The concept of co-working space dates back to 1995. But it wouldnât be wrong to say that it has gained popularity in the last decade. To make the co-working industry more sophisticated, Ritesh Malik founded Innov8 in 2016.
Innov8 is a premium coworking space provider in the country. In recent times, it has emerged as a leading brand in the coworking space standing on a strong footing in the Indian startup market space. Itâs not widely known but India is the 3rd biggest startup hub in the world! This germinates the apparent need for relevant workspace in the country.
Innov8 was launched with the vision to provide the best infrastructure in town & supremely innovative design facilities to the members working in the workspace. This will lead them to work to their fullest potential while leading an equally balanced work-life with the finest and top-notch office spaces.
Website
All in all, Innov8 provides cool and sophisticated co-working spaces to facilitate the process for the startup ecosystem and the merging freelancer’s culture in the country. Since its inception, it is based on the core value of building world-class products at a superiorly value-conscious price with top-notch service. This is now the fundamental strength of this venture. The company, by and large, focuses on scaling its business model to deeply assist in integrating more verticals under the shared economy space in the country.
âAt this time, Innov8 coworking space is helping startups and freelancers by providing them an ergonomically designed workspace that has exclusively been curated for better work-life.â, says the founder, Ritesh Malik.
Founders of Innov8 and team
The founder of Innov8 is Ritesh Malik. He is a doctor by profession and is a graduate of Dr. MGR Medical University in Tamil Nadu.
Ritesh Malik – Founder and CEO, Innov8 Coworking
Dr. Ritesh Malik is an Indian doctor, entrepreneur, and investor. He runs a virtual Startup Accelerator in India, currently investing in and mentoring 11 startups across various industries. He was the first investor & mentor of FIN ROBOTICS, which became the first Indian hardware product company to raise a Series A venture funding.
He did his MBBS from a rural medical college, Theni, and an internship from Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi. His parents are doctors; his father is a pediatrician & mother is a gynecologist. They have a secondary healthcare hospital in Delhi called Radix Healthcare. He also studied for a short time at the London School of Economics and completed a semester at Harvard University.
How was Innov8 Started?
If youâre wondering how was Innov8 started, we have got you covered. All of it started while founder Ritesh was in medical school and he sort of developed a keen interest in the divine field of entrepreneurship. During his college days, Ritesh had successfully managed to attend a short Marketing Science 101 course at the prestigious London School of Economics during one of his summer breaks. Thatâs where he learned deeply about how Silicon Valley was booming and buzzing with startup ventures and sustainability modules every day.
It is also during this time that he foundedGuerilla Ventures in 2013 which is an angel fund. This venture has invested in more than 45 startups across various sectors including healthcare, information technology, innovation, SaaS, etc. After being a successful investor for quite a few years, Innov8 owner Ritesh Malik again felt the entrepreneurial itch! And thatâs how he went on to start the startup in Delhi in January 2016.
Innov8 CEO and founder Ritesh says: âThe office space was in the heart of Connaught Place in Delhi, and it was fully sold out within 30 days.â
Soon after Ritesh launched Innov8, the venture was picked up by Silicon Valley incubator Y Combinator for the 2016 batch.
âWe were told we should do large centers because with small centers we will not be able to become a $1 billion revenue company. At YC, we learned that to be huge, we need to have large campuses,â said Ritesh Malik, owner of Innov8.
Followed by this event, the startup went on to set up a 500-seater campus in the IT hub of the country, Bengaluru, which also sold out in just two months. As of today, from typically 25,000-27,000 square feet co-working spaces, the company is gone further deep in the game and is now setting up 50,000 square feet spaces around the country.
Innov8 Logo
Seeing this level of the upping game, it wouldnât come as any surprise to us that Innov8 is now aiming to do one lakh square feet workspaces soon. They have been successful in creating a coworking space in Hyderabad for about 80,000 square feet. This was the time when established players like WeWork had already established its space in the city.
The startup has immense competition in the coworking market but the rising demand for coworking spaces always exceeds the supply of these spaces. Hence this is where they step in and conquer. Innov8 Coworking was acquired by OYO for $30 million on Mar 15, 2019.
Innov8 – Business Model and Revenue Model
Innov8 typically operates on an asset-light business model which means that it leases the working spaces for up to 10 years.
âOur focus is on doing larger campuses because we feel that if we do larger campuses in a particular area, the economies of scale will kick in and we end up making more money out of it, as well as the community building factor plays along with it,” added Ritesh Mallik, the founder of Innov8.
Innov8 – Competitors
Though the competition is huge and cut-throat in the coworking space market, the companyâs biggest competitors are the ventures called Awfis and 91springboard.
The funding amount of Innov8 lies at $4 million. In 2018, it raised its pre-Series A round of funding for $4 million led by the Credence Family Office. Also, the existing investors participated in this funding round.
The company is backed by high profile angel investors including Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder, Paytm; Rajan Anandan, Head, Google India; Anand Chandrasekaran, Global Director of Platform and Product Partnerships, Facebook; and Girish Mathrubootham, Founder and CEO of Freshworks, among others.
Innov8 Coworking was acquired by OYO for $30 million on Mar 15, 2019.
Innov8 – Growth
Operates in more than 13 cities across India
Has an overall capacity of 6,000 seats
Has a wide network of more than 190 clients
Its clients include RBL Bank, food delivery major Swiggy and Vice Media to only name a few
Its centers are built with facilities like nap rooms, rooftops, recreation facilities, refreshments, and printing services
Has approximately 95% occupancy across all centers
Innov8 – Future Plans
âWe have almost 95% occupancy across all our centers, which is one of the foremost markers of our success. With the domain expertise our investors bring on-board, we look forward to leveraging their support, as we build a leading platform offering collaborative space for growth and innovation in India. By the end of this year, we will have 24,000 seats, with 30-32 centersâ concluded Ritesh Malik.
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 organization it is based on.
Ceiling Fans have always been very plain & ordinary to look at in India. Since 2012, when Nisha Kukrejah launched Luxaire, it has been redefining this Industry in India by introducing âWoWâ Looking Ceiling Fans with Revolutionary new Technology & changing the perception of the consumer & designers! So now whenever people think of Designer Ceiling Fans, people think of Luxaire.
Luxaire takes pride in bringing Original Designer Fans with the highest warranties to Asian homes. It is here to bring out the change in consumerâs mindset relating to Luxury Fans, they are as much about lifestyle as they are about functionality. Read this article to know more about Luxaire and it’s success story.
Luxaire is a Bengaluru based startup founded by Nisha S Kukrejah in 2012. They provide Luxury & Designer Ceiling Fans.
Luxaire is working to create disruption in the Luxury Fan market by bringing in the latest technologies with expertise. They aim to be a premium solutions provider for luxury interior projects in South Asia.
Luxaire pride in bringing Original Designer Fans with highest warranties to Asian homes. They believe that they have brought about a sea change in the mindset of the consumer that Luxury Fans are as much about lifestyle as they are about functionality.
Luxaire – Product/Services
Luxaire introduced over 50 models initially from simple to technologically superior. There were Single blade Fans, 2 blade Fans, Chandelier Fans & Funky Outdoor Fans, which people were used to seeing only in fancy resorts in southeast Asia. Many of them had LED, light dimming/light changing options, Remote controls & warranties up to 15 years!
Luxaire Products
In terms of design, these Decorative Fans were made of real wood, not plastic or MDF blades, no screws rearing its ugly head, unlike the local commercial fans. This solved the need for Unique Fans by those who were well-traveled and wanted to upgrade their homes with good design instead of just functionality.
The Luxury Ceiling Fan Market in India is at a very nascent stage. The total size of the Super Luxury Segment is INR 150 Crores. The industry is looking up and would be expected to grow by 20% every year.
Luxaire – Founders and Team
Nisha S Kukrejah is the founder of Luxaire Luxury Fans.
Sachin Kukreja & Nisha S Kukrejah | Co-Founders, Luxaire
Nisha has good experience in the Corporate Marketing Sector & Sachin has more than 20 years of experience in the Fan Industry with relevant domain expertise in the Fan Industry. Nisha S Kukrejah manages the overall marketing activities & Mr. Sachin Kukreja manages the Channel Network. Both the founders are MBAâs.
How was Luxarie Started?
âWhen we were trying to find ourselves a Ceiling Fan that was awesome in design and features, there was no such concept in 2011â, says Nisha S Kukrejah.
Thatâs when both these founders started researching more about these fans. There was a lot of plastic and mass-market options but nothing had âclassâ. They also met some industry and tech guys in Bangalore for a quick study, as to what they may perceive as a Smart Fan purchase. So they finally came up with the concept of global styles that would work here as Designer and Luxury Fans for the Indian market.
Being in the Luxury Fan industry, Air delivery is a pretty important component – donât you agree? So, these founders wanted to name it quite simple with easy brand recall. Hence, they decided on LUXAIRE.
Luxaire Logo
Also, the tagline Luxury Revolution has a dual meaning, based on the RPM of the products & a mindset change on how one needs to view his/her Ceiling Fan!
Luxarie – Startup Launch
LUXAIRE had a fantastic website going good when it started off and with a little promotional activity â both online and offline, the platform was able to get good customers from Delhi NCR, Mumbai, and Sri Lanka in the first month itself.
âWe have continued our media efforts in online and print/advertising as does any company that needs to survive in a competitive environment today. We donât believe in Cash burn, instead, we try to focus on our real customersâ, added Nisha S Kukrejah.
Luxarie – Business Model and Revenue Model
The price range is affordable starting from INR 15,000 going up to INR 2,00,000 each. Luxaire works closely with dealers and does bulk hotel projects across the country. It also works with Specifiers such as Architects & Interior designers & collaborates with them for their prestigious projects.
When the team realized that some models that used to be hit in 2012-14 just donât work in the modern days, they had some amount of dead stock that they had to deal with. Very similar to the white goods industry – which faces this challenge when new technology/models replace old ones.
One more intriguing challenge for them is the constant need to be on the lookout for new designs, and be able to liquidate existing stock puts a certain degree of stress on cash flows. Earlier Indian fashion or design industry used to copy the west after four to five years, now the lag is just six months, depending on your city or the designer one is associated with!
Luxarie – Growth
Luxaire had started with a small team in Bangalore and with personalized attention, the team was supplying clients in Punjab, UP, Sri Lanka & even Maldives. Soon this startup expanded to cater to markets in Hyderabad, Kochi and of course the biggest market, the e-commerce space.
Luxarie – Future Plans
âWe have a 3% market share of the market of the Indian Designer Ceiling Fans (around 40% is unorganized) and expect it to touch 15% in the next 3 years. We are scouting for new opportunities in all major cities in India and its neighbors. We are more like a Startup in terms of our cultureâ concluded Nisha S Kukrejah.
Luxarie – FAQs
What is Luxaire?
Luxaire is a Bengaluru-based startup that provides Luxury & Designer Ceiling Fans.
Who is the Founder of Luxaire?
Luxaire is a Bengaluru-based startup founded by Nisha S Kukrejah in 2012.
How does Luxaire make money?
It provides Luxury & Designer Ceiling Fans. The price range is affordable starting from INR 15,000 going up to INR 2,00,000 each. Luxaire works closely with dealers and does bulk hotel projects across the country.
Do these fans require special fitting?
It depends on the type of fan you’re fitting. If it is any designer or luxury fan, then a carpenter and technician might be needed to fix the fan.
How can the fan speed be controlled?
All the fans are provided with pull chords or remote control.
What maintenance and cleaning are required?
The fans have permanently sealed bearings and double lacquered surfaces and do not require much maintenance.
Luxarie – Conclusion
Luxaire is the sole distributor for original, high quality designer and luxury fans specially designed for the Interior design projects in India, Asia Pacific, UAE & Africa. The collections of fans manufactured by the company produces energy saving fans with latest technology and highest warranties. All these features provided by the company makes Luxaire the last stop to buy Luxury and Lifestyle Fans in the market.
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 organization it is based on.
It relies on several individual genetic factors to be born with a powerful, commanding jawline. Where some people are blessed with a perfect jawline naturally, there are others who need to tone their jawline or struggle with maintaining one at all. A lack of regular exercise, reliance on junk food, and a sedentary lifestyle can create a wider jawline, a double chin, and/or a seemingly swollen face.
CHISELL is a jaw training tool that is meant to give you a better-structured face. Its only purpose is to accelerate jaw muscle growth. It is an on-the-go training tool made from the highest quality food-grade silicone, making it safe for usage. It comes with a soft-touch carry case, making it travel friendly.
CHISELL, a jawline exercise tool, is the pioneer of the newly-emerged jawline development industry that helps people achieve good jawline and look better. As a true engineering marvel CHISELL is used by thousands of progress-striving people in over 120 countries around the world as a jaw trainer.
The main purpose of CHISELL is to break the widely held belief that facial attractiveness is determined purely by genetics. CHISELL strives to empower its customers to dominate their facial looks with the help of the innovative product, high style, and untamed communication. CHISELL aims to make chiseled jawline accessible to everyone who desires it.
CHISELL | Light Bite jawline exercise tool
CHISELL- Founders
CHISELL is founded by Dmitrii Vasiukov and Reinis Bekeris.
CHISELL | Reinis Beġeris (CFO on the left) and Dmitrii Vasiukov (CEO on the right)
As both CHISELL co-founders Dmitrii Vasiukov (CEO) and Reinis Beġeris(CFO) were obsessed with the self-development topic, it didnât take them that long to understanding the importance of the jawline development tool. As graduates from the Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, both entrepreneurs acquired the advanced financial and marketing skills to create CHISELL.
Team CHISELL
It all started as in a real startup â everyone is responsible for everything. The constant desire to grow and learn allowed CHISELL to evolve from an unknown jawline exercise tool to the jawline development of industry leaders. Now the team consists of 11 high-skilled specialists in various fields such as marketing, sales, logistics, and many more. All together they change the status quo, which can be done only by thinking differently.
How Was CHISELL Founded
Right after Dmitrii Vasiukov, CHISELL Co-founder, finished his Bachelor studies at Stockholm School of Economics in Riga, he found out some new information about the jawline trainer that helps to achieve good jaw with a set of chew exercises. As he believed that the face was not something anyone could change by themselves, he didnât pay much attention to this weirdly-new product at first. Nevertheless, curiosity took over Dmitrii, and he decided to do some research.
Being a self-development addict, Dmitrii started exercising his jaw muscles by allocating some resistance to the closing motion of the mouth. He took small pieces of the ripped silicone tube and just chewed on them. He kept on the exercise routine for a few weeks and was amazed that the hypothesis got confirmed and the jaw muscles increased in size visually.
After 9 months of workouts, he was surprised by a significant improvement in his facial lines – a chiseled jawline. In a while, Dmitrii approached his friend and second CHISELL co-founder, Reinis Beġeris, and presented his breakthrough to him. As a result, both friends agreed to finance the project and develop a newly-established jawline industry. As a result, the industry front-runner was born!
CHISELL came from the word âchiselâ that is a metal tool with a shaped cutting edge of the blade on its end, which allows shaping solid materials. Meanwhile, CHISELL is a jawline exercise tool to get a chiseled jaw and dominate every aspect of your life.
CHISELL Logo
CHISELL slogan reflects its main mission – CHISELL YOUR JAWLINE AND DOMINATE!
With its bold slogan and highlighted logo CHISELL empowers people to get a chiseled jaw and create the jawline of their dream.
CHISELL- Vision and Mission
The future vision for CHISELL is to make jawline training as common as a workout at the gym!
Anyone can train their jawline just like any other muscle in the human body. Training consistency, correct technique, and nutrition will result in a bigger muscle that will increase the contrast between the jaw and the neck which allows for a sharper shadow to be produced. As a result, anyone can have a more highlighted jawline.
Another goal for CHISELL would be to change a worldwide belief about the natural facial transformation once and for all.
CHISELLâs message is simple â CHISELL YOUR JAWLINE AND DOMINATE!
The topic of facial fitness and grooming has rocketed in the menâs beauty industry in recent years. The number of influencers interested in facial development is emerging, while the interest in self-development in a convenient way and a short period is increasing. As a result, CHISELL offers an efficient tool for jawline development.
The jawline development industry is a newly-emerged industry with only a few products available, while already hundreds of thousands of clients all around the world. According to the latest ISAPS statistics, global spending on male jawline related procedures in 2019 reached 1.2 Billion in USD. CHISELL believes that in the upcoming by 2026 the jawline development industry will expand enormously, while the natural facial development with CHISELL will be as a matter of course.
CHISELL- Product/ Services
CHISELL | Regular Bite chisel your jaw
The main purpose of CHISELL is to allow people to efficiently and comfortably improve their facial outlook by growing their jaw muscles! By chewing CHISELL, the jawline becomes sharper and more defined, which makes it more attractive. Surgery is expensive and it tampers with the natural harmony of the face. Moreover, it can potentially cause nerve damage and joint pain. CHISELL gives a chance to be the creator of your face, and with time and patience determine how sharp and strong the jaw will be.
As a chewing exercise for the jawline, CHISELL ceaselessly conducts studies and consults with the dental field specialists to create an anatomic wonder. As a result, 3 different product resistances are produced: Light Bite, Regular Bite, and Tough Bite. That is the only way CHISELL can ensure jawline industry growth and worldwide awareness.
With the use of CHISELL, anyone can develop the masseter muscles which are responsible for chewing. Consistent practice allows you to grow your masseters in size which makes your jaw wider and more defined. A sharper and wider jaw will result in a more pronounced shadow on your neck which makes your jawline appear more masculine.
With only 15 minutes per day of jawline training, CHISELL will allow to get a chiseled jawline after 2-3 months of constant work.
CHISELL is the best jaw muscle exercise tool on the market right now for the following reasons:
CHISELL has the most optimal stress distribution which evenly engages the muscle throughout the biting movement
The tabs are small and entirely invisible when used which puts the other ball-shaped products at a severe disadvantage since you can use it in public
CHISELL has an unlimited free-replacement guarantee in case the product breaks at any point
The product design makes CHISELL the desired tool for confident and progressive people
All 3 different product resistances: CHISELL Light Bite for beginners is priced at 37.99$, Regular Bite for experienced users at 39.99$, and the strongest jawline exercise tool Tough Bite at 41.99$. For up-to-date information please visit CHISELL web page.
CHISELL- Startup Launch
CHISELL needed to hit it with the first try. On paper and in 3D, the team had over a dozen concepts. To even develop a fully functioning prototype has taken over half of our initial budget. So, it was a rocket launch case for CHISELL – if the first one failed the team would have been left with nothing. Luckily it worked out.
CHISELL worked for around four months to get it done and get the prototypes on hand. After that, the first sales through the official web page started.
CHISELL- Customers/ Clients
As a progressive company, CHISELL uses the opportunity of social media. CHISELL launches successful Facebook and Instagram advertising campaigns cooperates with YouTube famous influencers, has viral TikTok videos, promotes business vision and mission on Linkedin, and many more. All of it has significantly contributed to the companyâs current growth and success.
CHISELL- Challenges
The major challenging part For CHISELL as a startup was cash. CHISELLâs co-founders were able to collect around 4k EUR to start the project and had a friendâs family investment down the road close to 1Ok EUR. Bootstrapping from zero to over 1OOk monthly within 1 and a half years of operations has certainly been a ride of its own. CHISELL took many risks and worked 15-hour workdays with no weekend breaks for close to a year.
Dmitrii would not say anything was easy; the whole venture was hard. He does not recommend starting a business to anyone who wants to have a balanced life. It does pay off only if you are nuts, and you have a high pain threshold!
CHISELL- Marketing Campaign
The United States of America, the EU, Australia, Canada, are the top countries where the interest in chiseled jawline is the highest. The US has the most potential for CHISELL. The most influential standing hypothesis CHISELL has is that the early adopterâs market is most developed in that country. People are not afraid to try new unconventional things, in this case â the jawline exercise tool.
The best source of information was CHISELLâs team community. It has supplied them with a ton of feedback on their product so that they could make it more suitable for their liking.
As far as mentors, CHISELL has none. CHISELL team did the whole project themselves together with friends who are professionals in their areas of marketing, PR, PPC marketing, etc. So far, no true professional hand has touched CHISELL. CHISELL is expecting a significant upside potential from involving more seasoned professionals in the nearest future.
Throughout the development process, CHISELL has spoken to many professionals and practitioners of the facial development field. Earlier this Autumn CHISELL addressed its transparency and constant development as the jawline front-runner through the survey results paper in cooperation with orthodontists. The paper was on CHISELLâs potential effect on teeth, temporomandibular joints, and skull structure. In 3 months CHISELL created the 1st dentists/orthodontists survey results paper done in the jawline development industry.
CHISELL | Chewing Exercises For Jawline
During this period CHISELL interviewed 30 specialists in the dentist industry from 12 different countries, such as the US, Germany, the UK, Canada, Switzerland. As a result of the paper, CHISELL has the orthodontists and dentists survey approval that its jawline tool increases the masseter master in size that leads to a more highlighted jawline. The paper answered many vital questions on CHISELLâs usage and effect on overall body integrity. Specialists recommend to workout with CHISELL 2-3 times per week, for around 10-15 minutes. This will ensure healthy usage of the product and no harm to the body. Moreover, the first results of the highlighted jawline will happen after just a few months of training.
CHISELL is also engaging with the mewing community to promote correct tongue posture and breathing habits. This collaborative effort helps deliver the most precise message to customers about the safer natural facial transformation!
As a progressive company, CHISELL is willing to support any further research related to CHISELL products and the jawline industry. Therefore, CHISELL can ensure the constant development of its products and provide additional value for its customers.
CHISELL was looking at competitors only at the start. In general, CHISELL believes that it is a bad practice to rely on them for the idea of inspiration. CHISELL is making a new industry, so the new players are merely growing the pie everyone is enjoying. A relatively small number of people believe that products like that work, which is why every new player is helping others by spreading awareness about facial attractiveness possibilities.
Some of the similar jawline training companies that answer the question of how to get bigger masseter muscle and more chiseled jaw are Jawliner and Jawzrsise. They are CHISELLâs competitors!
CHISELL- Tools
Asana for the efficient task allocation and plan creation
Slack for the team communication
Later for the social media content creation tools
CHISELL- Recognition and Achievements
CHISELL is the only company in the jawline development industry with a published review from orthodontists and dentists. The 1st dentists/orthodontists survey results paper done in the jawline development industry puts CHISELL ahead of other companies in scientific surveying for more accurate and detailed product analysis.
CHISELL also has a great PR presence. Earlier this year, CHISELL was featured in Forbes business magazine, Attitude lifestyle magazine, and Startup Magazine platform for entrepreneurs.
Another great achievement is the number of famous world-wide influencers. Some of them include YouTube stars Brett Maverick and AstroSky.
CHISELL is running a significant R&D project right now, developing the ultimate jaw muscle exercise tool. The last remaining piece of the puzzle is the solution of durability. It is more than satisfactory now, but CHISELLâs team mindset does not allow them to stop until they hit that perfect spot. After this has been accomplished, CHISELL will diversify the product line a little adding more options for people to choose from different jawline exercise tools.
Besides, CHISELL is working hard on improving the customer experience. CHISELL does not sell a jawline training tool. CHISELL is on a mission to change the status quo around the globe that face is not set in stone by genetics and that people have the power to change if they desire so.
With the growth of CHISELL all around the world, the company wants to educate people on mewing and chewing movements. Attractive face development is now freely available to everyone with a bit of patience and a small investment in your future. It is the time people face reality and understand what they are capable of when it comes to their body transformation. CHISELL proves that you are fully capable of customizing your future appearance!
CHISELL YOUR JAWLINE AND DOMINATE!
FAQs
What is CHISELL?
CHISELL is a jaw training tool that is meant to give you a better-structured face. It is an on-the-go training tool made from the highest quality food-grade silicone, making it safe for usage.
Is CHISELL safe?
Yes
How do you use CHISELL?
Put CHISELLS on the back teeth, one on each side. Your last 2-3 teeth in the back of your mouth are the proper placement
Squeeze fully, hold for 1 second, release. Repeat this motion for around 2 minutes
Squeeze fast without hold 40 â 50 times
Squeeze and hold for 30 seconds
What is CHISELL made of?
Made from food-grade silicone, with different levels of resistance. It is suitable for anyone, just pick up your resistance level and start chewing.
Does CHISELL jaw work?
Using the Jawzrsize may lead to some enlargement, or hypertrophy, of the masseter muscles, which are large chewing muscles at the side of the face. However, while it may help strengthen the jaw, it is unlikely to provide other benefits. The chewing, or masticatory, muscles do not tone or rejuvenate the face.
While the Govt of India is banning China made apps, and products, and we the people of India have started to apply the philosophy of ‘Chini Kam’ (i.e the philosophy of less to no Chinese goods) in our lives, more we have started to realize that there are indeed many Indian companies that have received investments from Chinese companies. A recent report lists 92 major Indian startups that has received funding from Chinese companies. Today we are speaking of such a Chinese company that has invested in many popular Indian companies, and it is none other than Tencent.
Tencent, which started off  in 1998, launched its first product (a PC based instant messaging service) in 1999, has grown into a much well known and profit making conglomerate today. It has established itself as one of the world’s largest video game company, world’s largest social media company, world’s largest venture capital firms, investment corporation  and a market leader across diverse industries. Let’s take a look into the some interesting facts and figures about Tencent.
Tencent Holdings Limited is a Chinese Multinational Conglomerate which almost has acquisitions in every corner of the business world. With minimum of four globally owned enterprises, and hundreds of subsidiaries and associates in various industries, Tencent has its presence across various business verticals including retail, e-commerce, search engine, real estate, video gaming, software, virtual reality, ride sharing, banking & financial services, fintech, consumer electronics, computer technology, automobile, movie ticketing, film production, music production, space technology, natural resources, big data, smart phones, agriculture, medical services, cloud computing, social media, IT, advertising, streaming media, AI, robotics, food delivery, courier services, e-book, education, renewable energy etc.
Some of the main subsidiaries include Tencent Industry Win-Win Fund, Tencent Public Space, Tencent Industry Collaboration Fund, Tencent Research Institute, and Tencent Technology Co Limited. The company has also started its operations in an insurance stream known as WeSure Internet Insurance Limited.
Tencent – Company Highlights
Startup Name
Tencent
Headquarters
Shenzhen, China
Sector
Advertising, Gaming, Social Media Marketing
Founders
Ma Huateng, Zhang Zhidong, Xu Chenye, Chen Yidan, and Zeng Liqing
Founded
1998
Parent Organization
Tencent Holdings Limited
Website
www.tencent.com
Tencent – Founders & Team
Ma Huateng, along with his classmates from Shenzhen University, Zhang Zhidong, Xu Chenye, Chen Yidan, and Zeng Liqing are the Tencent founders. The company operates with Ma Huateng as the CEO and has more than 10000 employees.
Named as one of the world’s most influential and powerful person, and as a top businessman by many organizations, Tencent founder and CEO Ma Huateng, has also been declared as China’s richest man (as of June 2020) by Forbes. Born on 29th October 1971, Huateng has a B Sc in computer science. After graduating, Ma Huateng worked with China Motion Telecom Development, where he developed software for pagers, and earned $176/ month (Today Ma Huateng’s net worth is $51.2 Billion) . He later worked for Shenzhen Runxun Communications Co. Ltd, where he was into developing internet calling services. He started his own entrepreneurial venture, Tencent in 1998.
Tencent co-founder Zhang Zhidong is the second largest individual shareholder of Tencent. Also a graduate in computer science, Zhang’s net-worth is $12.6 billion as of June 2019, as reported by Forbes.
Xu Chenye is the Chief information officer at Tencent. Before joining Tencent, Chenye worked with Shenzhen Data Telecommunications Bureau, where he took care of software system design, network administration and also marketing and sales management.
Chen Yidan served as the Chief Administrative Officer of Tencent till 2013. Chen is currently associated with Tencent as an advisor, sponsor and honorary chairman of the Tencent Charity Foundation. Chen is also a part of the founding team of Wuhan College.
Zeng Liqing, worked as the Chief Operating Officer of Tencent since 1999 to 2007. Currently Zeng Liqing is the Advisor Emeritus of Tencent. Besides Tencent, Zeng also co-founded Taomee Holdings Ltd ( a company producing children’s entertainment products) and Shenzhen Dexun Investment Co., Ltd. Prior to Tencent, Zeng worked as Manager in the Shenzhen Branch of China Telecom Corporation Limited from 1993 to 1999.
Started in 1998, Tencent launched its first product QQ (a PC based instant messaging service) in 1999. For the the first 3 years, the company was in losses. In 2001, ‘Naspers’, a South African Media company purchased 41.6% shares in Tencent. The company ventured into online gaming since 2004. In 2004 itself, Tencent was also listed on Hong Kong Stock Exchange. While QQ was earlier available for PC only, in 2005, QQ for mobile was also launched by Tencent. In 2011, Tencent entered the social media app market with ‘Weixin’ ( Now known as WeChat). Also, in 2005, online payment system ‘TenPay’ was launched by Tencent. Tencent launched its search engine Soso.com in 2006. In 2007, Tencent Research Institute ( China’s first research center on core Internet technologies) was started. Gradually the company acquired stakes in various businesses to accelerate its growth and also entered diverse industries from music to e-commerce and many others to reach its current position.
Tencent – Name & Logo
As per some reports, Tencent derives its name from two Chinese characters ‘Teng’ and ‘Xun’ which means something like ‘galloping fast information’
The logo of the company contains both the English and Chinese font of the name âTencentâ.
Tencent – Logo
Tencent – Investments in India
Tencent has emerged as the biggest investor in Indian startups. Tencent has invested in 15 Indian companies – Dream 11, Hike, Swiggy, Flipkart, Practo, Ola, Gaana, PolicyBazaar, Udaan, Byju’s.
Chinese technology conglomerate Tencent has invested $62.8 million in Walmart-owned e-commerce firm Flipkart. Tencent remains the second-biggest shareholder in the e-commerce marketplace Flipkart, increasing its stake from 5% to 5.34% and worth $1.21 billion post the latest investment made through its Singapore based subsidiary Aceville.
Tencent Invested in Gaana through its European subsidiary Tencent Cloud. In April 2020, India also tightened the approval process for foreign direct investment from any country with which it shares a border. Even after that, Tencent has continued investing in Indian startups through its subsidiaries out of China. Tencent is present in e-commerce, gaming, logistics, education, fintech and more with investments in
Tencent Holdings has raised a funding amount of $6.6 Bilion in 5 rounds.
Date
Stage
Amount
Investors
January 1999
Angel Round
$200K
–
April 2000
Seed Round
$220K
PCCW, IDG Capital
May 2001
Venture Round
$32M
Prosus and Naspers
June 2018
Post IPO Equity
$44.4M
Lippo Group
August 2019
Post IPO Debt
$6.5B
–
Tencent – Revenue Model
Operating in diverse industries, Tencent has a diverse source of revenue. Majority of Tencent’s revenue comes from in app purchases, from subscription fees on its platform like Tencent Video. The company also earns online transaction free from  its payment service ‘ WeChat Pay’. Besides, the company also earns from digital ads run on its various platforms.
The Tencent revenue is generated through millions of micro transactions. They have adopted the VAS model. The value added services is their main stream of revenue. It is available on their social media platforms, gaming platforms and mobile games. For an example customers can pay for fancy weapons and costumes for their avatars in the game. Other sources of Tencent are digital content subscription, membership subscription, advertisement, and online games. It is clear that Tencent does not rely on advertising revenue.
Tencent – Competitors
The top competitors of Tencent are the Alibaba Group, Sina, NetEase, Baidu, Unix CCTV, Facebook and Sohu. Tencent continues to lead the global market with its diligent network and growing technology.
Tencent has a huge and sturdier global connection in various fields. In FY19, the company experienced a steady growth with a revenue of RMB 377.3 Billion, while its revenue was 312.7 billion RMB in FY 2018.
As reported, till January 2020, Tencent Holdings Limited invested in over 800 firms across the world, of which, 70 are listed companies and 160 are Unicorns. Tencent has acquired 16 companies till date.
Tencent has announced its plan of building a âNet Cityâ in Shenzhen. The Net City will cover an area of 320 acres that will provide sustainable power sources. As per plans, ‘Net City’ will be entirely car free, and will have plenty of green spaces and walking space for pedestrians, besides, self driving vehicles. Apart from this, the company is working towards improvising its every possible sector, especially in gaming and e-commerce. The tech giant plans to invest US$ 70 billion in high tech areas.
Frequently Asked Questions – FAQs
When was Tencent founded?
Tencent was founded in 1998.
Who is the owner of Tencent?
Ma Huateng is the CEO of Tencent.
What are some of the Indian companies that received funding from Tencent?
Dream 11, Hike, Swiggy, Flipkart, Practo, Ola, Gaana, PolicyBazaar, Udaan, Byju’s are some Indian companies that have recieved funding from Tencent.
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 Scikey.ai
Akshay Sharma, Alok Kumar and Karunjit Kumar Dhir, the founders of SCIKEY had to go through the painful experience of dealing with multiple vendors and service providers for sourcing the required talent or even the right technology solutions & providers. Thereby leading them to start SCIKEY. Â
SCIKEY is a marketplace network for talent & technology solutions. On SCIKEY’s platform, the entire transaction – right from talent & technology sourcing to delivery happens online. The Asia HR Management industry is anticipated to be USD 40 Billion by 2027 growing @ CAGR of 11.7% (Grand View Research, Feb 2020).
StartupTalky interviewed Akshay Sharma (Co-founder of SCIKEY) to know about the Journey of SCIKEY, while also getting a glance on Scikey’s Business Model, Funding, Growth, Revenue Model, Products, How it started & more…
SCIKEY is a marketplace network for talent & technology solutions. It is essentially, how one may look up to it like the Amazon for talent & technology solutions with a touch of LinkedIn. SCIKEY is a digital platform for jobs, work & business solutions, supported by a Professional Network and an integrated Services Ecosystem. It aims to organize the talent & technology solutions marketplace online.
SCIKEY – Vision, Mission and Core Belief
SCIKEY’s Vision is to be the worldâs most trusted company for providing customer-centric solutions by inspiring  people, collaboration & performance.
SCIKEY’s Mission isto improve the lives of the people and enable businesses across the world by offering them  best quality, value, insights & experience; through its marketplace network for talent & technology solutions. SCIKEY continues to invest in research & technology to fuel innovation and making people as well as businesses more productive, thereby becoming their trusted partner in this hyper-connected world.
Core belief: SCIKEY’s core values of Trust, Transparency & Excellence are the foundation of all the relationships, making those delightful and sustainable.
The global talent management software market size was valued at USD 6.26 billion in 2015 and is expected to witness a significant growth owing to its growing application scope in almost all the human capital-centric industries. The industry is undergoing a facelift with many new technologies disrupting the workforce management in organizations, of which cloud and data analytics are the most prominent ones.
A recent report published by McKinsey indicates that the digital talent marketplaces driving the so  called âgig economyâ could play a significant role in increasing global GDP by $2.7 Trillion by 2025.
Market Details:
Total addressable market: $100 bn +
Serviceable Available Market: $1 bn +
Serviceable Obtainable Market: $100 mn +
The geographical split of SCIKEY’s market is as follow:
India â 10%
North America â 30%
Europe â 20%
Asia (minus India) â 40%
HR Tech industry:
Asia HR Management industry is anticipated to be USD 40 Billion by 2027 growing @ Â CAGR â 11.7% (Grand View Research, Feb 2020)
Global HR Tech Marketplace  – USD 400 Billion  (Deloitte Reports)
HR Tech Market Size In Asia – USD 9 Billion (Grand View Research, Feb 2020)
Robotics / AI Based HR Tech Market – USD 6 Billion (People Matters)
India Staffing Market Size  – USD 3.5 Billion (Indian Staffing Federation)
Estimated Savings for Indian Firms by using HR Tech – USD 600 Million Annually (People Matters)
Alok Kumar is the founder of SCIKEY. Akshay Sharma and Karunjit Kumar Dhir are the Co-founders of SCIKEY.
SCIKEY is the brain child of Alok Kumar. Shriram & Akshay had met & worked with Alok as a part of his team, before Alok moved out to build SCIKEY. Interestingly, Karunjit had first met Alok in 2007, when he was helping Alok as his customer to setup their offshore captive in India.
Since then, they built a great chemistry & mutual respect but Karun moved out of India in 2014 and so little did they know that they will again get to work some amazing stuff together until thatdinner invitation in 2018. Karun had moved out from his last corporate stint in Malaysia and was taking a short break to visit India to spend some time with his family. It was during this trip back home where Alok invited Karun for catchup over a dinner where he shared his vision of SCIKEY to Karun. Alok was inspired by some of Karun’s critical inputs & prior experience of building multiple technology businesses ground up in multiple global markets, thereby invited him to be a part of the Co-Founding team at SCIKEY; and the rest is history.
SCIKEY’s core team’s tasks –
Alok Kumar â Founder
Akshay Sharmaâ the owner of R&D & works closely with Alok & Karun on key business boosters like research, automation, growth hacking etc.,
Karunjit Kumar Dhir â owner for the branding, business development, revenue growth & global expansion, investors & fundraising, Finance
SCIKEY’s work culture is built around the core values of trust, transparency & excellence leading to mutual respect, happiness & sustainability.
SCIKEY’s hiring funda has an interesting framework, named ‘DISCO Framework’
D – Dependability (can I just talk to you once & be assured the job is done without any follow-ups or even better can you pro-actively get the job done?)
I – Integrity & Ethics (how much can I trust you & be assured that you will always do the right thing even when no one is watching you?)
S – Solution Mindset & an attitude of sharing (every business will have many problems to solve & so are you the one who will provide solutions or just restate the problems back to us? And, even when you solve problems, will you share the credit with your team or always fly solo?)
C – Curiosity (Can you challenge the Status Quo & imagine better? Are you good with ‘Why’ and ‘Why not’?)
O – Openness (Are you humble, open to feedback, correction, change, to Learn, Unlearn & Relearn?)
The Founders & Team section of the post already covered the part on how the Core team of SCIKEY was formed. Let’s see what else it took to start SCIKEY.
SCIKEY’s founding team have lead multiple companies in different roles (including CXO) as well as geographies and were mostly involved in building products, teams, delivery centers ground up etc., Therefore, quite often they found themselves in a situation where they had to go through the painful experience of dealing with multiple vendors and service providers for sourcing the required talent or even the right technology solutions & providers.
“It used to be a very time consuming & inefficient exercise with a direct negative impact on business and ROI” Says Akshay Sharma (Co-founder, SCIKEY)
Another big related parallel problem that they always encountered was the productivity issues of the teams or people who were sourced by their talent partners and the resulting losses for the company as an outcome of that. These prevalent issues motivated the team to seriously think of a solution that later took the shape of SCIKEY.
Even, other peers from the industry acknowledged the problem, but no one was trying to solve it with an effective workable solution. So most of the ideation happened internally. They collected feedback from the CXOs or top leaders in the industries who were directly responsible for building and running profitable companies of different shapes & sizes (right from funded start-ups to global fortune MNCs). This helped the SCIKEY team to learn the root-cause of the problem and by connecting the dots from personal experience + Inputs from leaders, they decided to build SCIKEY! Arobust platform and a business model that can be scaled to service the needs of a global audience.
The way this world moved from offline to online banking, offline retail to e-commerce, offline taxis to e-hailing and more. SCIKEY also started with taking the entire experience of sourcing talent & technology solutions online.
On SCIKEY’s platform, the entire transaction – right from talent & technology sourcing to delivery happens online. It aims to organize the talent & technology solutions marketplace online.
SCIKEY is primarily automating most of the mechanical things but going big on the human touch. Itâs about helping the generally overloaded talent & technology sourcing teams, with a solution that eases their life and helps them add real value to the business by being a âbusiness partnerâ in its true sense. It is about streamlining the process end-to-end (that is otherwise largely fragmented) not only to achieve exceptional business outcomes, but also offering a great user experience, that is missing generally.
And then came Covid19, which further disrupted & redefined the future of work and how the businesses look at getting their talent and technology solutions right. The Future of Work & Workforce is very  different from what it has been all these years. We now live in a post-COVID world. The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of digital, virtual as well as remote solutions but the large part of talent & technology solutions market is still serviced manually (via a handful of the tools that do not offer a complete end-to-end solution or assured outcomes).
Customers now expect a great Experience (Personalized), Convenience (Anywhere & Real-time access), Value (Ongoing), Choices (Faster Fulfilment) & Insights (that impact Business Outcomes). And this is where SCIKEY helps!
SCIKEY offers a digital, connected & intuitive experience over a secure cloud-based platform for best outcomes & productivity, leveraging technology, Crowdsourcing (Onsite, Offshore, Remote), Â Community & Automation to deliver best of the solution and insights that impact business outcomes.
Research & IP Focus â Patent filed for the SCIKEY MindMatch algorithm & research presented at the United Nations(Geneva) twice. Unique âManaged Marketplaceâ business model that leverages advanced tech enabled crowd-sourcing of talent & technology solutions in a single online platform making it highly elastic, scalable & cost-efficient.
Solid founding team with decades of proven industry leadership experience selling large solutions & Â building high-growth business in multiple global markets from scratch; and prior experience of working together.
Deep domain as well as technical expertise.
Astute focus on unit economics and hence a cash-positive business already.
SCIKEY emerged from the combination of two important words that form the generis of the team’s approach behind building this platform â
Scientific (backed by research & data) + Key (of crucial importance) = SCIKEY
“We have always seen SCIKEY as a solution to some of the âkeyâ problems of our potential  customers and we genuinely believe in the power of scientific input(data) in this hyper-connected world that we live in. and, that is how we decided to go with Sci + Key = SCIKEY” Says the team.
SCIKEY LOGO
It’s not only the SCIKEY name that has deep meaning and relevance but the colors represented in the SCIKEY logo also has notions behind it.
Colors convey emotions & evoke thoughts. The 6 colors in the SCIKEY’s logo convey the emotions of the brand. It represents the possibility of looking at a problem in 6 different ways to evaluate multiple potential solutions as well as personalities coming together to solve the problem.
Blue – A color of the sky and sea. It is often associated with depth and stability. It symbolizes  trust, loyalty, wisdom, confidence, intelligence, faith, truth, and heaven.
Green – Resembling nature. It symbolizes growth, harmony, freshness, and fertility. Green has strong emotional correspondence with safety. Dark greenis also commonly associated with money.
Yellow – The most luminous of all the colorsof the spectrum. It’s the colorof happiness, and optimism, of enlightenment and creativity, sunshine and spring.
Orange – It combines the energy of red and the happiness of yellow. It is associated with joy, sunshine, and the tropics. Orange represents enthusiasm, fascination, happiness, creativity, determination, attraction, success, encouragement, and stimulation.
Red – A color of passion and adventure.
Grey – In colorpsychology, grey represents neutrality and balance.
SCIKEY – Business Model and Revenue Model
SCIKEY operates mainly on a SaaS model. SCIKEY’s revenue model is based on –
Transaction Fee â 15-30% of the sale value from the marketplace network
Micro-payments – $10 – $200 for various features, add-ons, reports, assessments monetized from its network
Subscription â for some of the âABC-as-a-Serviceâ components & certain Premium Features for buyers as well as sellers on the platform
Managed Services & Consulting â especially for the Offshore & Remote Work solutions plus other  premium offerings
Since beginning, SCIKEY was a research focused company. The team was already working with various professionals, businesses, institutions as well as universities/colleges on multiple research projects as well as pilots for some of the components of the platform. At start, it was not the same full-fledged platform like what one can see today, it was more of independent pieces or modules; largely to gather research data as well as user feedback.
For acquiring the first 100 customers , the team relied heavily upon customer referrals and LinkedIn. SCIKEY hasn’t been spending huge money on growth hacking as yet.
“We are a team that firmly believes in achieving an organic growth (even if it is slower initially) fueled by the thought leadership & brand authority as against burning big bucks to get quick hype. A quick hype is directly proportional to the burn-rate and tapers down as soon as the money fades away” added Akshay.
SCIKEY majorly focused on customer retention and repeat users. All they did was –
Listening to customers feedback, to incorporate it back in improving the product
Keeping its paid user acquisition burn to a minimum or zero
Continuously working towards improving the quality of experience & outcomes the customers/ users get from SCIKEY; as that makes us cash positive as well as sustainable. Â
SCIKEY founders are a big fan of frugal innovation & Zero cost marketing.
Whoever SCIKEY reached out to said this – “Hey, you guys have built such a great product. What progressive thinking, but how come we never heard of SCIKEY before? do you have any customer references? “
The major challenged faced by the team was that nobody knew SCIKEY in the market. It took a lot of effort and time to get even a demo booked (As per the sales team)
SCIKEY does not have a significant marketing budget & hence there is not much one can do. (As per all the Marketing Managers, Digital Marketing folks who applied for a role with SCIKEY but never joined)
This was one of our biggest challenges in the early days â Everyone we meet likes us (Team & product  both) but as they have never heard of the brand before, they did not have much confidence to take the plunge & come on board as a paid customer – Said Akshay (Co-founder, SCIKEY)
This is what inspired SCIKEY’s team to get a lot more active on LinkedIn to create awareness and build engagement around the brand SCIKEY. Therefore, after 100s of posts, garnering 1,000s of cumulative views with an average of 2K+ and the highest of 10K+ views with many trending posts in multiple hashtags, a series of blogs and authored articles published; finally making it to the deal table and signing paid customers is what makes SCIKEY proud.
SCIKEY – Marketing Campaign/Strategies Adopted
SCIKEY’s 2 trending Marketing campaign –
Womenâs day Campaign – #SheTakesTheLead
The idea was to promote women hiring for executive positions and challenge the status quo. Globally only 1 in 5 C -level Executives is a woman. This is because of displaced cultural norms. SCIKEY, with this campaign wanted to promote, from this womenâs day that a woman will take the lead and the ecosystem should come together to support them.
To promote this idea. SCIKEY did a short ad film.
SCIKEY also acknowledged women leaders who broke the metaphorical glass ceiling, the society odds and has taken the lead in their own way. SCIKEY interviewed various women leaders to share their personal stories, how they overcame the gender challenges & despite of so many odds, how they succeeded to become what they are today.
SCIKEY Leader Speak Series
Under this initiative, SCIKEY interviewed Thought Leaders from the Business and HR space where they shared their perspective about the future of workforce, future of work, best strategies to lead the change & business. SCIKEY promoted these interviews on all of their social media channels, website & newsletters. Each leader further shared the interview in their own network. This has given SCIKEY a greater organic reach, trust, and credibility in decision makers fraternity.
SCIKEY was awarded the “Top 20 Most promising HR-Tech startups â 2020â by the CIOReview Â
AI powered platform with Research & IP focus â patent filed for the SCIKEY MindMatch algorithm that  was presented at the United Nations(Geneva) also twice
Deloitte Technology fast 50 winner for 2020
SCIKEY – Competitors
Remote.com, Upwork and LinkedIn are the top competitors of SCIKEY.
Remote.com
Remote helps companies of all sizes hire top talent all over the world, in full compliance with local laws. It is a global platform for distributed teams. Remote makes it easy to onboard, pay, and delight remote employees and contractors.
Upwork
Upwork connects businesses of all sizes to freelancers, independent professionals, and agencies for all their hiring needs.
LinkedIn
LinkedIn platform is mainly used for professional networking, and allows job seekers to post their CVs and employers to post jobs.
Over the next 1-2 years, SCIKEY aims to grow the customer base by at least a 5x and the revenue by 2-3x. While growing its partners by 5x and member users to at least a few million. SCIKEY is also planning to venture into new markets like Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines and Australia.
SCIKEY – FAQs
What is SCIKEY.ai?
SCIKEY is a marketplace network for talent & technology solutions
What does the word ‘SCIKEY’ mean?
SCIKEY has emerged from the combination of two important words that form the generis of the team’s approach behind building this platform â Scientific (backed by research & data) + Key (of crucial importance) = SCIKEY
Who are the founders of SCIKEY?
Alok Kumar is the founder of SCIKEY. Akshay Sharma and Karunjit Kumar Dhir are the Co-founders of SCIKEY.
How much funding has SCIKEY raised?
SCIKEY had funding of USD 3.5 Million in 2016.
Who are the competitors of SCIKEY?
Remote.com, Upwork and LinkedIn are the top competitors of SCIKEY.
When was SCIKEY founded?
SCIKEY was founded in the year 2016 by Alok Kumar.
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 Strata.
Lack of access to data-driven insights and expertise often leads investors to make unsafe choices in the real estate industry. Sudarshan Lodha and Priyanka Rathore noticed this problem plaguing the industry in their span of careers in commercial real estate.
Thus, Strata was born with the idea to democratize investment opportunities in CRE (Commercial Real Estate) and unlock value for investors, at scale. Strata’s goal is to achieve this with the in-depth real estate expertise and strong data analytics foundation through its fractional investment model.
StartupTalky interviewed Sudarshan Lodha (Co-founder, Strata) to know the Success Story of Strata along with getting a glance on Strata Business Model, Funding, Revenue Model, How Strata Started and more….
Strata offers investors an opportunity to invest in premium commercial properties at affordable prices with data driven insights. Fractional ownership in commercial real estate provides platform where number of investors join together to invest in a real estate asset so that all of them can benefit from a share of the income that the asset generates, and any appreciation in the value of the property.
Strata’s Mission – Accessibility, Transparency, Affordability in Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Investment
Sudarshan Lodha (CEO) and Priyanka Rathore (COO/CTO) are the founders of Strata
Strata Founders – Sudarshan Lodha and Priyanka Rathore
Sudarshan Lodha (Co-founder & CEO, Strata)
Sudarshan is the CEO of Strata and handles the forefront of the business. Sudarshan Lodha, a successful lawyer, brings over 9 years of leadership experience in real estate & private equity law, having successfully handled several complex legal cases and venture capital transactions, representing private equity deals worth over $1.4 billion.
Priyanka Rathore (Co-founder & COO/CTO, Strata)
Priyanka is the Co-founder, COO/CTO of Strata and takes care of the tech and operational bit of the company. Priyanka has over 8 years of experience in financial planning and analysis with D.E. Shaw and WeWork. As the lead real estate analyst, her in-depth understanding of deal economics and real estate portfolio management played a vital role in WeWorkâs expansion in India.
Strataâs journey began in 2019. Â The idea for Strata came from the personal experiences of Sudarshan and Priyanka. Their career in the commercial real estate industry showed them that most investors in India were uncertain about investing in real estate. It is mainly because of lack of awareness, knowledge and inaccessibility of smart data in real estate that can help to decide on investments.
In addition, when it comes to commercial real estate it is always seen as an investment category for investors falling in the top of the pyramid. This is where Strataâs fractional investment model and offerings come into play. It allows one to invest and own a share of prime commercial property at minimal capital.
There were three ideas that Sudarshan and Priyanka had in mind regarding fractional investment –
1. Reducing the high capital requirement – At Strata, the ownership of premium commercial properties are broken down into more easily investable portions or ‘fractions’ which come in small ticket sizes. Not only does this make commercial real estate more accessible, but it also means that an investor can diversify their investments across multiple properties and locations, thus reducing their risk.
2. Brings in expertise – Finding the right commercial property to invest, takes time, resources, and ample expertise. Strata’s team scours hundreds of properties and measures over a dozen different parameters before zeroing in on one that has the best combination of yield, stability, and value appreciation.
3. Improves liquidity – Owning to the easily transferable nature of the fractions, Strata brings liquidity to an otherwise rigid marketplace. Investors can list their fraction on its proprietary resale market, sell their holdings offline through a personal network or via Strata’s dedicated secondary window.
Word of mouth helped Strata acquire its first 100 investors. Strata’s business model is B2B, hence speaking to investors at personal level acquainted them to the idea of fractional investment whilst building confidence and trust in the brand. The concept of fractional investing is very big in USA and Europe and since the Strata team are bullish on B2B investment themselves, making these HNI investors understand the model was quite easy.
Strata’s transparent and data driven business model has helped it a lot in retaining clients. Strata’s Dashboard tracking system helps investors to track their investments. It’s exclusive partnership with PropStack has helped it a lot in order to keep the transparency with the investors
Strata – Products/Services and USP
Fractional investment allows the ownership of a fraction of a property by the investor. It is a very popular type of investment avenues in the USA. Whereas, fractional investment is one of the fast evolving investment concepts in India. Many people in India still donât know that they can own a premium commercial properties at an affordable pricing. There is a misconception that commercial properties are only for HNIs.
Fractional investment solves the misconception and democratizes the ownership of premium properties in an inexpensive manner. Investors earn higher rental yields and much better capital appreciation in the commercial properties which is not possible in case of residential property investments.
At Strata, the unique part of the business is that it is pure play backed by data. Data driven investment approach with insights on properties, locations, pricing and building specifications give a confidence and build trust among the investors. In addition to it the investment process are fully transparent in nature. Strata’s platform provides access to detailed reporting and fair pricing, declared upfront.
Strata title is a form of ownership devised for multi-level apartment blocks and horizontal subdivisions with shared areas. The word “strata” refers to apartments being on different levels. Lots are either apartments, garages or storerooms and each is shown on the title as being owned by a Lot Owner.
Strata Logo
Strata’s logo represents a robust and stable shape enclosed with Strata’s initials, conceptualized from the floor plans of the opportunities offered for ownership and growth by the organization.
Strata – Business Model and Revenue Model
Strata’s business model is B2B. Strata’s foundation is based on strong data analytics through its fractional investment model. Fractional ownership in commercial real estate provides platform where number of investors join together to invest in a real estate asset so that all of them can benefit from a share of the income that the asset generates, and any appreciation in the value of the property.
Strata’s Revenue model comprises of Management fee and profit share/performance fee.
Strata gets 0.5% to 1% as an annual property management fee from the investors. The management fee is a monthly charge on gross rent enjoyed by the investors. It is designed to cover the management of the SPV(Special Purpose Vehicle i.e. a partnership firm formed among the investors) and its assets.
Whereas the profit share/performance fee is payable on exit. This has been designed to reward investors, should the investment offered by Strata prove to be successful for the investor.
Strata is backed by marquee investors SAIF Partners, Mayfield Ventures, and PropStack. It recently raised Rs 140 crore to acquire 3 pre-leased warehouses amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
Considering the current scenario, rising volatility of the equity markets, extended periods of low interest rates and assets failing to offer intended results are driving investors, especially the long-term ones in deploying their funds in the asset class that is more reliable and offer better returns. With more and more awareness on the benefits of investing in premium commercial real estate through fractional route will help the industry to grow.
As a brand, Strata is focused on bringing in transparency and a data-driven approach to investments in real estate. Strata’s team is razor focused on growth and plan to cross 200 Cr. in AUM in 2021 and touch 1000 Cr. by 2022.
We are thus aiming to create Indiaâs largest tech-enabled real-estate investment platform with our fractional investment model – Says Sudarshan (Co-founder & CEO, Strata)
Strata aims to create Indiaâs largest tech-enabled real-estate investment platform with its fractional investment model. It plans to do this by expanding Strata’s partner base and by continuing to offer investors the best opportunities in commercial real estate. Strata’s team is razor focused on growth and plan to cross 200 Cr. in AUM in 2021 and touch 1000 Cr. by 2022.
Additionally, the team is also excited about the strategic investment from PropStack as it will help Strata get exclusive CRE intelligence and analytics, which in turn, will allow it to have an edge over other platforms in the ecosystem. Strata have over 1,500 users and has over 150 active investors on the platform.
Currently, Strata is operational in Bengaluru and Mumbai, It aims to create new investment opportunities in premium commercial properties and expand to other metro cities while strengthening the existing tech stack.
“Strata is constantly innovating and something we hope to soon offer is the ability for investors to finance their investment with a personal loan” – Says Sudarshan.
Strata – FAQs
What is Strata?
Strata offers investors an opportunity to invest in premium commercial properties at affordable prices with data driven insights. Fractional ownership in commercial real estate provides platform where investors join together to invest in a real estate asset and share the income that the asset generates.
Who are the founders of Strata?
Sudarshan Lodha (CEO) and Priyanka Rathore (COO/CTO) are the founders of Strata
What is fractional ownership in real estate?
Fractional ownership in commercial real estate provides platform where number of investors join together to invest in a real estate asset so that all of them can benefit from a share of the income that the asset generates, and any appreciation in the value of the property.
How does Strata make money?
Strata’s Revenue model comprises of Management fee and profit share/performance fee. Strata gets 0.5% to 1% as an annual property management fee from the investors. The profit share/performance fee is payable on exit.
Who is the CEO of Strata?
Sudarshan Lodha is the co-founder and CEO of Strata.
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 Figg.
There are multiple financial decisions that one makes in a day, be it a minor or major transaction. But, in order to make an optimal decision, it is important to consider all the factors regarding it like future prospects, current budget, income, expenses etc. Here, comes the role of FIGG!
Figg brings all the material data to one place automatically and helps users understand the impact of their financial decisions. In simple words, FIGG analyses the finances and expenses of users and then makes suggestions on how to go about it. Is attempts to answer questions like – Whether to buy a certain product, say, TV? or How optimal is this investment based on future plans?
StartupTalky interviewed Sachin Gupta, the founder of Figg, to know the Journey of Figg and how it is going help people make better financial decisions. Also get a glance on Figg Business model, startup idea, Figg App features, founder and more…
Figg helps users make better financial decisions. The Figg App is available on android only. However, the team is planning to launch the iOS version soon and later a web application.
If you think about it, most of the financial advice available on the internet is quite generic in nature. FIGG also helps users by providing personalized advice based on their financial situation without much effort from users – Says Sachin Gupta, Founder, Figg
Figg Logo
Figg team has built its own in-house Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP)/ ML engine to process financial transactions and statements. The NLP engine extracts useful financial information from text without explicitly being aware of the source. Figg collects financial information by analyzing the transaction statements received by the user via SMS or emails. It uses machine learning (ML) algorithms to analyze the data and makes suggestions to the user for better financial decisions.
Figg is monitored by Google for security and data leak concerns. The Figg app has also undertaken a security review with Bishop Fox, a US-based security firm.
âWe follow all best practices – from strong passwords for the system to encryption of the sensitive data. All the data is kept encrypted at rest” Sachin says
Impact Calculator and Affordability Calculator are the main features offered by Figg.
Impact Calculator & Affordability Calculator: Using this feature any user can check how making certain financial decisions will impact their financial well-being. For example, if a youngster with limited financial resources buys an iPhone, this might impact their monthly commitments as well. However, for a person with a high salary, buying an iPhone wonât even make any difference other than fewer investments during the period. These features help people make informed decisions.
Another important feature of Figg is the simplified score to represent usersâ financial health. Finance is complex and has different aspects (savings, investments, loans, credits, expenses, etc.). It is quite difficult to track and understand the impact of different aspects for a user. Figg has built a proprietary score to represent user financial health.
Sachin is an engineer by profession and holds MS in AI/ML from IIIT Hyderabad. He has experience in building large scale systems in AI and ML. Before starting FIGG, he worked at Google in the Fintech domain, catching fraud financial transactions. Sachin began his career with Rediff.com working directly with Ajit Balakrishnan.
FIGG Founders and Team
Currently, Figg has a team of 9 and headquartered in Hyderabad. The team is a mix of people from technical and non-technical background. Sachin Gupta (Founder of FIGG) works from California, while his team from Hyderabad.
Figg – Ideation and Startup Journey
Finoramic initially was a B2B player and was associated with other fintech companies. However, the company realized that the platformâs capabilities were not utilized at best & all noticed that slow adoption. Therefore, Finoramic pulled out B2B and introduced B2C as Figg App.
From Sachin’s personal experience, he noted that making financial decisions is quite difficult given the complex financial landscape. Most of the time, users keep delaying financial decisions or keep money at the wrong places or take advice from the wrong people.
Sachin realized that there were many apps that made it very easy to invest in shares or mutual funds, but there wasn’t any player in the market, who could give the user a comprehensive financial view and help in everyday financial decisions.
Questions like – Should I buy an iPhone or an Android? Will going on a Europe trip right now affect my future finances? These are simple questions but important to one’s financial well being or health
“However, the major eureka moment happened when a bank agent sold my 60-year-old mother a ULIP policy. My mother didn’t need an insurance policy at this age, as she is financially sound and there weren’t any liabilities” recalls Sachin (Founder & CEO, Figg)
Figg was launched recently in September 2020. It currently has a user base of over 20,000. The Figg team started working on the platform in 2017. Their initial focus was to build the backbone of the platform. At the end of 2019, the team started to build a consumer app, Figg.
Sachin (The founder & CEO of Figg) believes that although millennials and Gen Z people are digitally savvy, they’ve got limited financial understanding. Moreover, There is no personal connections for financial advice in the city lived by most of them. Keeping all things aside, Digital Savvy group is a good user base for Figg Application.
Figg – Business Model and Revenue Model
Figg app was launched in September 2020 and is currently not generating revenue. As the app would gain momentum and records more users, the company will go for a freemium model. That is, users will be charged between Rs 30 to 50 for value-added services.
Finoramic (Figg’s parent company) has raised two rounds of seed funding from angel investors. (The startup didn’t reveal financial and investor details)
Figg – Competitors
Figg’s top competitors are Mint, Spendee, Expensify, and Pocket Expense, among others. Though the competitors’ apps are similar, there exists a minute difference. While other apps focus on better money management, Figg also analyzes and helps users understand the future impact of their decisions.
Figg’s goal is to have 100,000 users by year end 2021. In the long term, it wants to become the default financial advisor for anyone seeking financial advice.
Figg – FAQS
What is Figg?
Figg helps users make better financial decisions. The Figg App is available on android only. Figg analyses the finances and expenses of users and then makes suggestions on how to go about it.
Who is the founder of Figg?
Sachin Gupta is the CEO and Founder of Figg
Is Figg Free?
The company will go for a freemium model. That is, users will be charged between Rs 30 to 50 for value-added services. But the basic features, will be for free.
When was Figg founded?
Figg was founded in 2017 and launched in September 2020.
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 GNEISS.
Global Network Encryption Investment Security Services (GNEISS) is one of the most Trustable Forex Trading Technology Solution Providers. GNEISS is the First Decentralized P2P free marketplace built on top of the Bitcoin and Ethereum Blockchains. It aims to be the most advanced Fintech security service while providing the public alternatives to existing government registration and banking services.
Founded by Michael Morton and Hunter Enoch in 2016, Global Network Encryption Investment Security Services (GNEISS) will provide a trustless Peer to Peer system where everyone has equal access to all free-market and government registry functions – Only requirement is an internet connection.
GNEISS – Company Highlights
Organization Name
Global Network Encryption Investment Security Service Inc (GNEISS)
Accepted in Venture Summit, West 2019 (Only 3 blockchain companies could present)
Clients
1,180+ users and growing
Website
gneiss.io
StartupTalky interviewed Michael Morton (founder & CEO of GNEISS) to know the Journey of GNEISS by shedding some light on GNEISS vision, work culture, growth, business model, Forex trading technology services, USP & more….
1. Tell us about the inception of GNEISS & How has the journey been for the company so far?
GNEISS was founded by Michael Morton and Hunter Enoch in December 2016 after over 1.5+ years of designing and coding. Since itâs initial Alpha launch, GNEISS has already launched itâs Beta and finished the stage 1 of the project by the end of 2020. To get to finish stage 1 with no big investors was no easy chore but with the help of One Brick Tech and several other companies we made the impossible possible.
2. How do you integrate the 2 biggest block chains: Bitcoin and Ethereum? How did it help you to provide best-in-class Forex trading technology services?
GNEISS integrates the two biggest blockchains: Bitcoin and Ethereum. Bitcoin is the crypto-gold standard for trading, while Ethereum powers and logs every crypto-asset and smart contract function on the GNEISS network. Using the biggest and most technologically advanced blockchains gives us a huge edge over other Forex FinTech companies running their own private blockchains or even running everything with no blockchain at all with a centralized server.
GNEISS Logo
3. Shed some light on your Forex trading technology services? What kind of responses have you received from customers over the years
GNEISS started out with giving people the power to easily create their own ERC-20 token for trading but that was just the Alpha. Since then we have incorporated the most advanced smart contracts in the industry designed to work with a ERC-20 token to allow users to mint/burn coins, add transaction taxes, add interest rates, and even securitize that ERC-20 token asset with other crypto.
Using the secure feature where a user could store BTC, ETH, or any other ERC-20 token gives users the ease of mind knowing that the value is there regardless and if the collateralâs value ever drops below the agreed contract support level then the collateral is instantly liquidated and sent proportionally to those who owned the now liquidated coin. Having secured contracts also makes GNEISS the first âTrustless Economyâ which economists have been trying to accomplish for decades by decentralizing banking power to the people rather than just a few thousand banks.
Customers who have tried our platform all say that itâs pretty cool. Some wonder how they will use the new found technology but everybody who has seen it or tried it thinks it could be the next big thing. So far we have 265+ accounts which is growing each day. We hope and aim to be the leader in this blockchain FinTech industry by creating a whole new type of economy which will open the door to never before seen business models
4. What is the work culture at Global Network Encryption Investment Security Services? How do you create a sense of belongingness?
The work culture from day one has been the typical future billion dollar startup founded out of a home garage only we didnât have a garage. Most meetings are over the phone or through certain text platforms like Slack or Discord.
The times which we have face to face meetings are usually at some restaurant or bar. By not having an office we save a bunch of money that we can reinvest elsewhere to build up the product. Once we are trading over a $1 million dollars a week weâll look at getting a decent sized office in the British Virgin Islands and Charlotte, North Carolina. Everybody in the company has a great sense of belonging since they know their helping change the world for the better. While supporting American values of freedom, free markets, and fair business.
The mission of GNEISS is to decentralize banking completely by letting everyone have their own banking ledger and using GNEISS as their preferred decentralized P2P free market platform.
6. What differentiates GNEISS from other Forex Trading Technology Solution providers in the industry?
By installing and running a GNEISS node any user can run the app outside of their web browser securely through blockchain tech and have it act as a 21st century military encrypted Bloomberg terminal. Thus making GNEISS easily the most secure platform on the market right now since most donât even use blockchain tech.
GNEISS is decentralized by 300 Spartan nodes that run the platform along with all the other nodes that double check and verify the GNEISS blockchain. Spartan nodes are chosen from those running basic nodes by having a high enough credit score, Tier 2 verification, and random chance in GNEISSâs Proof of Trust blockchain model. To upgrade the system â âs of the Spartan Nodes need to vote in favor.
8. What does the future hold for GNEISS? What are the Milestones that you seek to achieve in the years to come?
The future of GNEISS after we finish stage 1 completely, will be to then add a networking tab inside the GNEISS app that will look similar to Slack and Discord but be using highly secured and encrypted blockchain to achieve total personal privacy.
By Q2, 2020 GNEISS will incorporate loans and make our credit scoring system public so merchants have another accurate credit report to go by. Lastly by end of 2021 we should have our first gold/silver/crypto ATMs built with a couple distributed in select areas. These plans only run through the end of 2021 too.
Within 10 years, GNEISS aims to become a fully decentralized free market place with all the functions one could find on wall street.
GNEISS is the First Decentralized P2P free marketplace built on top of the Bitcoin and Ethereum Blockchains.
Creation and trading of ERC20 Tokens that are registered on the platform can be traded with Bitcoin (Free Bitcoin transactions due to Lightning Network).
Creation and Registration of ERC20 Tokens on the GNEISS Platform allow users to instantly create markets for their project. The users tokens can be traded with Bitcoin (free transactions through LN) to any other ERC20 token that is registered on the GNEISS platform (900+ trading pairs).
GNEISS gives the user the ability to store and trade BTC, ETH or any other ERC20 token on Ethereumâs Blockchain.
Users can utilize GNEISS Decentralized Registry to register their Birth Certificate, Car, House, etc. on the blockchain. This allows users to access these legally binding files from anywhere in the world rather than depend on a safety deposit box or fire safe (Untrustworthy 3rd Party)Birth, death, marriage certificates, Register car, house, boat, spaceship or âotherâ registration to register anything you want.
Match your Birth Certificate with Tier 2 GNEISS verification for globally recognized identification.
Free Marketplace – opening up free trade to the world by creating a decentralized free marketplace with the most advanced computer and network security on the market.
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 TrueFan.
The celebrity-fan engagement industry in India is on a very nascent stage and the existent Connection between Fans and Celebrities is just unbelievable! With TrueFan platform, the team aims to fulfill the dreams of millions of fans in India and provide them with the most meaningful celebrity engagement experiences with their favorite celebrities.
Nimish Goelm, Nevaid Aggarwal and Devender Bindalack founded TrueFan, when they realized the lack of personal accessibility by fans to their favorite celebrities. In an urge to bridge this gap, TrueFan was born!
StartupTalky interviewed Nimish Goelm (Co-founder & CEO, TrueFan) to know the Success Story of TrueFan and also get a glance on TrueFan’s business model, how it started, growth, founders, revenue model, funding & more…
TrueFan is a platform that aspires to connect fans to their favorite celebrities in the most personal and meaningful ways.
It caters to the everyday Indian audience whoâve grown up enacting dialogues from Bollywood movies, copied hairdos of their beloved âheroesâ & âheroinesâ or turned into bathroom-singers with their favorite love songs. TrueFan allows these very âtrue fansâ to interact with their dream stars at a price that does not hit the pocket.
“What the platform aims is to celebrate the true spirit of Indian Fandom and provide fans access to A list celebrities like never before” Says TrueFan Team
There are around 300 million Indians, who head to the cinemas to watch movies, coupled with a large audience base for tv shows and sports, especially cricket. Taking this into consideration, the market size is as large as it can be. While the country preaches its utmost devotion towards stars, the access to them is either via social media/ through interviews/paparazzi shoots. The celebrity-fan engagement industry in India is on a very nascent stage. With social media, the interaction fans have with celebrities is usually a one-way street and passive where a fan is probably dropping hundreds of comments but all of these mostly go unnoticed.
While COVID- 19 has posed restrictions, the demand for celebrity fan engagement platforms has increased. Fans want access to their beloved stars and these platforms cater to that need. The coming years will see exponential growth for this industry which is currently very nascent in India. While many other platforms exist, influential celebrity connect platforms try to provide a meaningful and personalized experience to the users
Nevaid Aggarwal, Devender Bindal and Nimish Goelm (CEO) are the founders of TrueFan
TrueFan has a 40 member team in total and is growing across the two offices in India.
Nimish Goelm – founder & CEO, TrueFan
TrueFan – Startup Idea
India is a country that worships celebrities, the connection seems quite distant but in a way is very personal. The TrueFan founders realized that this issue of devotion towards the superstars and the lack of personal accessibility to them needed to be bridged. Hereâs when TrueFan came into being.
With this platform, the team aims to fulfill the dreams of millions of fans in India and provide them with the most meaningful engagement experiences with their favorite celebrities.
“I have been a fanboy all my life. It was an almost surreal experience of gate-crashing a wedding to meet my idol, Virat Kohli that put me in the shoes of millions of Indian fans out there” Says Nimish Goelm(founder & CEO, TrueFan)
The TrueFan platform is simple and easy to use. All that the user has to do is
Answer a series of fun questions around the life of their favorite celebrity/s
The winner, or in this case, the ‘TrueFanâ, stands a chance to win a personalized video message from his/her favorite star.
While all the other fans get assured cashbacks. Thus, the platform operates on an easy win-win module that has something for everyone.
TrueFan Application
TrueFan USP –
While there are many existing players in the market, TrueFan platform is completely different from them. It has focused on partnering with only leading celebrities (A listers exclusively). TrueFan’s business is based on gamification and fun. Where it encourages fans to play simple quizzes to win video messages versus making them a one-off transactional purchase.
“Our name is our philosophy. Itâs simple and easy to understand. TrueFan. Pure, sharp appealing and yet quite broad” adds Nimish Goelm
TrueFan Logo
TrueFan – Business Model and Revenue Model
Users are asked to pay a nominal feeto play quizzes on TrueFan platform. The winner gets a personalized video from the said celebrity, other players receive cashbacks on the basis of their rank in the game.
“We wanted to price our product in a manner that it can be accessed by a larger mass of the country. The true aspirational value we want to create is for the personalized videos, cashback is just a way to ensure that there is something in the bucket for everyone” Says Nimish, Founder, TrueFan
Post-closing the first funding round in August 2020, the team launched the TrueFan platform in September 2020. TrueFan announced its exclusive partnership with the biggest names of Bollywood, Kareena Kapoor, Ranveer Singh, Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff. While something like this was never seen before, it felt surreal to a lot of fans at first.
TrueFan team reached out to users to ensure smooth transaction and to make their experience with the celebrity more meaningful and personalized. This process helped it gain a lot of first hand feedback on the product and provided an eagle view from the consumerâs lens.
The fact that the product fulfilled deep desire of fans to get an interaction from their favorite celebrity, its amazing to find that some have played more than 100 paid quizzes. And âpaidâ is the most important word here. Since, TrueFan is a user- centric platform, it used social media and google ads to target the demographic extensively
TrueFan started during COVID. Although the pandemic did not pose many challenges, as it is a tech based product. But getting its name recognized in the market and building a unique identity for TrueFan was the challenging bit.
“Since our value proposition is like none of the existing players in the market, TrueFan is gradually building a user base of its own” adds Nimish
TrueFan – Milestones and Current Status
TrueFan is headquartered in New Delhi and operates at two locations, Mumbai and Delhi.
Two of the biggest milestones in TrueFan’s journey so far have been the funding received and partnerships with some of the biggest household names of Bollywood.
Founders did a lot of research while giving shape to the product and then pitched it to leading talent and their management teams. TrueFan team was happy to have received a great response from them and that has led to successful partnerships
TrueFan – Funding and Investors
TrueFan raised a seed round of $4.3 million in August 2020. This funding round was led by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayfield India and Saama Capital
Date
Amount
Stage
Investors
August 2020
$4.3 Million
Seed
Ronnie Screwvala, Mayfield India and Saama Capital
The celebrity- fan engagement space in India is still growing, there are quite a few players existing in the market, Gonuts, Unlu, Tring and Wysh. Â Cameo, which is platform of the similar kind is considered as the largest player internationally
TrueFan – Future Plans
TrueFan’s short term goals lie in expanding its user base and celebrity portfolio. It wants to partner with A- listers from all walks of life (Music, Sports and more). While for the long run, TrueFan aims to build a 360 degree celebrity-fan engagement platform with a lot more features that enable fans to form communities and consume quality content that will be curated by platform.
TrueFan – FAQs
What is TrueFan?
TrueFan is a platform that aspires to connect fans to their favourite celebrities in the most personal and meaningful ways.
Who are the founders of TrueFan?
TrueFan was co-founded by Nevaid Aggarwal, Devender Bindal and Nimish Goelm in January 2020.
How much funding has TrueFan raised?
TrueFan raised a seed round of $4.3 million in August 2020. This funding round was led by Ronnie Screwvala, Mayfield India and Saama Capital
How does TrueFan make money?
Users are asked to pay a nominal fee to play quizzes on TrueFan platform. The winner gets a personalized video from the said celebrity, other players receive cashbacks on the basis of their rank in the game.
Who are Truefan’s competitors?
Gonuts, Unlu, Tring, Wysh and Cameo are the major competitors of TrueFan.
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 Digvijaya Herbals
Digvijaya Herbals, a startup founded in 2019, has already earned around INR 3 crore in 2021. It is looking forward for 100 crore milestone in next 5 years.
Founded by Dr. Disha Dinakar and Mrs. Vijaya Dinakar, Digvijaya Herbals specializes in skincare, haircare, health & wellness products. The mother-daughter duo is redefining the beauty and wellness industry like never before! Let’s have a look on the startup journey of Digvijaya Herbals.
StartupTalky interviewed Dr. Disha Dinakar (co-founder of Digvijaya Herbals) to know the Success Story of Digvijaya Herbals and also get a glance on its business model, products, founders, how Digvijaya Herbals started & more.
Digvijaya Herbals specialize in skin, hair care, health & wellness products made from the purest ingredients & high-quality raw materials.
Its vision – ‘To develop unique organic beauty and wellness products which will be useful to everybody irrespective of age or gender’
Digvijaya Herbals is already spread across globe, by opening up its distribution outlets in Singapore and Sri Lanka and soon it is are going to reach Middle East.
“Another interesting fact about the brand is itâs a strict women driven force. We are opening a 85,000 sq. feet unit within 3 months which will hire many more women to support the brand” says Disha, c0-founder, Digvijaya Herbals
Digvijaya Herbals Pvt ltd. was founded in 2019 by Dr. Disha Dinakar and Mrs. Vijaya Dinakar, the mother-daughter duo.
Mr. MN Dinakar (Father of Dr. Disha Dinakar) is the Chairman of Digvijaya Group.
Mrs. Vijaya Dinakar (Mother of Dr. Disha Dinakar) is the managing Director of the firm. She has been the mastermind for Digvijaya.
“It is an all women run brand with 15 employees” proudly says Dr. Disha, Co-founder, Digvijaya Herbals
Dr. Disha Dinakar – Co-founder, Digvijaya Herbals
Digvijaya Herbals – Ideation/How it Started?
Indian market is vast with a wide range of beauty & health products. Most of them seem aesthetically pleasing but sadly enough, the labels have harmful chemical names mentioned in some corner. With too much love for authenticity, Digvijaya was born.
“My mother and I are strong believers of organic products and their benefits. We both read every label before we purchase out of curiosity” Disha added
Disha’s father, Mr. MN Dinakar has spent 3 decades in the Middle East. He is an entrepreneur himself & heâs also the chairman of Digvijaya group. Disha was born and raised in Oman. She moved to India to purse her studies.
“My mother and father have been my pillars of strength and have extended their immense support due to which Iâm able to juggle between my practice and business” says Disha.
Digvijaya herbals have 100% natural, handcrafted organic products which work gently yet yield miraculous results. It uses cold pressed carrier oils, essential oils which are unprocessed and sourced from other parts of the world. Digvijaya Products are branded with the name ‘Duh’.
Some of its best sellers are the Duh metabolic enhancer kit, Duh no-hair wax powder, Duh overnight repair gel and Duh hair growth kit.
Digvijaya Herbals Products
With little too much love for authenticity, Digvijaya Herbals have a lot more to offer than just the products alone. It provides health and lifestyle guidelines too. Dr. Disha herself interacts with the clients to ensure they get the best out of what they try & believes that customer satisfaction is the topmost priority! The company & products are ISO, FDA, GMP, organic production certified.
Digvijaya Herbals aims on creating a global awareness on the gradual, sustainable results of organic products, most importantly without any side effects.
Digvijaya Products are branded with the name ‘Duh’. The founder of Digvijaya Herbals mentioned that the name of the brand DUH came up out of nowhere (as said like, Duh ! ) but it sounded more pleasing if pronounce as Doo… hence pronounced this way.
Digvijaya Herbals Logo
Digvijaya Herbals – Business Model and Revenue Model
Digvijaya Herbals works on a B2C business model. It has a wide range of skincare, haircare, health and wellness products. It sells exclusively on its website and via social media platforms.
The company is planning to enter Ecommerce portals and offline sales by the end of 2021, via self-funding.
Digvijaya Herbals – Startup Launch and Marketing Strategy
Digvijaya was born only with the vision of curating effective range of beauty, health and wellness products with natureâs gifted ingredients.
“I launched the brand and promoted it with my friends without letting them know it was mine. So my friends who saw tremendous results recommended their friends so my first 100 customers were my friends , friends of friends itself!” added Disha
Customer support & feedback are considered very seriously by the team at Digvijaya Herbals. No matter, how busy the founders are, they personally cater to the clients’ queries and concerns.
Its primary marketing strategy has been on social media platforms.“As I personally have a verified profile with a strong media presence I initially utilized the same to create an awareness of our brand” says the founder.
No compromise on quality! the team hasnât focused much on the packaging but have put in the best for the products. All its essential oils are procured from the Middle East and most of the herbal ingredients are sourced from Digvijaya farm itself.
Last 2 years, the team has been focusing only on social media marketing, influencer marketing and word of mouth by clients, nothing else ! Now, it has entered other selling platforms as well. For marketing, the brand spend a few lakhs every month. Itâs termed important as the market is very competitive so creating brand awareness is important as said by Dr. Disha.
One of the major challenge faced by Disha was to manage her full-time practice and cater to clients’ needs. It was quite challenging at the start as the team had to spend a sufficient amount of time for R & D of every ingredient and get the formulations right. Apart from that, reaching out to the customers, as an absolutely new brand.
But from day 1 till date, Disha personally interacts with her clients.
“Iâm glad that my mother stood by me as a pillar of strength due to which it made it easier to manage between my practice and business. Tough times donât last for long. All we gotta do is hold on, work harder, Utilize given rime for research & ideas and patience is the key” expressed by Disha
Digvijaya Herbals – Growth and Revenue
Digvijaya Herbals, a startup founded in 2019, has almost touched 3 Crrevenue in the second financial year i.e., 2021.
It will be a dream to Achieve a 100 CR milestone in next 5 years – added Disha
The brand already has a wide range of 140 products and is looking forward to launch many more beauty, health & wellness products in the next few years which will be result oriented, made with natural & pure ingredients. Digvijaya has its distribution outlets in Singapore and SriLanka. It is looking forward to take it to Middle East as well.
Digvijaya Herbals – Advisors and Mentors
Dr. Disha Dinakar says that her mother (Vijaya Dinakar) has been the forever mentor and the mastermind of Digvijaya Herbals. She stood by Disha as a pillar of strength.
With a range of over 140 products, Digvijaya Herbals is looking forward to launch many more beauty, health & wellness products in the next few years. It will be result oriented – made with natural & pure ingredients. With distributor outlets in Singapore and SriLanka, the team is planning to take it to Middle East as well. Apart from this, Digvijaya Herbals is aiming for INR 100 crore as a revenue milestone in next 5 years.
Digvijaya Herbals – FAQs
Who are the founders of Digvijaya Herbals?
Digvijaya Herbals Pvt ltd. was founded in 2019 by Dr. Disha Dinakar and Mrs. Vijaya Dinakar, the mother-daughter duo.
What is Digvijaya Herbals?
Digvijaya Herbals specialize in skin, hair care, health & wellness products made from the purest ingredients & high-quality raw materials.
How much is the revenue of Digvijaya Herbals?
Digvijaya Herbals is a startup founded in 2019, it has almost touched 3 Cr revenue in the second financial year i.e. in 2021.
How Digvijaya Herbals make money?
Digvijaya Herbals works on a B2C business model. It has a wide range of skincare, haircare, health and wellness products. It sells exclusively on its website and via social media platforms.
Are the products of Digvijaya Herbals safe?
Digvijaya Herbals & its products are ISO, FDA, GMP, organic production certified. Hence, it is safe.
Vidhi Punamiya
