app is used to partner with organizations in the retail industry (like Trent, Titan, Godrej Nature’s Basket, Raymond, Manyavar, etc) to train their customer-facing staff. enguru charges per app license and offer staggered and bulk pricing options. Almost all of the revenue comes from these clients. Apart from retail, it also work with clients in other service industries like healthcare, hospitality, skilling centers, etc. to upskill their staff or students.
enguru is also available on the Jio Phone, the INR 1,500 feature phone launched by Jio in 2017. They are currently the only education app on the phone and have close to 22 million downloads on the device. They are not into monetizing this product at all.
Over the next 5 years, the aim is to monetize the B2C users through live classes and certification and at the same time building brand through B2B partnerships.
One of the major challenges they faced and continue to face is engagement on the app. Users download the app but don’t end up spending as much time as they’d like on completing levels. To increase this engagement, they keep reinventing the app.
enguru – Funding and Investors
The enguru app has raised $4.1 million in two rounds of funding.
Date
Stage
Amount
Investors
September 2017
Pre-Series A
$2.5 million
Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, Village Capital, Weihua Yan
November 2018
Venture Round
$1.6 million
Michael and Susan Dell Foundation
enguru – Advisors and Mentors
The Board of Directors includes Mr. Weihua Yan, a Chinese-American investor who co-founded Diapers.com, which was acquired by Amazon in 2011. Mr. Rahil Rangwala, a director at the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation, also advises the team on the strategic direction.
With its head office in Bengaluru and offices in Mumbai and Delhi, enguru is operating Pan India. In FY 2018-19, the company earned a revenue of INR 2 Crore. The app has close to 30 million users across India and is adding 1.5 million every month. Besides, enguru has worked with over 150+ organizations across the country and have upskilled over 25,000 staff. Clients include Trent, Godrej Nature’s Basket, Oberoi Hotels, Magic Bus India Foundation, NSDC, etc.
For the android app some key metrics are:
Cumulative Downloads- 6,578,942
MAUs (Monthly Active Users)– 300,000
DAUs (Daily Active Users) – 25,000
For the JioPhone app, some key metrics are:
Cumulative Downloads- 21,861,425
Monthly Active Users – 1.3 mn
Daily Active Users –100,000
In B2B they have three primary programs – a completely app-based training program, a blended training program, and a teacher-led training program. Currently, they have 33 ongoing contracts – 8 online, 16 blended and 9 teachers led with 5,000 MAUs. ARPU( Average Revenue Per User) for a 3-month program is 500, 1710 and 2188 for online, blended and teacher-led programs respectively.
enguru’s biggest achievement to date is being the only education app available on the Jio Phone, the INR 1,500 feature phone launched by Reliance. Over the past 2 years, the app has been downloaded organically by 22 million people across India. Other major achievements include:
Village Capital: Winner of Education Cohort 2016 for the investment of $50,000.
Reliance Jio GenNext: Selected to be part of the Winter 2016 Cohort.
Google Play App Excellence: Selected to be a part of the Class of 2019. The program is for early-stage startups, who demonstrate the potential to be drivers of quality and excellence in the apps they are building.
enguru – Future Plans
Over the next 5 years, enguru aims to monetize its B2C users through live classes and certification, while at the same time building the brand through B2B partnerships. The company envisions to be synonymous with affordable English learning in India. The goal is to be the best free accessible English learning tool in India- catering to the next billion users.
enguru – FAQs
enguru app is from which country?
Enguru app is headquartered in Bangalore, India.
Who are the Founders of enguru?
Arshan Vakil & Udit Hinduja are the founders of enguru app. It is an English learning app. Arshan Vakil and Tahem Veer Verma started Kings Learning Private Limited (enguru’s parent organization) in 2014.
Is enguru app free?
enguru app allows our first day of live classes FREE of charge. They offer UNLIMITED classes for the subscription period- 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, or 1 year.
How much funding did enguru raise till date?
The enguru app has raised $4.1 million in two rounds of funding.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved byKredX.
Invoice Discounting, also known as Invoice Bill Discounting, is a method for a business to get working profits by issuing an invoice to a lender at a lower price than that mentioned on the bill. In this setup, the seller obtains the payments well ahead of the bill’s due date and can put the money to good use in his enterprise.
KredX, headquartered in Bangalore, Karnataka, is a web-based invoice discounting tool that allows businesses to fundraise for their operating expenses.
As of December 2019, KredX, an invoice discounting platform, has raised $26 million (nearly INR 184 crore) in Series-B fundraising led by Tiger Global Management, with participation from previous investors. In 2016, Sequoia Capital and Prime Venture Partners invested INR 40 crore in the company’s Series-A investment. The Bengaluru-based venture assists businesses with short-term financing needs by paying bills and receivables.
According to the company’s most recent data, KredX has handled over 500,000 invoices, assisting more than 5,000 suppliers through 10,000 investors in 36 locations around the country. Scott Shleifer, Partner at Tiger Global, remarked, “I believe the firm (KredX) has developed an efficient and reliable loan marketplace connecting Indian companies with institutional investors.”
About KredX and How it Works?
KredX is a company that creates an invoice-discounting platform that allows businesses to grow without having to worry about collateral. The business’s platform provides an investing software that connects micro, small, and medium-sized businesses seeking working capital with individual lenders, allowing firms to obtain working money quickly by selling outstanding receivables.
KredX is a platform where company owners can sell invoices raised on large cap firms and investors can buy them. By purchasing these future income flows, investors wishing to invest money for a short period of time (1-3 months) can earn substantial returns. It creates a whole new financial asset class by combining advanced software with credit underwriting and data and analytics expertise. This platform allows business owners searching for a cash advance on invoices raised against big-name institutions to sell these outstanding bills at attractive rates.
KredX assisted the business in managing its finances while maintaining that its client relationships were not jeopardized. They were able to grow and develop their business by partnering with KredX, raising liquidity without affecting the balance sheet. KredX’ s customized methods and structured solutions assisted the organization in effectively allocating resources for its expansion needs.
KredX – Mission and Vision
KredX was founded in 2015 with the sole purpose of assisting businesses with their working capital needs by leveraging an asset that sits dormant on their balance sheet in the form of accounts receivable.
KredX – Name, Logo and Tagline
KredX’ s Company Logo
KredX believes in improving people’s lives through its intuitive and innovative products, and its work culture reflects this belief. The team is dedicated to achieving the “all work and must-play” aim.
KredX – Founder and History
Anurag Jain is the Founder and Executive Director of KredX. KredX was founded in 2015 with the sole purpose of assisting businesses in overcoming cash flow difficulties and hence boosting growth.
The KredX range of products grew from an invoice discount platform to handle greater concerns including early payments for corporate treasuries through Early Payments Technology and Growth Capital solutions. At present, KredX is India’s biggest cash flow solution provider, providing unique capital solutions to businesses and their suppliers while also providing investors with a unique opportunity to make low-risk, high-return investments.
With just INR 2 lakh in the capital, the company that began with the goal of providing cost-effective goods and solutions in all areas of IT has developed into a professionally run supply-chain specialist with a revenue of INR 3400 crore.
On a daily basis, the company’s unshakable devotion to customer experience, irrepressible desire for excellence, seamless coordination among team members, and solid business ethics lead to a large and diverse clientele. The payment cycle can be pushed out across a few weeks in such instances. Dealing with major vendors whose payment timeframes may fluctuate, ultimately influencing their finances, is important to any company’s business growth.
KredX – Products and Services
The KredX Product Suite is a collection of following KredX products:
Working Cash Solution – Enabling businesses to obtain working capital in a short period of time while also giving investors with a lucrative return on their investment.
Growth Capital Solution – KredX’ s growth capital solutions assist firms in overcoming obstacles by offering upfront funding for expansion and growth.
Early Payments Technology — A cloud-based technology solution that allows businesses to make discounted early payments to their vendors.
KredX is a digital invoice discounting platform that allows businesses to acquire funds for working capital needs at advantageous terms by selling outstanding bills raised against blue-chip firms, while also giving investors a unique short-term investment opportunity.
The KredX business model is an alternative investment model in which you can begin investing with a minimum of 3 Lacs for a short period of time and expect a fixed return at the end of the investment period, which can range from 30 to 90 days. Annual returns range from 12 percent to 20 percent (as per their marketing material).
KredX – Revenue And Growth
At present, KredX’ s revenue is $31 Million. Through its network of lenders, digital lender KredX said it will disburse INR 1,000 crore in loans in the fiscal year 2021 through its revenue-based financing (RBF) product, with an emphasis on consumer brands and software-as-a-service (SaaS) firms.
Through its revenue-based financing product, KredX has disbursed loans to a number of brands trying to sell on e-commerce platforms like Flipkart, Amazon, and Myntra in the last two years.
KredX – Funding and Investors
Date
Round
Amount
Lead Investors
Dec 11, 2019
Series B
$26M
Tiger Global Management
Oct 25, 2016
Series A
$6.3M
Sequoia Capital India
Apr 13, 2016
Seed Round
$750K
–
KredX – Acquisitions
Acquiree Name
About Acquiree
Date
Amount
Hummingbill
Hummingbill is a B2B invoice platform that helps vendors and enterprises run more efficiently, using email plugins.
The organisation tried a variety of financial aid options in search of solutions to meet their needs, but there were a number of issues with the options, the most significant of which was the time needed in the process. There are various issues with the offerings, the most significant of which is the amount of time required to complete the process. Other disadvantages included:
Reduced the funding limit in accordance with existing policies and procedures.
To access standard offerings, the organization had to provide collateral and financial information.
Other types of short- and long-term financing were prohibitively expensive.
Obtaining capital for liquidity and expansion is a challenge.
KredX – Future Plans
“Being in the B2B payment ecosystem, our transaction processing volume has crossed $2.4 billion annually and is forecast to double in the next twelve months. With wider acceptance of our products, we are well-positioned to serve the entire spectrum of the supply chain for any company,” said Anurag Jain, executive director, KredX.
More than 120 companies use the platform, including Tata Croma, Future Group, and Vedanta. The company intends to use the additional funds to hire senior executives in order to accelerate its expansion. It also plans to use the capital to develop new products and make acquisitions.
According to the company’s data, KredX has handled over 500,000 invoices, assisting more than 5,000 suppliers through 10,000 investors in 36 locations around the country.
” I believe the company (KredX) has created an efficient and trusted lending marketplace connecting Indian companies with institutional investors,” said Scott Shleifer, Partner, Tiger Global.
Rishabh Rathi
