StartupTalky

Tag: travelers

  • PickYourTrail – A Success Story of How It is Making Vacation Planning a Breeze!

    Till now what most of the travelers have been doing while booking international trips is to either book a pre-made package where one gets to see what the travel agents want to show, or go unplanned and explore things locally. However, there are drawbacks in both these ways. In pre-made packages, one has to rush through all or selected important tourist spots irrespective of one’s interest and do not get much time to experience and feel the destination. Again, going without a plan to a new destination can turn out to be a perfect disaster without proper knowledge and guidance. But thankfully now, there is a third way too, to plan your international trip. Pickyourtrail, a Chennai based travel startup is here to plan trips which are specially customized as per your interest, travel duration, etc. With these customized trips, one can explore a place at his own pace, while Pickyourtrail takes care of all the nuisances like hotel booking, activity booking and more.

    Pickyourtrail Highlights

    Startup Name Pickyourtrail
    Headquarter Chennai
    Founders Hari Ganapathy & Srinath Shankarnarayanan
    Sector Travel and Tourism
    Founded 2014
    Website PickYourTrail.com
    Parent Organization Travel Troops Global Pvt Ltd

    About Pickyourtrail
    Pickyourtrail – Industry
    Pickyourtrail – Founders and Team
    Pickyourtrail – Startup Story | How was Pickyourtrail Started?
    Pickyourtrail – Name, Tagline and Logo
    Pickyourtrail – Launching Startup
    Pickyourtrail – Revenue Model
    Pickyourtrail – Funding and Investors
    Pickyourtrail – User Acquisition
    Pickyourtrail – Startup Challenges
    Pickyourtrail – Competitors
    Pickyourtrail – Growth
    Pickyourtrail – Awards
    Pickyourtrail – Future Plans

    About Pickyourtrail

    Pickyourtrail helps travelers plan for their vacations without the pain involved in the planning. The platform uses deep-tech to let travelers create, customize and book international vacations in a jiffy. Pickyourtrail’s proprietary comfort score considers more than 40 factors like duration, travel time, ratings, etc to build personalized itineraries that travelers can further customize  & book. After the trip is booked, travelers can use Pickyourtrail’s app to keep track of bookings and get real-time information on flight and weather updates, restaurant recommendations and on-trip chat support.

    In February 2020, Pickyourtrail announced partnership with fintech company ZestMoney to provide consumers with flexible payment options for booking itineraries.  Pickyourtrail customers will now be able to book travel packages at No Cost EMIs, along with options to ‘Travel now, pay later in 3 easy installments. Through this partnership, Pickyourtrail aims to build a wider customer base.

    Some USPs of Pickyourtrail are–

    •    Trips are 100% customizable
    •    All-round support is provided to the traveler during the trip
    •    The travelers get to choose from unlimited traveling options based on one’s own  requirements
    •    Trips are tailored in a pocket-friendly manner.

    Our goal is to become one of the top travel brands globally when it comes to vacations. Given that we have the piping/infrastructure in place in terms of automated bookings, independent modules there are a lot of opportunities for us to tap into newer businesses – Hari Ganapathy

    Pickyourtrail – Industry

    As per various reports, the total outbound travel market will be valued at about $40Bn by 2020. As per a recent WTO Report, India will account for 50 million outbound tourists by 2020. Again, as per a report by a leading OTA in India, the total outbound “online” market is $3.3B.  If you take in the global vacation market, that is a much larger number.

    “We strongly believe that this is neither a winner takes it all market nor a shrinking pie; there is a large headroom for growth for us,” Hari says explaining the outbound travel market.

    Top 10 New Trends in Business Travel In 2019
    The world of business travel is rapidly changing and keeping up to date with itslatest trends and shifts can help startup companies and small businesses aliketo identify the opportunities and capitalize on it. Without further ado, hereare the top ten trends in business travel you must be preparin…
    StartupTalkyLakshya Singh

    Pickyourtrail – Founders and Team

    Hari Ganapathy and Srinath Shankarnarayanan are the founders of Pickyourtrail. Hari and Shankar are friends since college days. Both the founders are passionate travelers and it is their love for travel that motivated them to start Pickyourtrail.

    Hari Ganapathy

    Hari Ganapathy is an alumnus of IIM Bangalore. Prior to founding Pickyourtrail, Hari worked with prestigious companies like  Cognizant  Technology Solution, Macquarie Bank, Britannia Industries Limited, Reckitt Benckiser and InMobi.

    Srinath Shankarnarayanan

    Srinath Shankarnarayanan is the calm that every organisation needs. His ability to break down the everyday chaos into digestible smaller units is priceless. Srinath enjoys both math and aeroplane modeling! He is the brain behind the routing, pricing and personalization algorithm at Pickyourtrail. He holds a Bachelors in Mathematics and an MBA from NMIMS Bombay. His ability to talk across subjects right from Sitcoms, bikes, wartime books, plane building to complex algorithms make him a great person to hang out with!

    Team PickyourTrail

    Pickyourtrail – Startup Story | How was Pickyourtrail Started?

    Pickyourtrail began as an attempt to break how vacations are currently been planned and booked by travelers. The seed to all this began in August 2012 when co-founders – Hari & Srinath went on a Europe trip.

    Ardent travelers themselves, the duo had put in more than 2 months to fully craft their vacation. This included planning end-end, bookings, and visa processing. It was during their trip they stumbled upon fellow travelers who were all on packaged tours. Interacting with them, Hari & Srinath understood they were literally rushed between destinations and their urge to discover new experiences wasn’t fulfilled. The travelers, on the other hand, were amazed to see the flexibility Hari and Srinath had in their itinerary and that piqued their interest.

    Once back home, the duo was bombarded with pings asking for details on how they went about planning the entire trip. These interactions slowly multiplied and this lead to an idea that changed their career roadmaps forever!

    Pickyourtrail was a name that embodied choice and travel.

    “In fact we got early customers calling it Pickmytrail and luckily we got that domain as well :)” Hari says.

    Initially, Pickyourtrail’s tagline was, Stop Touring, Start Travelling, this was easily relatable to the new age travelers who didn’t want to be tourists. That was also in sync with the company’s early goals of getting more folks to travel at their own pace and style. The company’s current tagline is ‘Unwrap the World’.

    “As we matured and built a brand, we now have moved to Unwrap the World. We believe this helps us position the brand globally and has a lot more emotional layers than the earlier one” – Hari says explaining the thought behind the tagline

    Pickyourtrail’s first logo was aimed around a play on infinite options that were possible if we traveled.

    Pickyourtrail’s first logo

    The current logo was re-built with the need that the old logo could not easily fit into various shapes and color backgrounds. Pickyourtrail wanted to move to a logo which could scale across collaterals and use cases. The new logo symbolizes a flag and P and a baggage tag as well. The ideation behind this was – a flag is generally used to symbolize a group of people united by a cause or value system.

    Pickyourtrail’s current logo

    Pickyourtrail – Launching Startup

    Pickyourtrail was  launched initially as an activity market place – the positioning was – “when was the last time you did something for the first time?” While there was a lot of traffic on the product, the traffic to conversion was quite low. Interacting with the customers, the team realized the biggest problem was no hook to book. With hotels and flights, pricing and availability were strong hooks. With an activity, there was no real hook. In this process, they realized that planning an end to end vacation was a huge hassle.
    This time around the team decided to just build a minimum viable product for end-to-end travel planning, and had a simple landing page. This got Pickyourtrail almost 10000 sign-ups in the first few weeks and there was no looking back!

    Pickyourtrail’s initial landing page which attracted 10000+ signups within a few weeks

    Looking at the great interest that people showed towards end to end travel planning, Pickyourtrail launched VEHO in 2016 –this was its first attempt at building a product where travelers can create, customize, and book vacations online.

    “We were quite skeptical about market response and hence launched it under a new name VEHO. We scaled Bali on the back of VEHO and then brought it back under the mother brand in 2017” – said the Pickyourtrail founders.

    Pickyourtrail – Revenue Model

    Pickyourtrail earns revenue from affiliate commissions or partner commissions that come in from the partners with whom the bookings are done.

    Pickyourtrail – Funding and Investors

    Pickyourtrail raised series A funding worth $3 Million in February 2019. The company further raised an undisclosed sum on March 22, 2022, from a clutch of investors including CRED founder and CEO Kunal Shah, Adit Parekh, Vina Ahuja and other existing investors. The total amount raised by Pickyourtral is more than $3 mn.

    Funding Date Funding Stage Funding Amount Investors
    March 22, 2022 Venture Round Kunal Shah, Adit Parekh, Vina Ahuja and other existing investors
    February 18, 2019 Series A $3 Million Kumar Vembu and Shyam Sekhar and j joined by Rajagopal Subramanian and Girish Mathrubootham

    Pickyourtrail – User Acquisition

    Pickyourtrail acquired its first set of customers from referrals and word of mouth.
    “When a product or service solves long-standing pain points of customers, it accrues good karma. I still remember how our first landing page (personalized vacations, crafted by travelers) was a huge hit! We got 1000 sign-ups within a week. Our emails kept buzzing. And we actually had to start charging folks to start sending itineraries cos there was so much demand”Hari recalls

    Speaking about Pickyourtail’s approach to customers Hari says,“I think like most good products or services, there is always a latent demand and we seem to have hit that wall with our clear positioning. The challenge has been to continue the same amount of quality even as we scale. Every customer whom we brought on board was not a transaction but a longer LTV(Lifetime Value) view. That view has helped us build trust and build the ever-increasing repeat and referral cohort!”

    Pickyourtrail also used social media extensively to reach out to customers

    “The first step was to ensure that we had enough followers on the Facebook page. This was around 2013 and Facebook still let you bulk invite friends to like pages. We ensured that every single friend of ours helped us gain more followers by inviting folks”.Pickyourtrail  concentrated on posting original travel content that was inspirational. This helped the company gain a lot of engagement on the page without having to actually spend.

    In between, Pickyourtrail also dabbled some ideas in Twitter where it would automatically be alerted for any tweet with vacation/itinerary. The team would jump in and answer those questions and plug Pickyourtrail.

    The next hack that worked for Pickyourtrail was sending interesting offers to its subscriber base. Over the first 6 months, the company managed to get up to 5000 email user base and that short tactical campaign helped them garner more monies.

    Hari shared another interesting technique that the Pickyourtrail team employed to get customers on board “At one point we went into competitor Facebook pages and pulled out numbers of folks who were requesting for an itinerary and called them. You would be surprised that almost 8/10 folks were unhappy with the competitor cos nobody would have responded. So we tweaked our strategy a bit and started calling folks only after a couple of days :)”

    The Pickyourtrail team also used groups in FB wisely.

    Rather than  promoting itself, the Pickyourtrail team used its travel knowledge to answer questions in those groups and at the same time spoke about Pickyourtrail.

    Besides, answering on Quora also worked for the company. Pickyourtrail answered about everything under the sun with respect to outbound vacations which helped it attract more customers.

    Currently, Pickyourtrail is actively running campaigns (paid/organic) to grow its customer base and deliver happiness.

    If we had to reflect on the initial strategy – it was around building good content and distributing it. Be it FB, Twitter, Quora. And this when combined with some tactical strategies like Twitter lead alerts, or FB groups it worked quite well. Once we had a flow of customers our execution capabilities ensured that the cycle of repeat and referral kicked in as well.

    MakeMyTrip Success Story – Founder | Business Model | Revenue
    More Indians are now booking tickets and hotels online than ever before. Nothingcan beat the comfort of being able to plan a trip from the comfort of your home.You can check out the prices and compare them to get the best out of the deal. A company that holds a major share in the Indian online …
    StartupTalkyShubham Kumar

    Pickyourtrail – Startup Challenges

    Hiring and scaling the tech team was one of the main challenges Pickyourtrail faced early on. Another issue that existed was that many supply partners did not have an online presence, making things tough for the Pickyourtrail team.

    As Hari explains, “Once the tech hiring happened, we realized that a lot of supply partnerships was still offline. This meant that customers still had to wait to get their customized quotes. We weren’t happy that the CX was poor because of industry constraints.  For a large part of our supply, we took huge risks and had static pricing. While there could have been potential losses, thanks to our learning algorithms we could revisit these static prices periodically to ensure we minimize exposure. Our focus on “speed as a habit” has helped us come up with quite a few of these hacks and put customer experience at the forefront of all our efforts”

    Pickyourtrail – Competitors

    While Pickyourtrail claims that it has no competition in terms of tech or business model, from a customer’s point of view, competition comes right from Thomas Cook, Cox and Kings, MakeMyTrip to even self-bookers.

    What differentiates the Pickyourtrail from its competitors is broadly two things:
    a) Itineraries that are executable – There are the host of tech companies trying to solve the trip planning problem. Given they don’t take responsibility for the end experience, the itinerary is not necessarily well thought out. At Pickyourtrail, thanks to the combination of routing, personalization and pricing algorithms – the company is able to own the entire end to end consumer experience and ensure that each and every itinerary is bookable!

    b) Touch + Tech Model – A vacation is an emotional purchase and needs consultative selling given that the average ticket size is around 2.5lakhs. Pickyourtrail uses tech to manage critical components like routing, pricing, etc. Parts of the vacation that need high emotional quotient like choosing cities or visa, we bring in a human touch to ensure the overall experience is seamless. This unique approach has also helped Pickyourtrail win recognition from Google and BCG.

    We are extremely cautious as we try and balance the scale and standardization game. We cannot ever put our customer happiness on the back burner. In fact, one of the key levers for our growth is unprecedented leaps in customer delight.

    Pickyourtrail – Growth

    ●    In 2018, Pickyourtrail’s revenue run rate stood at around $9.5 Million
    ●    Number of travelers who picked their trail has grown by ~115% ( 2018-2019 data)
    ●    Peak concurrent traveler stood at 100 people in a day
    ●    Over 300,000 personalized itineraries was created in the first half of 2019
    ●    NPS score of 72 is a testimony of the unrelenting focus on customer happiness.

    ScoutMyTrip – Top Road Trip Planner | Founder | Business Model | Funding
    Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified informationon different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by the organization it is based on. Road trips have a different charm altogether. Stopping by to click photos,trying local food on t…
    StartupTalkyChayanika Goswami

    Pickyourtrail – Awards

    Pickyourtrail has been recognized for its efforts and services. Some rewards and recognition, that the startup has in its kitty are-

    • Awarded the ‘Startup of the Year’ at the Tiecon Awards in October 2018.
    • Won the ‘Most Innovative Travel Startup’ award at the Travel Tech Launchpad Summit organized by FICCI in March 2018.
    • The Google-BCG Travel Trends Report June 2017, called Pickyourtrail the benchmark in the industry for its comprehensive customer experience.
    • In October 2016, Pickyourtrail was recognized as the Aussie Specialist, mate!
    • In May 2016, Pickyourtrail got into the Top 10 travel innovators at the Phocuswright Asia-Pacific Travel Innovation Summit.

    Pickyourtrail – Future Plans

    For the next 2-3 years, the Pickyourtrail team will be broadly concentrating on

    • Acquiring more customers on the digital medium, and try and build its own digital acquisition channel.
    • Capturing the digital-first audience of tier 2 and tier 3 towns and become their first choice.
    • Beefing up the tech team and overall tech capabilities, to ensure that its product innovation efforts continue to be one of the best in the industry.
    • There is also a larger focus on taking the product global. End of the day there is a European going to the US or an Australian going to Bali and the product is suitable even for them, and the Pickyourtrail team wants to tap this huge global customer base.

    “At our very heart, we want to create happiness and not sell packages. We aspire Pickyourtrail to be the go to platform for do it yourself vacations and unite like minded travelers” – Hari Ganapathy.

    FAQs

    What is the Pickyourtrail company?

    Pickyourtrail is a platform founded in 2014, which enables the users to create, customise and book their vacations. The startup aims to remove all the pains associated with the planning of vacations for travelling enthusiasts and other individuals.  

    Who is the Pickyourtrail founder?

    Hari Ganapathy, and Srinath Shankarnarayanan are the founders of Pickyourtrail.

    What is the name of the Pickyourtrail CEO?

    The Pickyourtrail CEO is not yet confirmed by the company but Pickyourtrail has many CEOs among its investors, including Girish Matrubootham, Kumar Vembu, Kunal Shah, Shyam Sekhar and others.

    Where is the Pickyourtrail headquarters?

    The Pickyourtrail headquarters are located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.

  • ScoutMyTrip: Helping You Plan Those Memorable Road Trips!

    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 ScoutMyTrip.

    Road trips have a different charm altogether. Stopping by to click photos, trying local food on the way, and those endless chit-chats—what could be more endearing? The experience gets even better and hassle-free when there is proper guidance for making the most of one’s trip: what to see on the way, where to refuel, where the nearest viewpoint is, etc.

    ScoutMyTrip, a Mumbai-based startup, is doing exactly this. The startup plans the nitty-gritty details of your road trip to make it a cherishable experience. Here’s all you need to know about ScoutMyTrip, its founders and team, startup story, business and revenue model, funding and investors, name, logo,, competitors, advisors, challenges, future plans, and more.

    ScoutMyTrip – Company Highlights

    Startup Name ScoutMyTrip
    Headquarters Mumbai
    Founders Deepak Ananth and Vineet Rajan
    Sector Travel and Tourism
    Founded 2016
    Parent Organization ScoutMyTrip Private Limited

    ScoutMyTrip – About
    ScoutMyTrip – Industry Details
    ScoutMyTrip – Founders And Team
    ScoutMyTrip – Startup Story | How It Began?
    ScoutMyTrip – Name And Logo
    ScoutMyTrip – Business Model and Services
    ScoutMyTrip – Revenue Model
    ScoutMyTrip – Funding And Investors
    ScoutMyTrip – User Acquisition
    ScoutMyTrip – Startup Challenges
    ScoutMyTrip – Competitors
    ScoutMyTrip – Advisors And Mentors
    ScoutMyTrip – Awards
    ScoutMyTrip – Future Plans

    ScoutMyTrip – About

    It is a road trip planner which conflates human intelligence with artificial intelligence to help plan the perfect road trip for individuals. ScoutMyTrip works for all sorts of outings, from short weekend travels to long excursions.

    With artificial intelligence, customers can create an itinerary containing the information necessary for their road trip—gas stations, toilets, restaurants, hotels to stay in, and points of interest. The human intelligence aspect brings in the ability to personalize the information as per one’s needs.

    ScoutMyTrip envisions making road trips the preferred means of vacation.  

    An industry first product has been introduced where a Scout (travel expert for the specific region) is virtually assisting the customer throughout the journey (before and during the trip). The Scouts give you the regional flavor and make one’s holiday joyous. We call this ‘Mark and Embark’! Our team is hard at work in building great tech and striving for customer delight each time.

    ScoutMyTrip – Industry Details

    As far as the market is concerned, the road-tripping industry is a subset of a much larger travel domain.  

    “Our total addressable market is pegged at $6.6B with 33 million leisure road trips in one calendar year. This is growing at a very fast rate and we expect it to double in 3 years time. Globally, this market stands at $100B which is really what we are after; but we want to establish ourselves well in the subcontinent which is why we have started operations in Nepal and Bhutan as well” says Vineet.

    ScoutMyTrip – Founders And Team

    Deepak Ananth and Vineet Rajan are the founders of ScoutMyTrip.

    Deepak Ananth & Vineet Rajan, ScoutMyTrip Founders
    Deepak Ananth & Vineet Rajan, ScoutMyTrip Founders

    Deepak Ananth

    Deepak Ananth is the CEO and Co-founder of ScoutMyTrip. He is an Electronics graduate and had been in the corporate space for a really long time, his last assignment being with Verifone as a Director for South-East Asia. Ananth is also known as a storyteller, who loves to travel and sip on fine scotch and old monk. Ananth has a Royal Enfield 500cc bike, and his favorite trip is from Mumbai to Shillong and back.

    Vineet Rajan

    Vineet Rajan was the Co-founder and CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) of ScoutMyTrip. Vineet is a Computer Science graduate and has an MBA. Vineet has been involved with various startups throughout his career, and currently works as a Marketing Leader at SAP. After leaving ScoutMyTrip in April 2021 as an Advisor, Rajan joined Shop101 as the Head of Marketing Communications & Organic Growth. Vineet left the Co-founder position of the company in June 2020 and then remained an Advisor for the company before stepping down from that too.

    Deepak and Vineet met each other during a road trip organized by a bikers’ club they were part of. They also held official positions in one of the most sought-after Royal Enfield groups. This gave them a chance to collaborate in non-professional capacities. Their thoughts resonated since both wanted to do something unique in the domain of road trips, thus deliberating over possible ideas in 2015.

    In terms of workload, Deepak has been responsible for the overall strategy and public relations while Vineet looked into the marketing and sales segment. Soumen Bhowmick serves as the Head of Business Development.

    Neeraj Sinha was the CTO and used to manage everything to do with tech. Neeraj Sinha worked at a prestigious company, with excellent remuneration and an experience worth mentioning, but he left all of it just because of his love for travelling, which was fulfilled when he joined ScoutMyTrip after working for around 14 years with the same organisation. Though his father was in the Railways, he had seen the real struggle, as per several interviews, where he stated that his father was left with hardly any money in the middle of the month. This was what drove him away from the government sector jobs, thereby placing him in the private sector. Neeraj started with some odd jobs like that of the EDP Operator but he eventually pursued an MCA degree from IGNOU, and then he never looked back. Sinha soon joined Sopra Steria, then known as Xansa, as a Software Engineer in 2002.

    In 2015, we had started talking about putting our collective experience of road tripping so many kilometers into a tech product which can help other travelers. So a ‘road trip’ called ScoutMyTrip began! Building a work drives us – and that is the common area of interest for us. Our team sticks with us; because of the independence we give them in their working style. We measure results; and not the means.  

    ScoutMyTrip – Startup Story | How It Began?

    Both Deepak and Vineet happen to be road trip aficionados. It was this love which inspired them to conceive ScoutMyTrip with a view to guide road-trippers on making the most out of leisurely travels.

    We picked this idea because both of us love road trips. Having road tripped on the iconic Royal Enfield bikes in India with over 600,000 kilometers between us; we decided to build a solution that will help people road trip better. Because not everyone will have the knowledge of roads as we would do.

    While maps have been the traditional go-to for navigational requirements, ScoutMyTrip is building a new category in road trip planning. The ideation process for ScoutMyTrip started back in late 2015.

    ScoutMyTrip has been designed after taking suggestions from men and women consumed by wanderlust (not limited to bikers) and scouts to make the product more customer-centric. The product’s features are the results of the feedback from more than 500 fellow travelers and Scouts. The ScoutMyTrip team carried out a survey involving over 1000 people (including individuals not too inclined towards travelling) to cover every possible scenario. This is imperative given the dynamics of the decision-making process when it comes to travelling. The team also reached out to members of various travel clubs in India. The intimate discussions with these travel communities have been pivotal in onboarding travel experts for helping others.

    Some of the first people we spoke to about ScoutMyTrip were all kicked. From investors, the biking community, travel forums and everyone around. We did, however, get a sense that we would have to establish ourselves very quickly; and hence we started seed funded the company in 2016.

    RedBus – Enjoy a cozy and comfortable bus travel with RedBus!
    With all the buzz that the millennials have with traveling and easy bookings, wehad to have the online booking portals that are easy as a button. Today fromairfare booking to bus booking, we have all arrangements for easy and fastonline booking. One such company that revolutionized the bus travel…
    StartupTalkyVidhi Punamiya

    Since the startup emphasized having seasoned travelers help plan trips, it wanted to have the essence of a ‘guide’ in its name. After much consideration, the name ScoutMyTrip was finalized for it captured this essence through ‘Scout’.

    ScoutMyTrip Logo

    The Logo shows an inverted magnifying glass and signifies a bird pecking when seen straight (birds usually symbolize freedom). The road in the center is symbolic of travelling. The three colors represent the brand’s values—community, safety and fun.

    A lot of thought has gone into the logo. A good friend Kirtee understood our requirements and came up with that effective logo. We still sometimes joke about how much we troubled her for the logo but wherever we go, we get great feedback on the logo and that is always music to the ears of any founder.

    Success Story of Ithaka- A trip planner for your Holidays
    Ithaka Startup Success StoryStartup NameIthakaHeadquarterMumbai [https://startuptalky.com/mumbai-startups/]FoundersRahul Singh & Mithilesh SaidSectorTravel Planning AppFounded2015ParentOrganizationTraveljunkie SolutionsAbout IthakaTravel Market in IndiaFounders of Ithaka and TeamHow was Ithaka…
    StartupTalkyChayanika Goswami

    ScoutMyTrip – Business Model and Services

    ScoutMyTrip is a freemium product. Customer can sign up for free on the website and can plan their road trips using the planner for a lifetime. The planner allows the user to add 25-way points (Google allows you just 10) on their route. It suggests places to stay and eat, gas stations, and things to do—all under one platform.

    Customers can choose to pay a premium in case they would like assistance with their planning. They are then assigned Scouts who help not just in building itineraries but also by providing virtual assistance throughout the trip.

    ScoutMyTrip from the beginning has followed a very community-centric approach. Be it a community of travelers or that of Scouts. It’s always about the people with technology which revolves around it. Scouts are the key differentiator for us. We’re a marketplace of travel experts who curate the best on the road experiences.

    ScoutMyTrip has partnered with travel experts and individuals from different parts of India. These skilled individuals know the local haunts, have adequate knowledge about different places to visit and are the best people to reach out to for a well-planned road trip. ScoutMyTrip has a reach all over India and also services Indian travelers visiting Nepal and Bhutan.

    The company has scaled quite a few times – from being just another travel agency to doing marketing campaigns for travel brands and now fully focusing on helping people plan awesome road trips.

    Itinerary Created by ScoutMyTrip
    Itinerary Created by ScoutMyTrip

    ScoutMyTrip – Revenue Model

    ScoutMyTrip has a well-planned revenue model and earns revenue from the following sources:

    • Hiring a Scout: When a traveler contacts an expert (Scout), ScoutMyTrip earns a percentage of the planning fee. The rates vary from Rs. 2000 to Rs. 9000 and can go up to Rs. 50,000 for custom trips and itineraries.
    • Platform integrations: The planner can be integrated with other travel websites for a wholesome user experience.
    • Corporate tie-ups and group tours: ScoutMyTrip has been successfully doing this for more than a year now and has organized over 500 group road trips for individuals and corporate houses.
    • Road trip packages: Once the trips are planned, the ScoutMyTrip Experience team bundles the following as part of the package:

      – Hotel bookings

         – Self-drive cars and taxis

         – Guides

         – Roadside assistance/insurance

    Startup Story of Taxidio – A DIY trip planning platform
    Taxidio Startup Success StoryStartup NameTaxidioHeadquarterMumbai [https://startuptalky.com/mumbai-startups/]FoundersVishal Kejariwal & Abhas DesaiSectorTravel and TourismFounded2015ParentOrganizationTaxidio Travel India Pvt. Ltd.About TaxidioTourism Industry DetailsFounders of Taxidio and Team…
    StartupTalkyChayanika Goswami

    ScoutMyTrip – Funding And Investors

    ScoutMyTrip raised seed funding from Z Nation Lab in April 2017.

    Funding Date Funding Stage Funding Amount Investors
    April 2017 Angel Round Undisclosed Z Nation Lab

    ScoutMyTrip – User Acquisition

    ScoutMyTrip was launched for insider access or closed beta in October 2016. It got its first 5000 signups in one month and there has been no looking back ever since. ScoutMyTrip had incidentally launched its blog much before the website came into existence. This allowed the company to build communication with its target customers. Through its blogs, the team was able to expound the vision for its product to an eagerly awaiting consumer base.

    Content marketing has been a driver for ScoutMyTrip. The company has approximately 90 % of its users coming through social media platforms powered by influencers already a part of the ScoutMyTrip community. Word of mouth publicity also has been a good contributor for ScoutMyTrip with around 10% of user acquisition from this stream.

    The majority of spending by ScoutMyTrip in the marketing space are on Facebook and Instagram advertising. A lot more time is vested on SEO and building great content which markets itself.

    ScoutMyTrip takes pride in being a content-driven brand and has taken ownership of three intellectual properties to keep in touch with its focus group—the travel enthusiasts.

    • The Great Indian Food Trip: The Great Indian Food Trip is an exploratory drive-by ScoutMyTrip through the hinterlands of India for rediscovering some of the most iconic and largely lost gems of Indian cuisine.
    • The Highest Blogger Meet: The idea here is to take influential bloggers from different walks of life to the highest motorable roads in the world. On those roads, ScoutMyTrip hosts a blogger meet, setting a record in terms of altitude each time. The last successful attempt was at Khardung La in partnership with OYO Rooms.
    • #AageSeRight: A viral sensation on Instagram that is common amongst road trippers. AageSeRight is a Hindi phrase used as a response when asking for directions; ScoutMyTrip was able to create a medium of brand recall through this hashtag.  

    SuccessStory Of Guiddoo, a platform that helps you discover and book in destination experiences across 15 countries.
    Guiddoo HighlightsStartup NameGuiddoo WorldHeadquarterMumbai[https://startuptalky.com/mumbai-startups/]FounderVineet Budki, Nidhi Varma, Prashant Choudhary, Biswajeet KarmakarSectorTravelFounded2014Registered EntityNameGuiddoo World Travels Pvt. Ltd. Guiddoo – IntroductionGuiddoo – Industry De…
    StartupTalkyChayanika Goswami

    ScoutMyTrip – Startup Challenges

    Deepak and Vineet had the most modest upbringing, belonging to middle-class Indian families. Deepak had been working in corporate roles (at senior positions in reputed companies) for over 20 years before ScoutMyTrip. Vineet had an entrepreneurial mindset throughout his career but his only brush was by being a member of an established startup. As a result, launching a startup was no less than a challenge due to lack of prior experience as told by Vineet.

    Whether such a platform would find a place and apprehensions about them treading the right path plagued the founders in the initial phase.  

    Our families were very supportive. Parents who heard us out asked the right questions and then wholeheartedly supported us, spouses who stood by us, ready to fight the same battles along with us, helped to make our minds up, much easier.    

    ScoutMyTrip – Competitors

    As Vineet says, the biggest competitors are the airlines and railways, which make up for over 80% of all travel spends in India. Google Maps is a formidable opponent given its reach and popularity when it comes to navigation.

    Globally, ScoutMyTrip faces resistance from Road Trippers and Furkot, which are slowly building their presence in India. Desi competitors include Easy Roads and Highway Delite. However, the highly experienced Scouts associated with ScoutMyTrip are its USP and the major differentiator from its competitors.

    We are different in terms of us being a very community driven space where our Scouts are the USP to ScoutMyTrip. We encourage road trips for everyone and plan it keeping in mind the likes of our customers.

    ScoutMyTrip – Advisors And Mentors

    ScoutMyTrip’s investor, Z Nation Labs, is also its primary mentor.

    We get great support, industry connects and advice from the leadership team of Z Nation labs which includes Amit Jain, Anup Mehta and Neha Jain.  

    After being incubated by NASSCOM’s 10,000 Startups initiative and the Maharashtra State Innovation Society, ScoutMyTrip is getting regular support from its team as well.

    ScoutMyTrip – Awards

    ScoutMyTrip has had its fair share of recognition including the recent incubation by NASSCOM’s 10,000 startups initiative. The honors bestowed on ScoutMyTrip in 2019 are:

    • April 2019 – Selected as one of the Top Startups by NASSCOM as part of the 10,000 Startups Program.
    • March 2019 – Recognized by Startup India / DIPP.
    • February 2019 –Winners of the Maharashtra Startup Week by the Govt. of Maharashtra.
    • January 2019 – Entrepreneur India listed ScoutMyTrip as the top 50 startups to watch out for in 2019.
    • July 2019 – ScoutMyTrip won the Conquest 2019 startup challenge by BITS Pilani which opened new doors in terms of partnerships and investor connections.
    • August 2019 – ScoutMyTrip was invited by DIGITARAYA x tiket.com accelerator programme for expansion into SE Asia.
    ScoutMyTrip Founders Receiving Award at Maharashtra Startup Week
    ScoutMyTrip Founders Receiving Award at Maharashtra Startup Week

    Earlier Awards include being chosen as one of the top 20 travel tech startups by FICCI in 2017, Top 10 startups in India (Silicon India), and many more.

    ScoutMyTrip – Future Plans

    ScoutMyTrip has received a positive response from the traveler community; it has partnered with reputed brands to maintain the flow. Over the last two years, ScoutMyTrip has been aggressively improving its Scout and agent network to service the ever-increasing customer requirements. The company’s business partners include Treebo Hotels, OYO, Agoda, Booking.com, MyChoize self-drive cars, Mahindra & Mahindra, and Honda Cars India to name a few.

    Over the next 1-2 years, ScoutMytrip is looking at consolidating the Indian market where there is a churn in the making as observed by its team.

    For its long-term vision, ScoutMyTrip aspires to be present in every aspect of a road trip. The ScoutMyTrip team has christened this plan as ‘Dashboard to Dhabha’, where the idea is to integrate ScoutMyTrip into cars to make it easier for car owners to conceive a journey. This comprises showing recommendations of other roadtrippers, real and live assistance from Scouts all over the country, detours to explore the countryside, and other provisions. This shall enable ScoutMyTrip to create an extensive database which would then be used to provide up to date, real-time information in assisting holidaymakers.

    After spending a week in Indonesia understanding the travel and tourism industry, the co-founders are considering expansion into a new market next year. They are in discussions with partners to venture into the SE Asian markets and provide a full suite of services not limited to hotels, flights, and last mile connectivity for trips.

    It is hard to navigate through the maze and there is a long way before we as a country make it simpler for startups. And advice is not easy to come by, we had to learn a lot of it ourselves- Vineet Raja

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    Online travel booking became a sensation with the advent of smartphones anddigitization. In the same segment where Cleartrip and MakeMyTrip[/makemytrip-indian-startup-success-story/] were already predominantly present, Goibibo disrupted the travel segment by providing seamless travel experience i…
    StartupTalkyVidhi Punamiya

    FAQs

    Who are the Founders of ScoutMyTrip?

    Deepak Ananth and Vineet Rajan were the founders of ScoutMyTrip. Rajan left the company in 2021.

    What is ScoutMyTrip?

    It is an Indias trip planner, which conflates human intelligence with artificial intelligence to help plan the perfect road trip for individuals. ScoutMyTrip works for all sorts of outings, from short weekend travels to long excursions.

    What is ScoutMyTrip Business Model?

    ScoutMyTrip is a freemium product. Here, the customers can sign up for free on the website and can plan their road trips using the planner for a lifetime. The planner allows the user to add 25-way points (Google allows you just 10) on their route. It suggests places to stay and eat, gas stations, and things to do—all under one platform.

    Who are the competitors of ScoutMyTrip?

    The ScoutMyTrip competitors include:

    • Google Maps
    • Road Trippers
    • Furkot
    • Easy Roads
    • Highway Delite

  • Incredible List Of Top 9 Best Storytelling Ads

    We have been telling stories forever and our brains have evolved to love them eventually because a story tends to make information way more memorable. Now, we have harnessed the power of storytelling power for marketing. Storytelling in advertising is really important as it hooks the customers and increases brand awareness.

    These best storytelling ads tell not only real-life stories but, historical tales and inspirational accounts and while they differ in their delivery, they all cause a multitude of emotions in viewers. We have curated a list of best storytelling ads.

    Your brand is story unfolding across all customer touch points. – Johan Sachs

    What are Storytelling Ads?
    Top 9 Best Storytelling Ads
    Top Storytelling Trends in the Advertising Industry

    What are Storytelling Ads?

    Storytelling ads are passively developing the strength of emotional connection in advertising. These storylines are basically emphasizing ones like “dramatic story,” “powerful history,” “love the storyline” and “tells a meaningful story”. We use storytelling marketing as a means of using a narrative to communicate a message to people.

    The main aim is to make the viewer aspire so that it’ll inspire them to take some action. Storytelling in marketing helps consumers to understand why they should take concerned about something. It can be said that a storytelling ad sometimes also works to humanize your brand.

    The human brain is genetically wired to love storytelling, and in today’s world of content overload, a well-told story is often a marketer’s best chance to capture the attention of their audience.

    For instance, every Rakshabandhan (Hindu festival which symbolizes the selfless love between brothers and sisters) Cadbury, Dairy Milk always advertises with a story and a special bond and comes up with its pack of chocolate boxes. So does, every brand is eventually adopting nowadays.

    Storytelling advertising is not just limited to film; stories can be told in pictures, verbally, or in written form. Because stories can help sellers achieve cut-through in a marketplace in a way that could be: by design distracting, creating advertising that resonates with people, and sticks to it.

    Top 9 Best Storytelling Ads

    These top 10 best storytelling ads have no fewer than eight emotions that fire, an impressive feat when many ads struggle to fire on more than one.

    1. Mercedes – Bertha Benz

    Rank Brand Ad Title Length Narrative Score
    1 Mercedes-Benz Bertha Benz 1:00 10

    This ad hit on a wide spectrum of emotions with the connections relating to powerful messaging, inspiring, and heartfelt feelings. This is the top storytelling ad through which Mercedes- Benz excelled at delivering information in an entertaining manner with a motive.

    2. Travelers – Legacy

    Rank Brand Ad Title Length Narrative Score
    2 Travelers Legacy 1:00 10

    Both of the ads Legacy and Footsteps were among the best storytelling commercials. One was ranked 2nd and the other behold 10th position. The Travelers insurance ads outperformed many other insurance industries on every quantitative measure and evoked similar emotions in both of these ads. However, the “Likeability” factor laid the stronger storytelling spot in “Legacy”, which turned out to be the better performer of the two with an ace score.

    3. Charles Schwab – My Journey

    Rank Brand Ad Title Length Narrative Score
    3 Charles Schwab My Journey 1:00 10

    Charles Schwab – MY JOURNEY

    This ad also hit a wide audience. Kelly’s real-life narrative in Charles Schwab’s “My Journey” grabbed a lot of attention at significantly different levels. The story was Powerful and Inspiring with a message of Corporate Responsibility to its viewers. However, over the lack of ‘product details,’ they were at 3rd position.

    4. Hallmark’s – Mom’s Love is for Always

    Rank Brand Ad Title Length Narrative Score
    4 Hallmark Mom’s Love is for Always 0:30 9.3

    Hallmark – MOM’s LOVE IS FOR ALWAYS

    Hallmark in fourth place tapped into heart-warming emotions which surely established the relevance for the product in the mind of customers. Emphasizing the occasion of Mother’s Day, the card is a must for those who are celebrating motherly love.

    The intense emotion of heartfelt feeling scored rare in the narrative of the storytelling ad. The impressive part of this ad is, that it scored in the rare territory for an ad where there was only single emotion. Only less than 2.9% of ads score above 9 for a single emotion.

    5. Principal Financial – Dream Car

    Rank Brand Ad Title Length Narrative Score
    5 Principal Financial Dream Car 1:00 9.2

    This ad was even more successful ‘quantitively’ than Charles Schwab’s “My Journey”. This ad was basically built on the emotion “Desire” which eventually resulted in positive consideration among 55% of its viewers.

    6. University of Phoenix – Discover Your Wings

    Rank Brand Ad Title Length Narrative Score
    6 University of Phoenix Find Your Wings 1:00 8.6

    This famous ad parallels a child’s bedtime story wherein his mother is going back to his school. Its Likeable and Inspirational message has been one of the strongest performers in its category.

    7. Verizon – First Responders

    Rank Brand Ad Title Length Narrative Score
    7 Verizon First Responders 1:00 8.2

    In the ad of Verizon’s 60- second Super Bowl spot, Los Angeles Chargers’ Head Coach Anthony Lynn got an opportunity to meet and thank his personal heroes. This ad hit on a different level to its viewers with emotions of Inspiration, a Heart-warming, Powerful message with good storytelling.

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    StartupTalkyShubham Kumar

    8. Jim Beam – Raised Right

    Rank Brand Ad Title Length Narrative Score
    8 Jim Beam Raised Right 1:00 8.2

    Holding onto the eighth spot, this ad pays tribute to the brand’s heritage. The historical context along with the story narrative delivered more information than most of the liquor ads out there. In fact, Jim Beam’s ad particularly scored 30% above liquor norms.

    9. Nike – You Can’t Stop Sisters

    Rank Brand Ad Title Length Narrative Score
    9 Nike You Can’t Stop Sisters 1:00 8.2

    This ad earned above apparel norm score on attention and likeability and it’s presumed only because of a story between the heart-warming and poetic imagery. According to some observations, it was Nike’s lowest-scoring ad on Desire and on Relevance too.

    With very subtle branding there was no explicit link to the story. This shows that sometimes outstanding storytelling, alone does not make a top-notch ad.

    Here are some of the top 9 storytelling trends in ad marketing that industry experts should be aware of in the foreseeable future.

    • Data-Driven storytelling
    • Stories that are directly sourced
    • Brands becoming associated with immersive podcasts
    • Companies and Brands hiring public relations companies to create their stories
    • Sparklines provide a visual representation of data
    • Visual storytelling focuses on driving the narrative in the frontline
    • Storytelling Marketing helps customers to learn about food brands
    • Advertisers should tell stories via new “Digital Realities”
    • Marketers like to direct Influencers to tell stories their way

    Although we’ve got more technology at our levels than in early times, the power of a simple story always beholds everyone firmly. However, if you choose your ad to tell a story then ‘as long as you spin a good yarn’ with an intriguing plot, compelling characters, and plenty of emotion—will keep your audience captivated.

    Conclusion

    Storytelling marketing not only opens up a world of creativity for marketers but also enables brands to communicate key messaging in a way that needs no explaining. Here’s a top-secret: It’s all about balancing an insight with killer creativity because no story, no glory.

    Outdoor Advertising: Marketing strategy for promoting products Outdoors
    In a free-market economy, effective advertisement is imperative to a company’scontinuance. Outdoor advertising serves well for promoting your product inspecific geographic regions. Outdoor advertising is a method of advertisingdevised to reach a wide customer base when they are out of their homes…
    StartupTalkyAditi Chawda

    FAQs

    What is Storytelling ads?

    Storytelling ads are passively developing the strength of emotional connection in advertising. These storylines are basically emphasizing ones like “dramatic story,” “powerful history,” “love the storyline” and “tells a meaningful story”.

    Which are the best storytelling ads?

    • Mercedes – Bertha Benz
    • Travelers – Legacy
    • Charles Schwab – My Journey
    • Hallmark’s – Mom’s Love is for Always
    • Principal Financial – Dream Car
    • University of Phoenix – Find Your Wings
    • Verizon – First Responders, Jim Beam – Raised Right.

    Which is the best advertising platform?

    Social Media, Print Media, Television, Radio, Direct Mail, and Email are some of the best advertising platforms.

  • Mumbai Based Startups | Entrepreneurs & Startups in Mumbai [Exhaustive List 2021]

    Mumbai is the financial hub of India and among the wealthiest city globally. Headquarters of most financial institutions like the Bombay Stock Exchange, RBI, National Stock Exchange, and the Mint are located in Mumbai. Even the HQs the giant business groups like Tata Group, Aditya Birla Group, Essel Group, and Reliance Industries are situated in this city. It has also become the startup hub of India and has given rise to numerous startups recently. Here we have listed down a few successful startups in Mumbai.

    Also, read – If you are looking for a list of startups in Mumbai here is our exhaustive list of all recently funded startups in Mumbai and other cities.

    We have also covered startups from Pune, Nagpur, and other major cities of India.

    List of Startups in Mumbai

    1. BOOKMYSHOW
    2. Ola
    3. Cleartrip
    4. Jio Saavn
    5. Chillr
    6. PepperFry
    7. Toppr
    8. Nykaa
    9. Faasos
    10. GrabHouse
    11. HOUSING
    12. Weddingz
    13. ImpactGuru
    14. Guiddoo
    15. BAJAAO
    16. Ithaka
    17. PaisaDukan
    18. Heckyl Technologies
    19. Fruzzante
    20. Tsara
    21. SpiceTree Design Agency
    22. TAC Security
    23. Monk Entertainment

    FAQs

    Flaunt your startup with StartupTalky 

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    StartupTalky is where founders, entrepreneurs, startups and businesses hang out and look up to for inspiration. If you have the means, we have the medium! Inviting founders and startups who are building sustainable solutions from ground zero! Startups who run the show, StartupTalky will let the world know!

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    Mumbai Based Startups

    List of Startups in Mumbai

    BOOKMYSHOW

    Founders: Ashish Hemrajani, Parikshit Dar & Rajesh Balpande
    Year Founded: 1999
    Industry: Ticket Booking
    Funding: $224.5 Million

    mumbai based startups
    Bookmyshow Logo | Startups in Mumbai

    BookMyShow is India’s largest online entertainment ticket booking brand. People can easily buy movie and shows’ tickets on their website. BookMyShow has also helped less popular theatres and their artists to gain an audience. The company provides ticket management software to cinemas. Along with that, the company promotes movies and shows on their website which generate good revenue for them.

    BookMyShow was founded by Ashish Hemrajani, Parikshit Dar, and Rajesh Balpande. In 1999, they began from a small room in Mumbai and now have spread themselves globally. BookMyShow acquired 7 startups including MastiTickets, Townscript, Burrp, and Nfusion.

    OLA

    Founders: Bhavish Agarwal & Ankit Bhatia
    Year Founded: 2010
    Industry: Taxi Aggregator
    Funding: $4.3 Billion

    mumbai based startups
    Ola Logo | Mumbai Startups

    Ola is a taxi aggregator and bridges the gap between cab owners and commuters. Ola doesn’t own any cars but partners with a number of taxi drivers and owners. The company also owns the food startup “Foodpanda”. Owned by ANI Technologies Pvt. Ltd, Ola was started in Mumbai, it is now headquartered in Bangalore. Ola has continuously been expanding its range of services. Ola has its own e-wallet called Olamoney which makes it convenient for riders to pay for the rides.

    The startup was founded by Bhavish Agarwal and Ankit Bhatia in 2010. You can read our Ola Startup Story to know more about the startup.

    Cleartrip

    Founders: Stuart Crighton, Hrush Bhatt & Matthew Spacie
    Year Founded: 2006
    Industry: Travel booking
    Funding: $56.4 Million

    mumbai startup companies
    Cleartrip logo | Startups in Mumbai

    Cleartrip is an online travel booking company. It lets travelers book anything from flights to hotels. The startup started in Mumbai but now has offices in Bangalore, Gurgaon, and Dubai too. Along with B2C services, Cleartrip provides B2B services like “Cleartrip for Business”. A corporate travel management tool. AgentBox is another B2B tool for travel agents.

    Cleartrip was founded by Stuart Crighton, Matthew Spacie, and Hrush Bhatt in 2006. It has raised a total of $56.4 million of funding from Concur Technologies Inc., DAG Ventures, and Gund Investment Corporation.

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    Jio Saavn

    Founders: Rishi Malhotra, Vinodh Bhat, & Paramdeep Singh
    Year Founded: 2007
    Industry: Music Streaming
    Funding: $131.6 Million

    Mumbai Startups
    JioSaavn logo | Mumbai Startups

    Saavn is a music streaming freemium service which offers songs in Hindi, English, and other regional languages. It works on the freemium model. With the free version, there are ads and some limitations whereas, in the paid version, there will be better streaming quality and many other features. The company has the rights to over 50 million songs. Later, saavn was acquired by Jio for more than $1 billion and it became JioSaavn.

    The startup was founded by Rishi Malhotra, Vinodh Bhat, and Paramdeep Singh in 2006 as “BODVOD Network”. Before it was acquired, Saavn had raised funding of a total of $110 million.

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    Chillr

    Founders: Mohamed Galib, Sony Joy, Lishoy Bhaskaran & Anoop Sankar
    Year Founded: 2013
    Industry: Fintech
    Funding: $7.5 million

    Mumbai Startups
    Chillr | Mumbai Startups

    Chillr allows instant money transactions directly through the individual’s bank account through the app itself. However, after the launch of the UPI system, Chillr is has nothing new to offer. But as Chillr was already running a kind of “UPI” system from 2013, they have a lot of Banks as their partners.

    Its a brand run and owned by Backwater Technologies Pvt Ltd. Mohamed Galib, Sony Joy, Lishoy Bhaskaran, and Anoop Sankar together started Chillr in 2014.

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    PepperFry

    Founders: Ashish Shah
    Year Founded: 2011
    Industry: Furniture
    Funding: $245.3 Million

    Pepperfry | Startups in Mumbai

    Pepperfry was founded with an idea to make furniture shopping online convenient for married couples who aim to start their life afresh with a new home. The company sells sells home décor and furniture. Launched in 2011, Pepperfry is facing tough competition from FabFurnish and Urbanladder.

    Ashish Shah, founder, and CEO of PepperFry is a graduate of Pune University. He later did a diploma course in Ghaziabad and has 15 years of work experience in the market.

    Toppr

    Founders: Hemanth Goteti and Zishaan Hayath
    Year Founded: 2013
    Industry: E-Learning
    Funding: $112.1 Million

    list of entrepreneurs in mumbai
    Topper logo | Mumbai Startups

    Toppr is an e-learning app trying to make studies fun with its interactive content. It provides study material to students from class 5th to 12th standard and also for students appearing for entrance examinations and scholarship exams.

    The ed-tech startup was founded by Hemanth Goteti and Zishaan Hayath, graduates from IIT Bombay. Toppr has raised a total of $65.1 million of funding mainly from Milestone Trustee Services and Alteria Capital.

    Nykaa

    Founder: Falguni Nayar
    Year Founded: 2012
    Industry: Beauty Products
    Funding: $341.9 Million

    list of entrepreneurs in mumbai
    Nykaa Logo | Mumbai Startups

    Nykaa is one of the top from the list of entrepreneurs in Mumbai. It is an e-commerce website that offers beauty and wellness products from all the leading brands such as Lakmé, Kaya Skin Clinic, L’Oréal Paris, M.A.C, Bobbi Brown, Clinique, Estee Lauder, and many more. Nykaa follows inventory–led model. It has inventory spaces in Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru.

    Falguni Nayar who founded Nykaa in 2012, is a former managing director of Kotak Mahindra Capital Company. Nykaa has 35 stores. Nykaa launched its collection of in-house beauty products in 2017.

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    Faasos

    Founders: Jaydeep Barman and Kallol Banerjee
    Year Founded: 2011
    Industry: Food Delivery

    Faasos | Startups in Mumbai
    Faasos | Startups in Mumbai

    Faasos is a “food on demand” service. You can order the delicacies of your choice through its app or website. Faasos operates in more than 15 cities of India and 200+ locations. The company promises to provide a refund of up to INR 200 in case of late delivery. It shows how committed Faasos is towards giving customers the best service.

    Faasos was founded by Jaydeep Barman and Kallol Banerjee in 2011. This Mumbai-based startup has raised $60 million in funding. Faasos is rapidly growing in India with the help of social media influencers.

    GrabHouse

    Founders: Prateek Shukla & Pankhuri Shrivastava
    Year Founded: 2013
    Industry: Real Estate
    Funding: $13 Million

    Mumbai Startup
    GrabHouse Logo | Mumbai Startups

    With growing economic opportunities, people are moving from small towns and districts to big cities. For this, people require accommodation. GrabHouse helps people rent an apartment, find a PG, and a house where they can stay while working or studying in the city. What was unique in GrabHouse was that they provided fully furnished sharing or private homes with only 2 months security deposit. This is what attracted everyone towards the company.

    The startup was founded by Prateek Shukla and Pankhuri Shrivastava in 2013. In 2016, Quikr acquired GrabHouse for $10 million and rebranded it as QuikrHome. Now, the website of GrabHouse redirects users to Quikr’s website.

    HOUSING

    Founders: Rahul Yadav + 11
    Year Founded: 2012
    Industry: Real Estate
    Funding: $147.8 Million

    Mumbai Startup
    Housing.com Logo | Startups in Mumbai

    Housing is a marketplace platform that has interactive maps allowing the visitor to look deep into the real estate market. People get a huge option of property on the website and can contact the owner to make the deal. Launched in 2012, the company claims to have more than 6,000 brokers with 1500 employees across 45 cities.

    Housing.com is the mind-work of Rahul Yadav along with his team of 11 Co-founders. The startup acquired Indian Real Estate Forum in 2015 for $1.2 million. They also acquired HomeBuy360 in the same year for $2 million. Later, housing merged with PropTiger.

    Top 10 Real Estate Website To Make Your Findings Easier
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    Weddingz

    Founders: Sandeep Lodha
    Year Founded: 2015
    Industry: Wedding
    Funding: Acquired

    Mumbai Startup
    Weddingz Logo | Mumbai Startups

    India is the world’s largest destination for wedding marketing. Keeping this fact in mind, Weddingz was founded to make it easier to choose the wedding venue online. The soon-to-be-married couples can book a venue, rooms, and other wedding related items online quickly and fast.

    Weddingz.in was founded by Sandeep Lodha. Sandeep is a graduate of Wharton Business School and IIT-Delhi. The startup was acquired by OYO in 2018. OYO bought 100% stakes of Weddingz in a cash-and-stock deal.

    ImpactGuru

    Founders: Piyush Jain & Khushboo Jain
    Year Founded: 2014
    Industry: Crowdfunding
    Funding: $4.5 million

    Mumbai Startup
    ImpactGuru | Mumbai based Startups

    ImpactGuru provides complete crowdfunding solutions to empower individuals, NGOs, and social enterprises to raise funds for medical emergencies, personal needs, creative projects, or any social cause. It is also the first crowdfunding platform in India to launch a smartphone app for customers with an AI-supported story builder. Over 20,000 patients have benefited from 2 lac donors with ImpactGuru. Also, over Rs, 150 crores / $20 million has been mobilized across 15 countries on this online platform.

    The startup was founded by Piyush Jain and Khushboo Jain. ImpactGuru has raised a total of $2.5 million from various investors.

    Guiddoo

    Founders: Vineet Budki, Nidhi Varma, Prashant Choudharya & Biswajeet Karmakar
    Year Founded: 2014
    Industry: Travel guide
    Funding: $1.1 million

    startup mumbai
    Guiddoo | Startups in Mumbai

    Guiddoo is a platform to discover and book in-destination experiences. It was initially started as an audio guide. Later, it turned into an app pivoted to tours and activities booking. The app helps travelers to discover and book in-destination activities across 15 countries.

    This Mumbai based startup was founded by Vineet Budki, Nidhi Varma, Prashant Choudharya, and Biswajeet Karmakar. They have raised a funding of $1.1 million to expand their services in other countries.

    BAJAAO

    Founders: Ashutosh Pandey
    Year Founded: 2005
    Industry: ECommerce
    Funding: Bootstrapped

    Bajaao Logo | Startups in Mumbai

    Bajaao, a Mumbai-based e-commerce startup that sells musical instruments and other equipment online. The company also provides the servicing of musical instruments.

    The startup was founded by Ashutosh Pandey in 2005. Aashutosh is himself a music lover and wishes to spread his love for music. So, he started his own commercial venture by selling instruments to young musicians and people who wish to take it up as a hobby.

    Ithaka

    Founders: Rahul Singh & Mithilesh Said
    Year Founded: 2015
    Industry: Travel
    Funding: $325k

    startup mumbai
    Ithaka Logo | Mumbai Startups

    Ithaka is a chat-based travel planning app, that covers destinations from Thailand, Bali, Europe, UAE, Singapore, Malaysia, and Turkey. The startup was launched as an in-destination experience booking website but later pivoted to travel planning. This free platform is for the people who want to plan and execute their own trips and not to book a pre-made package.

    Ithaka was founded by Rahul Singh & Mithilesh Said. Both the founders love to travel and found inspiration for their startup while traveling. Rahul is the CEO of the company while Mithilesh is the CTO.

    PaisaDukan

    Founders: Rajiv M Ranjan & Neeta Ranjan
    Year Founded: 2018
    Industry: Peer to Peer Platform for Lending
    Funding: $1.1 million

    startup mumbai
    PaisaDukan Logo | Mumbai Startups

    PaisaDukan is a Peer-to-Peer (P2P) lending platform. PaisaDukan acts as a mediator between borrowers and investors. The company serves as a digital marketplace to enable borrowers to meet their financial needs, provide investors a safer and smarter investment option, and aid financial inclusion.

    A creditworthy individual can borrow money for a variety of purposes like education, health care, marriage, small business, etc at a rate of interest as low as 12% p.a. And an investor (online money lender) can lend to borrowers at an interest rate which can be as high as 24% p.a. through an alternative financial channel. Investors can choose and fund borrowers based on their risk appetite.

    Heckyl Technologies

    Founders: Mukesh Madras
    Year Founded: 2010
    Industry: Tech
    Funding: $7.5 Million

    startup mumbai
    Heckyl Technologies Logo | Mumbai Startups

    Heckyl Technologies is trying to get structured as well as unstructured data in real-time analytical products to financial institutions and corporates. Heckyl provides a Risk Early Warning System (EWS) Software Platform for managing credit risk. It gets millions of data as input for businesses from which it creates output to help the credit risk team to identify potential defaulters.

    Heckyl Technologies was founded by Mukesh Madras in 2010. The startup has received a total of $7.5 million in funding.

    Fruzzante`

    Founders: Priyanka Save & Nagesh Pai
    Year Founded: 2010
    Industry: Wine
    Funding: Bootstrapped

    list of startup companies in mumbai
    Fruzzante` | Mumbai Startups

    Fruzzante` is the world’s first and only producer of a cider-style alco beverage made from Sapodilla (chikoo) extracts. Fruzzante` is also the only company producing fruit-based (non-grape) bottled products in the wine category that is commercially available. It is both vegan and gluten-free which makes it a healthy choice. The company also makes wines in other flavours like mango, pineapple, and spice garden.

    The startup was founded by Priyanka Save & Nagesh Pai in 2010.

    Tsara

    Founders: Tarun Jagwani and Natasha Jagwani
    Year Founded: 2012
    Industry: Jewellery
    Funding: Bootstrapped

    Tsara is a jewellery designing and manufacturing company. The main focus of Tsara is destination jewellery. The company has four lines of jewellery to complement various occasions and events and launches a new collection every few months.

    The startup was founded by the couple, Tarun Jagwani, and Natasha Jagwani. The story behind this idea is that Natasha once lost her precious jewellery. So, the couple realised how important destination jewelries are. You can read the Tsara’s Startup Story to know more about them.

    SpiceTree Design Agency

    Founders: Shiraz Khan
    Year Founded: 2004
    Industry: Digital Marketing
    Funding: Bootstrapped

    SpiceTree Design Agency is a digital marketing firm that provides services in all the areas of digital marketing. Some of its services are web designing, print, social media design, SEO, SMO, re-targeting, etc.

    SpiceTree Design Agency was founded by Shiraz Khan in 2004. The company was started with Shiraz’s saving of Rs. 1,00,000. You can read the Startup Story of SpiceTree Design Agency to know more about it.

    TAC Security

    Founders: Trishneet Arora
    Year Founded: 2013
    Industry: Cyber Security
    Funding: $1.5 Million

    TAC Security is a cyber-security solutions provider with a mission to anticipate, resolve, and mitigate cybersecurity risks and challenges. This Mumbai-based startup provides network, application, and web security solutions to corporates, banks, startups, governments, and law enforcement agencies.

    Trishneet Arora founded TAC Security Solutions in 2013 at the age of 19. Trishneet has a strong inclination towards technology, gaming, and computers since he was a child. He is one of the youngest ethical cyber security experts in India. Its current client portfolio includes names such as Reliance Industries Limited, Gujarat Police, Punjab Police, AMUL, Avon Cycles, RALSON, and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), among others. TAC Security raised a funding of $500k from Vijat Kedia, MD, of Kedia Securities.

    Monk Entertainment

    Founders: Ranveer Allahbadia & Viraj Seth
    Year Founded: 2017
    Industry: Digital Marketing
    Funding: Bootstrapped

    list of startup companies in mumbai
    Monk Entertainment | Startups in Mumbai

    Monk Entertainment or Monk-E is a digital marketing startup that works with influencers and manages their marketing. Brands also connect with them and the company finds the most suitable influencers for them. Along with that, they provide video production to influencers and brands.

    The startup was co-founded by a popular YouTuber, Ranveer Allahbadia. He has a YouTube channel called “Beerbiceps” and his friends help him with managing it. So, he and his co-founder, Viraj Seth came up with the idea to help other fellow influencers. The startup is bootstrapped and was founded in 2017.

    LabelBlind

    Founders: Rashida Vapiwala
    Year Founded: 2018
    Industry: Health Tech
    Funding: Bootstrapped

    LabelBlind is a digital platform that gives out information about the nutritional value of food products. The main purpose of the platform is to provide nutrition literacy to the people. The platform reviews and rates food items so that customers can choose healthier food options for themselves after examining the value of different food products.

    The company was founded by Rashida Vapiwala, an expert nutritionist in the year 2018. This startup is bootstrapped and has been one since its formation. Over 8000 packaged food labels reviews and ratings can be found here for the consumers to decide and choose from.

    CoinDCX

    Founders: Neeraj Khandelwal and Sumit Gupta
    Year Founded: 2018
    Industry: Cryptocurrency
    Funding: $109 Million

    CoinDCX is a company that gives Cryptocurrency related financial services. It is a cryptocurrency trading network that ensures its customers a quick, risk-free, and effortless trading experience. It is said to be the largest and safest cryptocurrency legal exchange platform, where buying and selling of various types of cryptocurrency are possible.

    Neeraj Khandelwal and Sumit Gupta, two graduates from IIT Bombay decided to try their hand in the cryptocurrency industry when they realized that Bitcoin has gained quite a momentum in the world. Both of them decided to use Blockchain technology to deal with financial inclusions and now it has received$109 Million of funding.

    MailIt

    Founders: Mahesh Shirodkar
    Year Founded: 1987
    Industry: Mailroom Management
    Funding: Bootstrapped

    MailIt is a company that deals with dispatch aggregating and work on dispatching various types of packages and all types of mailroom management service. Apart from that, they also provides services involving dispatch of bulky documents and parcels nationally and internationally as well.

    It was founded in the year 1987 by Mahesh Shirodkar. The company recently got funded by Ratan Tata in the year 2021, although the amount was not disclosed. The headquarters is situated in Mumbai, India. Many leading corporations are relying on the services of MailIt.

    Cube Wealth

    Founders: Satyen Kothari
    Year Founded: 2016
    Industry: Fintech
    Funding: $500000

    Cube Wealth is a automated wealth technology application that helps people investing in a simple manner. All these are done under the guidance of well known Investment manager. All the investment of the user are managed in this app and one can do that without facing any problem.

    Cube Wealth was founded in the year 2016 by one of the most successful  person from the fintech industry in India that is Satyen Kothari, the person who founded Citrus pay. He is also the current CEO of Cube Wealth.

    ePayLater

    Founders: Akshat Saxena, Aurko Bhattacharya and Uday Somayajula
    Year Founded: 2015
    Industry: Fintech
    Funding: $180 Million

    ePayLater provides people an option to buy now and pay later like a credit card card from online portals. Basically it is a platform that provides an instant credit limit where one can buy whatever they want quickly with just a single click and pay for that item later.

    ePay Later was formed in the year 2015 and is now on the path to simply the customer experience with their innovations. Recently the company has raise $2.5 Million by Pravega Ventures in the February of 2021.

    Dream11

    Founders: Harsh Jain and Bhavit Sheth
    Year Founded: 2008
    Industry: Fantasy Gaming
    Funding: $1.62 Billion

    This is an application that allows its users to creat imaginary team and play matches with them, through which they can also win money if the players performs well in the actual matches. The games that can be played here are Cricket, Football, Kabaddi and Basketball.

    It is India’s biggest sports gaming platform and have over 140 million users. Both of the founders Harsh Jain and Bhavit Seth are an ardent sports lover and they founded the sports gaming platform in 2008. Recently the company has collabed with popular TiktOk star Khaby Lame in their new campaign #Dream11PeDimaagLagaNa.

    Acko

    Founders: Varun Dua and Ruchi Deepak
    Year Founded: 2016
    Industry: Insurance
    Funding: $458 Million

    This is a private insurance company in India and offers its customers insurance facilities, products and commissions. It is a digital platform and everything that is done here is online. It has become the first digital service provider in the country, India.

    It was founded in the year 2016 by Varun Dua and Ruchi Deepak, the company has received fundings from Catamaran Ventures, Accel Partners, SAIF Partners. The current CEO is Varun Dua and the headquarters of the insurance company  is located in Mumbai, India.

    Apna

    Founders: Nirmit Parikh
    Year Founded: 2019
    Industry: Employment
    Funding: $193.5 Million

    Apna Jobs is all about providing job opportunities to the people of India. Unemployment is a big concern in this huge country so digital recruitment can help in solving that, that is what the motive is. It is a job platform where one can find jobs and mingle with the community.

    Through this app one can find job as per their skills. It was founded in the year 2019 by former Apple executive, Nirmit Parikh and with its work it was able to become the fastest Unicorn in the country.

    This is the list of startup companies in Mumbai. Hope you liked it.

    If you know any other Mumbai-based startups, please contact us. We will connect with them to feature in the list of startups in Mumbai.

    FAQs

    How many startup companies are there in India?

    India has about 50,000 startups India in 2018; around 8,900 – 9,300 of these are technology-led startups 1300 new tech startups were born in 2019 alone implying there are 2-3 tech startups born every day.

    How can I get startup benefits in India?

    Benefits of Startup India Scheme:

    • Self Certification under Labor and Environmental Laws.
    • Tax Exemption for Three Years.
    • Tax Exemption on Investment Above Fair Market Value.
    • Easy Winding Up of Company.
    • Startup Patent Application and IPR Protection.
    • Relaxation in Public Procurement Norms.
    • SIDBI Fund of Funds.

    Is Oyo a startup?

    Oyo Hotels and Homes are raising $1.5 billion from founder Ritesh Agarwal, SoftBank Group Corp. Agarwal, who founded Oyo in 2013, has built it into India’s second-most valuable startup with a valuation of about $10 billion. Its service covers 1.2 million rooms in over 80 countries, including 590,000 rooms in China.

    What are the top Mumbai based startups in India?

    Some of the top mumbai based startups are:

    • BookMyShow
    • Ola
    • Chillr
    • Grabhouse
    • Pepperfry
    • Housing
    • Ola Cab
    • Toppr
    • Nykaa
    • Impactguru

    Is Mumbai good for startups?

    Mumbai is an attractive startup hub which is contributing highly in Indian startup eco-system. It has great connectivity with other countries and a growing number of co-working spaces. The presence of prominent venture capital firms in Mumbai makes it best for startups.

  • List of Top Travel and Tourism Startups in India

    “It will be much more about responsible travel now. We are going to value our freedom a lot more” – Deep Kalra, Founder of MakeMyTrip on impact of Covid on travel industry

    The travel and tourism industry is one of the largest industries in India, it’s a major driver of economic growth globally. India’s tourism industry is experiencing a good period of growth, driven by the flourishing Indian middle class, growth in high spending foreign tourists and coordinated government campaigns to promote ‘Incredible India’. But Due to restrictions linked to Covid-19, the number of foreign tourist in India during 2021 decreased to 1.52 million compared to 2.74 million in 2020, dropping by 44.5%, though foreign exchange earnings grew during the same period, as per the India Tourism Statistics 2022 report. In 2019, India saw 10.93 million foreign tourist arrivals, which dropped by 75% in 2020.

    In 2021, the travel and tourism industry in India contributed around 178 billion U.S. dollars to the country’s GDP. Just a few days ago the Indian government has said that the country’s tourism sector will recover to the pre-pandemic level by mid-2024 , they also said that by 2030, the tourism sector will contribute $250 billion to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP).According to the recent India Travel Market Report by Phocuswright, the total Indian travel market stood at US$19.1 billion in 2021 and is expected to reach $40.4 billion in 2025, with online penetration reaching 58% in 2025.

    The booming IT and outsourcing industry has led to a growing number of business trips made by foreigners to India. After Covid, along with work from home, a new trend has come, i.e., workcation for which travel companies are coming up with very good offers and packages. These plans comprise elegant and peaceful places to work with sightseeing and event sports in the evening. These packages are varied and diverse.

    From choosing destinations to connecting with locals and customizing the holiday, the travel startup business in India is looking to add a new dimension to the ever-evolving traveling story.

    Here is the list of successful tour and travel startups.

    Travel & Tourism Industry in India – Key Highlights

    Top Travel and Tourism Startups in India:

    1. MakeMyTrip
    2. ClearTrip
    3. Goibibo
    4. OYO Rooms
    5. Pickyourtrail
    6. ScoutMyTrip
    7. Thrillophilia
    8. Travel Triangle
    9. goMowgli
    10. Tripoto
    11. ExTravelMoney
    12. Nearify
    13. TripHobo
    14. iTraveller
    15. SeekSherpa
    16. SOTC
    17. Expedia

    Travel & Tourism Industry in India – Key Highlights

    Best Tourism and Travel startup – Key Highlights

    Also Read: Travel and Tourism Industry Trends in 2021: Post-Covid Scenario

    Top 20 Travel and Tourism Startups in India

    MakeMyTrip

    Founders Deep Kalra
    Founded In 2000
    Headquarters Gurugram, Haryana

    Best Travel and Tourism Startup in India – MakeMyTrip 

    MakeMyTrip is one of the oldest travel startup in India . The inspiration for this startup came to Kalra when he was booking a holiday to Thailand. He realized that the internet could offer more competitive prices by cutting out the middleman. MakeMyTrip’s mission is to provide customers a one-stop-shop for all their travel needs by providing online travel services that include flight tickets, domestic and international holiday packages, hotel reservations, rail and bus tickets.

    ClearTrip

    Founders Stuart Crighton; Matthew Spacie‎; Hrush Bhatt
    Founded In 2016
    Headquarters Mumbai

    Top Travel Startup – Cleartrip

    Cleartrip, headquartered in Mumbai, was founded by Stuart Crighton, Hrush Bhatt in the year 2005. The company operates an online travel aggregator website for booking flights and train tickets, hotel reservations, and activities in India and the Middle East countries. Cleartrip is one of the few business travel startups in India. It has offices across India, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt. Cleartrip is another travel tech company in India, started its services to the Persian Gulf nations of Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt. On June 21, 2018, Cleartrip announced the acquisition of Saudi Arabia-based online travel aggregator (OTA) Flyin.

    Clear trip also operates –

    • Cleartrip for Business, an online corporate travel management tool. It is a business travel solution for companies
    • Agent Box, a travel tool for travel agents.
    • Cleartrip Mobile, a travel booking app for consumers.
    • Expressway, to let users store traveller profile and payment details securely to make one-click bookings.
    • Flexifly, a solution that enables flyers to change their travel date and time and switch flights between airlines without any hefty penalties.

    Goibibo

    Founder Ashish Kashyap
    Founded In 2007
    Headquarters Gurugram, Haryana

    Travel Startup in India – Goibibo

    Within few years goibibo became a big payer in travel industry. Goibibo acquired redBus in 2013 to enhance its product offering. The 2016 merger of MMT and Goibibo gave MMT depth of content and an access to a bigger consumer base. It’s core value differentiator is the most trusted user experience, be it in terms of quickest search and booking, fastest payments, settlement or refund processes. Along with the usual services travel startups provide, Goibibo became the no 1 travel startup to introduce real travel booking currency named as Go Cash which can be used without any restrictions or limits of use.

    In small towns, this start up company has built up good trust and about 48% of new users are associated with tier 2 and tier 3 cities, it has seen a 65% increase in transacting users since January this year and that it has been ‘successful’ in consolidating its position as the ‘second largest’ OTA brand in the country.

    OYO Rooms

    Founder Ritesh Agarwal
    Founded In 2012
    Headquarters Gurugram, Haryana

    Best Travel & Hospitality Startup – OYO Rooms

    It is the largest hospitality startup from the list of top hospitality startups in India comprising budget hotels. It is usually one of the first names that pop up in people’s minds when they think of cost efficient hotel bookings in India. The startup works in liaison with existing hotels and offers travellers vacant rooms at a cheaper price. OYO Rooms start at a nominal price of Rs. 999. Besides bulk renting hotels, they have also invested in their own properties as well. Click here to know how exactly OYO Rooms work.

    The users can also opt for OYO Premium which provides a more-than-basic experience. OYO Rooms are located in the prime areas of the city and therefore they ensure travellers of having the best experience, it is also close to the best sight-seeing destinations and various dining options. The startup also raised an investment of $90 million from Softbank earlier in 2016. In 2019, OYO raised $1.5 Billion in Series F funding led by SoftBank Group, Lightspeed Venture Partners, and Sequoia India.

    Pickyourtrail

    Founders Hari Ganapathy and Srinath Shankar
    Founded In 2014
    Headquarters Chennai

    Travel and Tourism Startup in India – Pickyourtrail

    Hari Ganapathy and Srinath Shankar got the idea of the startup after their experience from a self-planned trip to Europe in 2012.  This platform uses deep tech to let travellers create, customize and book international vacations. Pickyourtrail considers more than 40 factors like duration, travel time, ratings, etc to build personalized itineraries that travellers can further customize & book.

    After the trip is booked, travellers can use Pickyourtrail’s app to keep track of bookings and get real-time information on flight and weather updates, restaurant recommendations, and on-trip chat support.

    Their goal is to perform best in the tour and travel business when it comes to international trips.

    ScoutMyTrip

    Founders Vineet Rajan; Deepak Ananth
    Founded In 2016
    Headquarters Thane, Maharashtra

    Best Travel and Tourism Startup in India – SCOUT MY TRIP

    ScoutMyTrip is a road trip planner ,It works for all sorts of outings, from short weekend travels to long excursions.

    The motive that the duo has been able to solve through their startup is to collate information that is currently very diversified. Basically it is an information portal that makes travel easy and accessible for anyone. The company plans to connect travellers with people who want to travel on any particular vehicle. It will also facilitate customised tour packages.

    With artificial intelligence, customers can create an itinerary containing the information necessary for their road trip—gas stations, toilets, restaurants, hotels to stay, and points of interest. The human intelligence aspect brings in the ability to personalize information as per one’s needs.

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    StartupTalkyVarad Kitey

    Thrillophilia

    Founders Chitra Gurnani and Abhishek Daga
    Founded In 2011
    Headquarters Banglore

    Top Travel startup – Thrillophilia

    The corporate outdoor and experiential learning model adopted by Thrillophilia in its early days, has proven to be of great significance since it was fairly new concept in India.

    Thrillophilia provides you with handpicked adventure travel options. It is best suited for travellers seeking an off-the-beaten-track package for sightseeing, sports, and adventurous activities like water rafting, snorkelling, bungee jumping, and skydiving. The travellers can also curate the best tours and authentic suppliers.

    Travel Triangle

    Founders Sankalp Agarwal, Sanchit Garg, and Prabhat Gupta
    Founded In 2011
    Headquarters Gurugram, Haryana

    Top Travel and Tourism Startup – Travel Triangle

    Travel Triangle operates their services with a versatile team of 450+ people. Travel Triangle is operating as an online marketplace model bringing both travellers and trusted & expert travel agents on a common platform. Travel Triangle is a SaaS-based customer relationship management (CRM) platform to help them manage and analyse customer interactions and data.

    goMowgli

    Founders Anil Alur and Sunil Abhilash
    Founded In 2013
    Headquarters Mysuru, Karnataka

    Top travel and tourism Startup – goMowgli

    goMowgli is a travel startup that had its name inspired by the fictional character we all loved growing up –Mowgli from Jungle Book. It has a fleet of buses across different states (using the concept of “hop-off buses”) and the travellers can buy a pass for a fixed number of days – a week or two. It is suitable for solo travellers and backpackers who want to travel without a fixed plan or do not want to get in trouble of booking cabs while traveling the city.

    goMowgli claims to be India’s first flexible bus network for travellers. Flexible bus network mean is you can catch the bus anytime you want from any place in their network, and get off anytime, at any place.

    goMowgli will tell you the exact location of the nearest bus when you switch on the GPS feature on your smartphone. The app is growing in popularity very fast. At present, their revenue generation is basically based on the passes they sell (Rs. 1700/day) . And their marketing is mainly based on social media and word of mouth.

    19 Innovative Health Startups in India | List of Top Healthcare Startups
    The hunger for success makes you forget about health. You might be engrossedwith your startup but don’t work yourself to death for a bright entrepreneurialfuture. A wise man once said that health is wealth [/tag/wealth-management/]. The healthcare sector is growing rapidly in the Indian landscap…
    StartupTalkyVidhi Punamiya

    Tripoto

    Founders Anirudh Gupta and Michael Pargal Lyngdoh
    Founded In Headquarter:- Delhi
    Headquarters Delhi

    Top Indian Travel Startup – Tripoto

    Tripoto is a Delhi-based startup founded by Anirudh Gupta and Michael Lyngdoh and one of the best travel startups in India. It allows users to create itineraries for their future trips that they can also share with other travelers. They can share their travel experiences, related content and pictures, itineraries, maps, stories, and reviews.

    The startup has one of the largest communities of travellers in the world where people get a chance to share their travel experiences, discover unique trips and travel itineraries by other travelers and connect with them around the world through the website. Tripoto’s aim is to become the largest source of crowd-sourced travel content platforms in the world by enabling users to share their credible travel information.

    ExTravelMoney

    Founder George Zachariah
    Founded In 2015
    Headquarters Kochi, Kerala

    Travel Startup in India – ExTravel Money

    ExTravelMoney is an online aggregator and marketplace for forex services that bring the hyperlocal eCommerce model to foreign exchange business and is helping users save money on currency exchange and money transfer from and to abroad. Users can use this platform to search for banks and money changers near them who offer these forex services. They can also compare the exchange rates and total cost of a forex service including the services fees, tax charges, even the rating of each forex store they are searching for.

    The users can therefore make an informed decision based on this knowledge and book the cheapest and the best forex services near them directly from their app ExTravelMoney. If you are traveling in a foreign country, foreign exchange is an important component to plan. It isn’t easy to purchase forex due to the time and the hassle it takes in finding the best exchange rates. The website provides travelers with forex dealers across the country to bring them the best available exchange rate in the market and all they need to do is log in to their website, state their forex requirement, and then it connects you to the nearest forex dealer.

    Nearify

    Founders Avelo Roy, Mayank Kumar, Saurav Singh, Vivek Srivastava
    Founded In 2012
    Headquarters Delhi

    Top Travel Startup in India – Nearify 

    Nearify is an app founded by Mayank Kumar, Saurav Singh and Vivek Srivastava in 2012 that provides users with updated information on events that are happening around them. Like information on the city, major tourist attractions, and fairs & festivals happening in the area. All the user needs to do is to key in the name of the city to find listings of meet-ups, workshops, music concerts, and cultural hangout places in their close proximity.

    It is best suited for travelers who want to know what’s happening in other locations of the place they are traveling to and wish to plan their itinerary and also don’t want to miss out on the social events happening in nearby cities or locations.

    TripHobo

    Founders Praveen Kumar, Saket Newaskar, and Karthik Ramachandra
    Founded In 2012
    Headquarters Pune, Maharashtra

    Travel Planning Startup – TripHobo

    TripHobo is a Pune-based travel startup that has an innovative new travel platform where the collective effort of their dedicated team of travel enthusiasts. They are trying to transform its user’s travel experience by making travel more sharable and personally tailored. The platform lets you connect with travel buddies around the world and hence makes your experience even richer and memorable.

    TripHobo is a vacation planning website that is also the world’s leading vacation planning platform on which you can plan trips to about 150,000 destinations worldwide. It lets users discover great itineraries created by travellers just like them.

    iTraveller

    Founders Shiju Radhakrishnan and Sanjay Kumar
    Founded In 2011
    Headquarters Banglore

    Top Travel Startups – iTraveller

    It’s an online travel platform for travellers to explore travel destinations, plan and book their trips in advance. It allows users to dynamically create self-serviced customized travel packages after receiving inquiries from clients.

    The users can also compare reviews and plan their activities and sightseeing for their trips, it also involves native wholesale suppliers who are responsible for the operational aspects of the business of your trip that includes ground handling and fulfillment. iTraveller has created more than 2 lakh trips featuring over 20 travel destinations across the globe and more than 60 native wholesale suppliers from across these destinations. The brand of iTraveller is now changed to Lastminute.

    SeekSherpa

    Founders Sukhmani Singh and Dhruv Raj Gupta
    Founded In 2014
    Headquarters Delhi

    Top Travel and Tourism Startup in India – Seek Sherpa

    The mobile marketplace connects travellers with the local people in the city you are traveling to. These people are called “Sherpas” and are chosen after a thorough background check and verified authenticity. They offer numerous itineraries, popularly known as “micro tours”, from sightseeing, photography tours, and heritage walks and food walks to explore a location from the eyes of a local guide – Sherpa.

    Sherpas can be from any profession and list experiences that will cost you less than Rs. 3,000 per participant. This is a unique feature that SeekSherpa offers, it helps you in traveling better by interacting with the residents of the place you are seeking to explore. This way, your trip is better, well experienced, and more memorable.

    SOTC

    Founder Mr. Vishal Suri (Managing Director)
    Founded In 1949
    Headquarters Mumbai, India

    Top travel and Tourism Startup in India – SOTC

    SOTC India is a leading travel and tourism company active across various travel segments including Leisure Travel, Incentive Travel and Business Travel. It is one of the leaders in segments, namely Escorted Group Tours, Customized Holidays,  and Incentive Travel amongst others. SOTC offers customized holidays around the world, Corporate Tours and provides packages for MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Events) related travel needs.

    Conclusion

    Travelling is one of the most exciting and important parts of our life. It teaches us a lot. These startups in the tourism industry in India are helping us to make our journey better, safer, and easier. If we have missed out on any travel startup in India, do let us know in the comments.

    FAQs on Travel Startups in India

    How to start a travel business in India or how to start a travel company in India?

    Best tips to start a travel business in India or a travel company in India:

    • Step 1: Prepare a plan for your travel business.
    • Step 2: Brand your travel business along with dealing in legal formalities.
    • Step 3: Manage your funding strategy.
    • Step 4: Pick a great location and hire employees.

    How to start an online travel agency in India?

    The list of requirements to start an online travel agency in India:

    1. Make a thorough research on your competitors and the market.
    2. Find your own niche in the travel industry.
    3. Build your team.
    4. Take a call on a travel website or a travel software, or both.
    5. Make a strategy for marketing.
    6. Target a location.