The retail industry in India has witnessed a significant evolution, transitioning from small, independent shops to large stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets, and now ecommerce. This transition has taken place on the back of a dramatic change in the shopping habits of consumers.

Consequently, the retail landscape has seen a rise in tech-driven neighbourhood stores such as SuperK, Apna Mart, and Kirana King, especially after the pandemic. The most interesting, yet crucial, aspect of these players is that they are focussed on improving the shopping experience for customers living in the country’s rural areas. 

Making waves in this competitive landscape is the retail tech startup Frendy, which is bringing modern retail convenience to Tier III cities and beyond, with its eyes on markets where giants like Reliance and Tatas have yet to establish their presence.

Incorporated in 2019 by entrepreneurs Sameer Gandotra, Gowrav Vishwakarma, Ninad Patel and Harshad Joshi, Frendy aims to enhance the shopping experience for customers living in lesser-known areas of India through its spacious stores and app.

Interestingly, the founders of Frendy came up with the idea to launch Frendy when they noticed that hardly any retail player focussed exclusively on customers living in Tier III and beyond cities. However, what prompted them to execute their thesis was the strong aspirations of the people living in small towns and cities. 

“While there was a lot of chatter about ecommerce in the country at the time, most people from the rural parts of the country were untouched by its magic. Trust and last-mile assistance were missing in ecommerce in rural areas, so we started researching and realised that purely digital solutions wouldn’t work because these consumers haven’t even seen a proper modern retail experience. So, we came up with a phygital (physical plus digital) model,” the cofounder said.

This led to the creation of the Ahmedabad-based Frendy. The startup currently operates as an omnichannel retail store network that sells grocery, cleaning, beauty and other household products under its private-label portfolio. 

It also aims to disrupt the market by addressing the challenges faced by micro kirana stores, such as poor stocking, managing multiple SKUs, and maintaining discounted rates and profit margins. As per the founders, the brand has served approximately 1 Lakh+ households since its inception.

They added that the startup’s revenue doubled to INR 82 Cr in FY23 from INR 40 Cr in FY22. However, in FY24, it posted a revenue of INR 70 Cr (unaudited). Per the founders, the degrowth on the revenue front was the result of a strategic turnaround to reduce burn and enhance operational efficiency. 

Nevertheless, the startup, since its inception, has garnered significant interest from Auxano Capital, AT Capital Singapore, Metara Ventures, Let’s Venture Angel Fund, Desai Ventures, Auxano Capital, Priya Joseph, Rohan Jain and Rishabh Jain of The Wellness Co., and Apurva Salarpuria family office, among others. It has raised a total of $5 Mn in its journey so far.

Frendy’s Permutations & Combinations

Speaking with Inc42, the cofounders said that much has gone into creating a robust customer base. Gandotra added that Frendy’s business model has undergone multiple iterations from time to time on the back of changing customer demands, market conditions and opportunities. 

From September 2019 to February 2020, Gandotra added, they operated Frendy as a referral-based ecommerce platform, offering groceries and products under categories like fashion and accessories, home decor and kitchenware. 

But when the Covid-19 pandemic brought the world to its knees, the founders shifted their focus from other categories to strengthen their grocery segment, all while boosting their last-mile delivery play.

In March 2022, they began focussing on micro kiranas as agents and by October 2023, they launched Frendy Marts, which function as both retail outlets and micro-warehouses.

Currently, the startup operates 25 mini marts (also known as Frendy Marts), which are present in small towns of Gujarat like Chitroda, Khodiyarnagar, Nikol, Gondal, etc. The founders said they keep on adding 3-5 new mini marts every month. 

These mini marts serve as modern retail outlets for villages or towns with populations of 10,000 to 15,000 people. Frendy’s mini marts also serve as fulfilment centres or warehouses and a one-stop supply hub for micro kiranas. The startup has its central warehouse located in Ahmedabad.

“We initially launched with a wider assortment of around 10,000 SKUs, including fashion and accessories. Currently, our catalogue has been reduced to 5,000 SKUs as we focus mainly on groceries and have largely eliminated fashion items. Of these, 1,000 SKUs are available at the Mart, 1,000-1,500 at micro kiranas, and 4,000 at the central warehouse,” he added.

Although the business model has changed over the years, one thing that has remained constant for the cofounders is their commitment to technology.

Frendy’s Tech At Play

To facilitate hassle-free shopping, Frendy uses its in-house app, which has around 5,000 SKUs. This app allows micro kiranas to access a digital product catalogue, place orders, and receive deliveries from mini marts. Consumers can either order directly through this app or request the micro kirana owner to place an order on their behalf.

Further, its in-house digitised network includes WhatsApp-based merchandising and customer engagement tools. The customer app features interactive pricing, offers and discounts, trending products, and vernacular language support. In addition to this, its logistics app, integrated with Mart POS, facilitates demand forecasting, inventory management, and provides strong analytics and business insights. 

Further, its CRM system includes a delivery app for order tracking and payments; a micro store/partner app with data dashboards, analytics, payments, and CRM functionalities, including ticketing and communication; and a Mart POS with easy operation, data analytics, ARS, AI-based merchandising, and payment processing. Additionally, it also has a warehouse management system to handle inventory, order management, accounting, and vendor interactions.

Currently, about 90% of its consumers make purchases in person at micro kiranas, while only 10% use the app.

The app is mainly used by partners and micro kiranas to manage orders. The platform allows users to check product availability and prices with ease.

Frendy’s Expansion Plans

Operating in Gujarat, the startup has plans to emerge as the next DMart. Interestingly, as per Gandotra, the country can easily accommodate another 20 DMarts. 

With its eyes on covering the 20,000 villages in India that comprise 60% of the rural population, the startup eventually aims to expand to larger towns and Tier III cities. 

“The initial focus is on acquiring the rural areas of Gujarat before expanding to other states in the coming years,” the cofounder added.

As per Gandotra, within Gujarat, there are about 1,100 towns, which provides the startup ample opportunities for the next two to three years. 

“This regional focus will allow us achieve greater efficiency as we will be operating within the same state,” he said, adding that the brand is currently focussed on creating differentiation by providing a standardised and superior retail experience.

As per the founder, Frendy stores also offer amenities such as tea stalls and video game consoles for kids, making the shopping trip more enjoyable and convenient.

By FY25, the cofounders aim to establish 70-80 Frendy Marts. “Our primary focus is on solidifying the foundation of our business through these marts, which will then facilitate easier scaling.”

While the rural retail sector currently features only a few players like SuperK and ApnaMart with strategies similar to Frendy’s, it is only a matter of time before major retail giants such as Reliance enter these markets. With that said, it will be interesting to see how Frendy is able to solidify its rural game play before shedding some of its market share to other bigger rivals.

[Edited by Shishir Parasher]

The post Can Frendy Be The Next DMart With Its Village-Only Playbook? appeared first on Inc42 Media.

As the world’s cravings for everyday and exotic spices grew since antiquity and extended beyond the Middle Ages, Eurasian trade routes like the fabled Silk Road emerged and iconic explorers like Vasco da Gama put India on the global spice map. The country’s spice legacy has continued and it sells spice and spice-related products to nearly 180 countries. India’s exports in this sector amounted to 15.4 lakh tonnes and reached an all-time high of $4.5 Bn in FY24.

When Akash Agrawal, with an MBA in marketing, ran his family’s steel business in Raipur during 2010-2015, he was unaware how the global demand for healthy spices and seasonings would drive the Indian market’s upward trajectory. He was, however, exploring promising sectors to launch his startup.

“The steel industry is too structured, governed by too many regulations. But I wanted to do things differently and create a powerful brand. You cannot do that in a family business. There are norms and set patterns to follow,” he said.

His first startup was CheckedIn, a location-based social networking app designed to help people discover like-minded individuals nearby. But his first attempt at entrepreneurship did not go well and he lost INR 1 Cr within two years. After the initial debacle, he had two options: Rejoining the family business or zeroing in on the right business to fulfil his ambition and create a noteworthy brand.

Being the gutsy risk-taker he has always been, the choice was evident. After thorough research and careful deliberation, Akash and his sibling Ashish decided to disrupt India’s ‘spice story’ with a dash of new technology and launched in 2018 the direct-to-consumer (D2C) spice brand Zoff (Zone Of Fresh Food), specialising in ground, blended and whole spice categories, as well as dry fruits.

The Ingredients That Built Zoff’s Unique Spice Story

The ‘timeless’ appeal of Indian spices across cultures, cuisines and culinary arts and the subsequent growth of the genre irresistibly drew the Agrawal brothers. Given the widespread use of single-origin products, including fundamental assortments favoured by home cooks and exotic blends embraced by HoReCa chefs – the branded spices segment has emerged as the most attractive within the food space since the Covid-19 pandemic. In fact, out of the top 20 Indian food companies in 2021, five were spice companies, and their valuations are expected to be up six to seven times by 2030, per an Avendus Capital report.

As people love local/regional flavours, homegrown incumbents continue to dominate this space, making things tough for new entrants like Zoff. Nevertheless, the Agrawals managed to spot many critical areas that would help them wrest a competitive edge.

“Let us start with the whole spice market. If you think of 2047 (a landmark year of sorts as the Indian government claims the culmination of Viksit Bharat by that time), when most Indian consumers opt for ready-to-use packaged spices, where will this market go? The genesis of Zoff Foods lies in that clarity, that understanding of forward-thinking strategy needs and technology requirements,” said Akash.

To spearhead its products past storied players (think Tata Sampann, Patanjali and their ilk, and you know its competition), Zoff has adopted modern technology such as cold grinding to retain the flavour and ingredient quality (oils and vitamins) found in raw spices and well-layered Ziplock packaging to keep the moisture intact and the spices fresh for a long time (more on its spicetech later).

The startup runs a fully automated manufacturing unit and a 10K sq. ft temperature-controlled warehouse in Raipur and sources premium-quality spices directly from their regions of origin to ensure the best crop conditions. It strictly adheres to FSSAI standards for product quality and lab-tests the incoming stock in-house so that ingredients meeting the highest quality benchmarks are processed.

“Our state-of-the-art, automated plant minimises human intervention, underlining our dedication to delivering safe and superior spice products,” said Akash.

Zoff claimed a gross revenue of INR 93 Cr in FY24, nearly a 4x jump from INR 25.79 Cr in FY20, a year that marked its entry into the ecommerce space after its distribution pivot from general trade. It also posted a net profit of INR 1 Cr against the INR 11.86 Cr loss in FY21. By the end of the current fiscal, Zoff aims to clock INR 170 Cr+ in revenue, with a 60-70% rise in repeat business. It will also introduce new SKUs such as flavoured dry fruits and gifting options.

How Zoff’s Tech Stack Helped Break The ‘Legacy’ Barrier

When a D2C brand enters a market teeming with legacy players, it is bound to face the inevitable question: Do you think you can survive? As for the spice segment, where brand loyalty has been paramount over the years (think of Cookme, a brand which was launched in 1846 and is still doing a roaring business), this throws a spanner in the works of onboarding and retaining customers.

Akash remains undaunted, arguing that the dominance of established brands underscores a massive opportunity for new players keen to disrupt the existing market. A rise in the number of new entrants will help expand the market, get it more organised in terms of value and volume and usher in more innovative blends.

The Avendus study also supports this outlook. It is estimated that the organised branded spice market will reach INR 50K Cr by 2025 and blended spices will have a 35% market share by then.

When asked about breaking the ‘legacy’ barrier and creating a cult brand, Akash talked less about the exotic flavours that Zoff might be experimenting with and focussed more on the business plans and practicalities uppermost in his mind. For instance, the key to acquiring customers, he says, is all about finding the market gaps (it can be quality, convenience or something else), creating the right brand positioning and constantly improving one’s strategy.

“We realised that legacy brands are reluctant to change. They are somewhat convinced that the status quo will persist. That’s where we saw the opportunity and seized it. Nothing innovative was happening in the spice market and we decided to change that,” he said.

Since its inception, the D2C spice brand has pioneered innovative strategies to bring fresh, high-quality spices to the market. Unlike most brands, which still offer single-use sachets and large packs, requiring additional containers for storage after the packets are opened, Zoff provides Ziplock pouches to retain freshness and ensure convenience.

“Spices should be used, sealed and stored anywhere without hassles. That’s how we have developed our products,” said Akash.

During their initial research, the founders also tracked another critical issue plaguing traditional spice companies – the use of hammer mills for spice grinding. The heat generated during that process can damage the output quality, melt spices or spoil intricate designer blends. Therefore, Zoff introduced a cool grinding technology that uses air to break whole spices into small particles before grinding, thus minimising heat generation and preserving the original flavours. It further ensures fine-to-superfine grinding and high throughput for regrinds.

“Next comes another critical procedure, grading, to be precise. Our grading process for whole spices remains largely manual to ensure quality. For instance, whole cloves are graded and packed as a whole spice while the broken ones are used for grinding,” said Akash.

Of Target Markets & Marketplaces: Zoff Debunked Popular Myths To Stay Ahead    

In another significant shift from tradition, Zoff has redefined its target customer base and moved away from a woman-centric approach. Although most companies do it even now, Akash, playing a key role in Zoff’s strategy building, believes that the scenario has changed. The kitchen is no longer the exclusive domain of women. On the contrary, Gen Z and the millennials, aged between 20 and 40, are holding sway and emerging as active decision-makers in their households minus any gender bias.

“These are ground realities and we need to design our products for this new generation. Also, with our ecommerce presence, we can reach this younger demographic much faster,” he said.

Zoff was at another strategic crossroads and required to make a pivotal decision to push its growth drive. Should it bolster its presence by selling on third-party marketplaces or transact exclusively via its proprietary website? Most D2C brands do both to optimise sales, but the spice brand has opted for a differentiated strategy.

It currently offers more than 100 SKUs, but only some of its products are available on ecommerce and quick commerce platforms. While Zoff sells its entire product range via its website, marketplaces only stock frequently purchased items like cumin, amchoor (mango powder) and season specials like sesame seeds during the Makar Sankranti festival in January. This selective availability helps the brand balance the reach and convenience of marketplaces with the control and brand fidelity of direct sales.

“Spices are not the kind of products you can sell and scale from your website,” said Akash. “We need readily available items that people can add to the cart along with other goods. No one will visit a site again and again just to order spices. Hence, we need marketplaces. But when people know the brand and realise it has exclusive, value-added products worth buying, they will come more frequently.”

Ecommerce Helped When General Trade Failed To Deliver

Although ecommerce gained prominence around 2014-2015 and D2C brands emerged as niche players, online grocery was struggling at the time. Even a host of well-funded players like Grofers (now Blinkit), Shadowfax, Peppertap, LocalBanya, Townrush (acquired by Grofers), Paytm Zip, Ola Store and Flipkart’s Nearby were fighting to stay afloat, recalled Akash. That’s the reason why Zoff initially focused on general trade (GT) as a distribution model.

“For two years, we worked on cracking the GT market. We expanded to 20 states but eventually realised that GT was a costly affair. Finally, when Covid-19 struck in 2020, we had to let go of our entire sales team of 350,” he rued.

It was the worst of times. The startup was bootstrapped then. The founders had already invested INR 60 Cr to set up the plant. They also burnt INR 30 Cr while trying to master GT operations. And finally, they had no sales team to bring them business. There was no other way out but to opt for ecommerce.

“That’s when players like BigBasket, Zepto and Grofers revolutionised online grocery with fast, efficient deliveries and typical Q-commerce solutions. We knew it was the right time to enter, so we started selling on Flipkart. Zoff clocked a turnover of INR 2.5 Cr from that business,” said Akash.

In addition, the Agrawals started selling to police and army canteens, which saw an annual footfall of 2 Cr. Their efforts paid off and they closed FY22 with a turnover of INR 50 crore, breaking even with a team of four.

The following fiscal proved even better. Zoff registered on the CRED marketplace in August 2022 and conducted paid sampling, charging only shipping costs and giving away products for free. A similar campaign was done via the website for promotion and profit.

Meanwhile, Zoff founders appeared on Shark Tank in February 2023, where it raised INR 1 Cr from boAT founder Aman Gupta.

“By then, our monthly turnover reached INR 5-6 Cr. We also sold on quick commerce platforms like Blinkit, Swiggy and Zepto and gradually ventured into modern trade (MT) by the end of FY23,” said Akash.

ONDC (Open Network for Digital Commerce), too, is his favourite sales channel. “I am a believer in technology. Even when people wondered what ONDC was all about, we got registered and did business worth INR 1.5 Cr within three months,” he added.

How Zoff Founders View The Recent Spice Ban Row

When asked about the recent spice adulteration controversy, Akash emphasised that the ban on certain spice brands in Singapore, Hong Kong and other countries due to ethylene oxide contamination would have far-reaching implications for the spice industry in India. It may lead to a substantial decline in exports, potentially impacting farmers’ livelihoods and overall industry revenue. The current situation further highlights the critical need for robust quality control measures across the industry.

Essentially, government agencies, regulatory bodies and brands must collaborate to ensure stricter testing procedures throughout the supply chain, from farming practices to final processing and packaging. This effort may involve more stringent guidelines for pesticide use, investing in better storage and transportation to minimise contamination risks and conducting more rigorous testing at various production stages.

Akash also thinks this is an ideal opportunity to focus on organic spices that meet the required safety standards.

“These measures can help reassure consumers, rebuild trust among international buyers, and safeguard the reputation of Indian spices,” he added.

What’s Next For Zoff: More Focus On Whole Spices & HoReCa, A Relook At GT

For most people, flavours and aromas of different kinds regurgitate memories and associations. According to ‘spice masters’, these subtle psychological connections are revived through the taste and smell of spices. But for Akash Agrawal, the palate is more ‘macro’. Nothing inspires him better than the brands which have become synonymous with their categories – Saffola for oil, Kohinoor for rice, or Bisleri for water. However, to achieve that level of recognition, Zoff’s primary focus should be whole spices, he says.

“Whole spices are integral to great cooking and are recommended by dieticians for their health benefits. It is also the largest segment of the unorganised spice market. From black pepper to cumin, from fenugreek to cardamom, whole spices account for nearly 50% of a household’s total spice purchases. Hence, it makes sound business sense to expand there,” said Akash.

Currently, 45% of Zoff’s business comes from whole spices, and it aims to emerge as a leading player by 2030. This segment also provides significant opportunities for scaling up in GT and the HoReCa space. The only glitch is that chefs and purchase managers across HoReCa prefer to work with familiar brands. Until Zoff becomes a well-established name, its products may not be widely accepted or used.

“The scope for multi-level growth is all the more reason to go for general trade once again but on a smaller scale. GT is India’s largest market, accounting for 90% of the business. In fact, in the next four years, general trade and ecommerce will split evenly and grow at the same pace. Therefore, we should tap into GT aggressively,” the founder added.

Zoff is already working towards this goal. In the last financial year, about 15% of its business came from GT, and the startup aims to increase this share to 20-25% in the current fiscal.

But one thing is for sure. Zoff’s founders will not pursue any deal that results in a loss, even if it is the loss of a single rupee. Profitability is paramount and the focus on unit economics will not waver after the harsh lessons they have learnt. It is the mantra they have adopted for continuous success. And it is probably the most profound business strategy to adopt, whether one is running a bootstrapped and pre-revenue garage startup or sitting on a pile of cash and earning profits.

[Edited by Sanghamitra Mandal]

The post Inside Zoff’s Cookbook: How This Spice Brand Achieved 4X Revenue Growth appeared first on Inc42 Media.

With India’s increasing emphasis on technological advancement and self-reliance, the nation has experienced a significant surge in emerging technology startups over the past decade. 

From the expansion of electric vehicles to the integration of drones and from the ascent of private players in spacetech to a notable influx of private funding in technology, these achievements very well underline the vibrant landscape of India’s tech sector.

Similarly, India’s semiconductor ecosystem has gained substantial momentum, bolstered by the government’s support for fabless chip manufacturing startups, semiconductor design, and packaging companies.

In 2021, the Indian government sanctioned the Semicon India programme, allocating INR 76,000 Cr to provide incentive support to companies engaged in silicon semiconductor fabs, display fabs, compound semiconductors/sensors fabs, and semiconductor packaging and design.

Subsequently, in 2022, the India Semiconductor Mission (ISM) was launched to build a vibrant semiconductor and display ecosystem to enable India’s emergence as a global hub for electronics manufacturing and design. 

The government introduced the ‘Semicon India Future Design: Design Linked Incentive (DLI) Scheme, which offers financial incentives and design infrastructure support for various stages of semiconductor development and deployment, including Integrated Circuits (ICs), chipsets, System on Chips (SoCs), Systems and IP cores, and semiconductor-linked design.

Further, the ‘Make in India’ initiative, aimed at reducing dependence on imported components and bolstering the domestic tech ecosystem, has been a driving force behind these initiatives in recent years.

Presently, India has forged agreements with several global semiconductor manufacturing giants to establish manufacturing facilities in the country. With companies like Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Micron, and Qualcomm making investments in India, alongside the emergence of more venture capital-backed startups, the semiconductor industry in India is poised for further expansion.

Amid all this, the Union Cabinet on February 29 approved the country’s first semiconductor fab to be set up by the Tata Group in partnership with Taiwan’s Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (PSMC). 

It is imperative to mention that the country’s bend towards growing its semiconductor ecosystem dates back to 1976 when the then Cabinet of India, under the leadership of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, granted its assent to the formation of Semi-Conductor Laboratory in Mohali, Punjab.

Since then, we have come a long way in fostering India’s semiconductor ambitions. Joining in this endeavour are the country’s new-age tech startups.

As per Inc42’s report, the Indian semiconductor market is expected to reach $150 Bn by 2030, up from $33 Bn in 2023, witnessing a 24% CAGR.     

In this piece, we have tried to compile some of these companies that have the potential to be remembered in the times to come for laying the strong foundation of the country’s impending semiconductor boom.

With that said, here is the list…

(Note: The list below is not meant to be a ranking of any kind. We have listed the Indian semiconductor startups in alphabetical order. We will be updating this list periodically if you would like to refer any startup, write to editor@inc42.com)

AGNIT Semiconductors

Established in 2019, AGNIT Semiconductors specialises in Gallium Nitride (GaN) semiconductor technology. Headquartered in Bengaluru, the company focusses on designing and producing GaN materials (wafers) and electronic components primarily tailored for radio-frequency applications.

AGNIT’s GaN components find extensive applications in the defence and telecommunication sectors.

In 2023, the Ministry of Defence inked a contract with AGNIT for the design and development of advanced GaN semiconductors, slated for integration into the next generation of wireless transmitters for defence applications, including radars and electronic warfare jammers.

The founding team comprises Digbijoy Neelim Nath, Hareesh Chandrasekar, Madhusudan Atre, Mayank Shrivastava, Muralidharan Rangarajan, Shankar Kumar Selvaraja, and Srinivasan Raghavan.

According to the company’s website, AGNIT’s proprietary technology stems from over 15 years of research and development conducted at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru.

Aura Semiconductor

Founded in 2011 by Srinath Sridharan, Aura Semiconductor or Aurasemi is a fabless semiconductor company that designs and supplies the industry with mixed-signal IC solutions for various applications. 

The startup specialises in high-performance products for markets, including IoT radios, enterprise timing, and portable audio. 

It makes products in categories such as timing, micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS), power, RF, IoT and sensors. Recently, Nasdaq-listed precision timing company SiTime Corporation acquired all time-related products from Aurasemi.

Headquartered in Bengaluru, Aurasemi also has its offices in China, the UK, and the US. Celesta Capital is one of the VC investors in the startup.

Blueberry Semiconductors

Bengaluru-based Blueberry Semiconductors is one of the leading very large scale integration (VLSI) startups in India. It provides solutions and services in niche areas of ASIC/SoC, embedded product engineering supported by ML, industrial IoT and AI.

The 2017-founded startup delivers to clients on their latest and technically advanced projects in industries like aerospace, automotive, defence, AI, 5G, and RAM, among others. Its partners range from Intel and Mahindra to Microsemi and SanDisk.

Chipspirit

Founded in 2018, Chipspirit is a Bengaluru-based services and solutions provider in the semiconductor space.

Its application-specific integrated circuits (ASIC) design services has a special focus on design and turnkey projects. On the other hand, it also claims to provide fully customisable hardware security solutions.

Chipspirit’s Abhed-1 is a dedicated secure hardware-based offline and online encryption device for transacting classified data over public or open Data networks.

The semiconductor company won the iDEX challenge in March 2019. It is now co-developing its hardware security solutions with Indian Defence under the Centre’s Make-In-India initiative.

As per MeitY’s website, Chipspirit is also one of the beneficiaries of its DLI scheme.

Cientra

Founded in 2015 by Uday Joshi and Sandip Kadtane, Cientra is a semiconductor solutions company, specialising in VLSI, ASIC, FPGA, SoCs, catering to telecom (4G, 5G, IoT), automotive (SDV, ADAS, connectivity, EV) and embedded software.

The semiconductor design solutions of the company include register-transfer level (RTL) design, design verification, physical design, and analogue design and layout offering.

Cientra is a multinational company with offices in India, the USA, and Germany. Last year, the company launched a vendor-agnostic 5G IoT aggregator solution in partnership with Amantya Technologies, which they claimed to be the ‘world’s first’.

FermionIC Design

Founded in 2020, Bengaluru-based FermionIC Design is a fabless semiconductor startup developing ICs for high-speed wireline and RF communication market. Its current product portfolio includes a highly integrated beamformer core chip in silicon-germanium (SiGe) process that enables the X-band millimetre-wave communications for active electronically scanned array (AESA), sat-comm applications, and others. 

The startup’s mixed signal product family includes ultra-low-noise low dropout (LDO)-ICs, low-phase noise crystal oscillators and Serialiser/Deserialiser (SerDes) products. 

Founded by Gautam Kumar Singh, Prasun Bhattacharyya, Abhra Bagchi, and Shabaaz Syed,  FermionIC Design has remained bootstrapped so far. It claims to have multiple global and Indian OEM customers who are building their SoCs and systems using FermionIC products. 

Last year, the Minister of State for Electronics & IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar announced FermionIC Design as one of the first set of startups selected under the government’s Semicon India Future Design DLI scheme. 

Incore Semiconductors

Founded in 2018, InCore Semiconductor is building 5th generation RISC/RISC-V processor cores in India. RISC or reduced instruction set computer is a microprocessor architecture that utilises a reduced number of computer instruction types, hence enabling systems to operate at higher speeds. 

InCore, founded by Arjun Menon, Gautam Doshi, GS Madhusudan, and Neel Gala, is headquartered at the IIT Madras Research Park. In 2023, the startup raised $3 Mn from Peak XV Partners.

The startup aims to make India a powerhouse in the RISC-V solution space. Its processor cores power high-performance application-class processors, area/power-optimised embedded processors, and more.

The startup claims to bring a high degree of automation to the processor and SoC design process.

Mindgrove Technologies

Mindgrove Technologies is a Chennai-based semiconductor startup founded in 2021. It works in the space of design and production of SoCs. 

Incubated at IIT Madras, Mindgrove uses the indigenous RISC-V Shakti cores to power its chips. 

The startup is currently working on its inaugural chip, Secure IoT, which is designed for a range of consumer electronics devices, including TVs, washing machines, air conditioners, and refrigerators. Its multi-processor chip comes with security accelerators, a true random number generator, and one-time programmable memory.

Founded by Shashwath T R and Sharan Srinivas J, the startup secured $2.32 Mn in seed funding in 2023 led by Peak XV Partners. Its other investors include names like Speciale Invest and Whiteboard Capital. 

Morphing Machines

Morphing Machines is a fabless semiconductor startup building IP products and solutions. Its patented product ‘REDEFINE’ is a many-core SoC platform, in which domain-specific architectures (DSAs) for mixed critical application tasks are instantiated on demand of any event. DSAs are specialised and optimised hardware designs tailored to specific application domains or industries. 

Its technology serves various industries, including avionics, automobile, and telecom. Besides, ‘REDEFINE’ helps accelerate a host of applications for Big Data Analytics, Genome Analytics, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, Large Scale Scientific Simulations, and immersive gaming and visualisations.

Morphing Machines has also received projects under the DLI and Chips2Startup (C2S) schemes from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

Launched through the Technology Entrepreneurship initiative of the Indian Institute of Science at Bengaluru in 2005, Morphing Machines is a bootstrapped startup. Its founders are Dr S.K. Nandy, Dr Ranjani Narayan, and Deepak Shapeti. In June 2024, Morphing Machines secured $2.76 Mn in a seed funding round led by Speciale Invest.

Netrasemi

Founded in 2020, Netrasemi is a Kerala-based Edge AI semiconductor technology company building SOCs to enable the new-age need for optimal computing for smart IoT products. Netrasemi has a power-efficient deep-neural AI acceleration core (NPU) and a rich portfolio of silicon IPs to enable this. 

Its key target segments are surveillance, smart sensors, smart infrastructure, machine vision and industry 4.0, robotics, drones, and autonomous vehicles, among others.

The company’s domain-specific architecture (DSA), IP-rich SOCs, AI development tools,  flexible SDKs, and platform reference designs help IoT product and solution makers to go to market with cost-effective and power-efficient advanced AI chipsets catering to their specific domains.

Its A2000 SOC has smart vision capability with advanced real-time video analytics and vision processing capabilities. On the other hand, NETRA-R1000 is a RISC-V-based SOC for smart sensor applications.

Netrasemi is also a beneficiary of the Central government’s DLI scheme.

Oakter

Oakter is an Original Device Manufacturer (ODM), which designs and manufactures electronic smart devices, including fintech giant Paytm’s revolutionary soundboxes.

Launched in 2015 by a founding team from IIT Delhi, the Noida-based Oakter soon became a leading name in the smart plugs market. In 2017, the startup became the launch partner for Amazon Alexa in India. 

In 2019, the startup pivoted to contract manufacturing. Over the years, Oakter fulfilled multiple B2B contract manufacturing orders from the likes of Sony (for its BRAVIA TV), Saregama (for Carvaan), and Syska, among others.

In 2020, Oakter collaborated with DRDO to manufacture Covid safety products.

With the emergence of new-age technologies, the startup has also collaborated with EV charging aggregation platform, ElectricPe, to develop its charge points.

Its early backers include IndiaQuotient and Flipkart founder Binny Bansal. As per publicly available data, the company is expected to have raised over $500K in total funding over the years.

Saankhya Labs

The 2007-founded Saankhya Labs claims to be the country’s first fabless semiconductor solutions company. Based in Bengaluru, the startup manufactures integrated circuits (ICs) and other components for various satellite and broadcast applications, including 5G New Radio, direct-to-mobile (D2M) broadcast, rural broadband connectivity, and satellite communication modems for IoT applications.

The startup also claims to have developed the world’s first production Software Defined Radios (SDR) chipsets, which enable converting radio signals into electronic signals and vice versa for a wide range of applications, including, but not limited to, smart TVs and set-top boxes.

Founded by Parag Naik, Vishwakumara Kayargadde, and Hemant Mallapur, Saankhya Labs is a subsidiary of listed broadband and wireless networking company Tejas Networks. Its former backers included the likes of Intel and General Motors, who exited the company a few years ago.

Recently, in February 2024, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) approved Saankhya Labs’ application to the Centre’s semiconductor Design Linked Incentive (DLI) scheme for the development of a System-on-Chip (SoC) for 5G telecom infrastructure equipment. 

As per publicly available data, the company is expected to have raised around $18 Mn in total funding. However, Inc42 couldn’t independently verify the exact amount of funds raised so far.

Sensesemi

Founded in 2014 by Vijay Muktamath, Sensesemi builds the next-generation secured connected AI Edge chip for varied applications in the field of Industrial IoT such as smart appliances, healthcare, and automotive. Its flagship product is named SenseSoC.

By embedding AI capabilities directly onto the chip, it claims to enable edge inferencing, bringing real-time decision-making to the devices.

Sensesemi also won financial support under the Centre’s DLI Scheme earlier this year. 

On winning the government support, company founder Muktamath said, “As part of the DLI Scheme, Sensesemi will be developing the SoC for IoMT (Internet of Medical Things) and IoT devices, that shall have MCU and wireless IP integrated with ultra-low power analogue front end with AI inferencing IP.”

SignOff Semiconductors

Founded in 2015, Signoff Semiconductors is one of the pioneering Indian startups in semiconductor design services. 

Involved in very-large-scale integration (VLSI) services, the company has developed in-house capabilities to help customers with the designs of ICs — both application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) and field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) — that function in the areas of AI, ML, Edge IoT, as well as general-purpose processors.

Signoff claims to serve its clients with a range of services, including physical design, full custom analogue and digital custom layout and verification, register-transfer level (RTL) design, verification, embedded, and firmware.

The semiconductor company has served domains such as automotive, medical, connected edge, and consumer electronics.

Signoff currently has offices in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Toronto, and the US.

Silizium Circuits

Hyderabad-based Silizium Circuits is an analog radio frequency (RF) IP focussed company. It develops indigenous IPs for a range of wireless applications, including 5G, IoT, Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS), smart mobility, AI, and ML.

Founded in 2020, the startup aims to replace analogue RF IP imports in India with indigenous Silizium Circuits’ IPs by 2025 and become the largest analogue, RF, mixed signal IP exporter from India by 2030.

In 2021, Silizium Circuits became one of the eight NXP FabCI 2021 cohort qualifiers, which is a two-year incubation and acceleration programme.

Founded by Rijin John and Dr Arun Ashok, Silizium Circuits also provides a faculty upskilling programme to guide, train, and upskill the electronics/electrical faculty community in the country. 

Terminus Circuits 

Founded in 2010 by Dr Sankar Reddy, Terminus Circuits designs and develops high-speed serial links, which are a type of communication protocol that transmits data in a single differential signal, enabling data and clocking information to be sent simultaneously.

The startup claims to offer a one-stop solution for all Serialiser/De-Serialiser (SerDes) designing. Besides, ethernet SerDes, it is also a leading provider of PCIe (peripheral component interconnect express), USB (Universal Serial Bus), and MIPI (mobile industry processor interface) to OEMs for big data, AI, ML, server chips, and 5G applications.

Terminus Circuits has a partnership with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), one of the biggest chip producers in the world. 

Vervesemi

Incorporated in 2017, Vervesemi is a fabless semiconductor company developing application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for sensors and wireless devices.

The company has two business verticals – Analog-RF ASIC-Data converters and Analog IPs. It develops products and analogue IP solutions for various semiconductor application markets, including energy, 4G/5G market, medical, consumer, and smart power.

Noida-based Vervesemi currently has two design centres in India. Earlier this year, it announced the launch of India-made semiconductor ASIC.

Last year, MeitY announced Vervesemi among the first set of startups selected under the Semicon India Future Design DLI scheme.

The startup claims to have over 25 patents in its kitty.

This is a running article, we will keep adding more names to the list. If you would like to refer any startup, write to editor@inc42.com.

Last updated on July 29, 2024

The post Meet The 17 Semiconductor Startups Powering India’s Technological Prowess appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Remember the pandemic era when the entire world’s population was forced into the confines of its homes? Well, the past be recalled, during that time governments around the world were battling more than just the dread of the Covid-19 virus, as cases related to depression, mental health and even death by suicides started falling out like skeletons from an old creaking closet.

Unfortunately, over a year after the WHO removed Covid-19 from its Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) list, we have learnt little.

Now, what makes us say this is the sheer fact that we, as humans, have become too demanding to outgrow our desires, giving us despair in return. Consequently, we have received a list of health problems, all helmed by long and stressful working hours, pollution of all kinds, poor eating habits, and inactivity. 

This daily stress, which comes in all forms, has contributed to a rise in chronic illnesses such as diabetes, infertility, cardiovascular complications, and many other unexpected health problems, eventually taking a toll on our mental health. Imperative to mention that these issues explain not even 1% of the entire mental health crisis among Indians. 

According to a 2023 study published in Cureus Journal, the nation is “grappling with a high prevalence of mental health disorders, such as depression, anxiety and bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and addiction to substances”. The situation becomes even more gruesome when one looks at the suicide rate in the country. Notably, a recent report from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) records 1.71 Lakh deaths by suicide in the year 2022 alone.

Interestingly, healthtech startup Mave Health finds its genesis in the strong desire of its founder, Dhawal Jain, to address mental health issues in the country. 

“We incorporated Mave Health in January 2023 after I lost a close friend to depression. She was in therapy and taking antidepressants but to no avail,” cofounder Dhawal Jain told Inc42.

Jain, a BITS Pilani graduate, said that the episode took place in 2021 when he was running Dybo, a company that specialised in providing 3D and AR services to ecommerce platforms for a better shopping experience. 

With a heavy heart, a bereaved Jain began reading about mental health issues and its effects. While he was at it, he discovered a significant gap in this area, which was the lack of quick yet effective treatment for individuals facing depression.

Motivated by his entrepreneurial spirit, he partnered with Jai Sharma (a BITS-Pilani alumnus)  and Aman Kumar to combat despair and darkness in the lives of many. 

How Mave’s Tech Stack Tackles Depression

After initial R&D and examining global technical advancements in curing depression, the founders’ investigation led them to technologies designed to impact brain chemistry for the better. Their research led them to explore non-invasive brain stimulation (NIBS) techniques, particularly transcranial direct current simulation (tDCS). 

“We started researching avidly on depression, and that eventually became the reason for us to enter the mental health space,” Jain said.

They based the company’s flagship product, Arc, on an NIBS wearable device designed to treat depression. This tech works by applying weak electrical currents or magnetic fields to specific areas of the brain from outside the head.

These currents or fields can either increase or decrease the activity of brain cells in the targeted area. For example, to treat depression, NIBS helps in boosting activity in parts of the brain that are underactive. By changing brain activity in this way, NIBS improves symptoms of various mental health conditions or neurological disorders.

A specific type of NIBS, transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), uses a weak electrical current passed through the brain via two electrodes on the scalp. For depression treatment, tDCS often targets the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex to enhance its typically low activity. 

“Depression mostly happens because there is too little activity in your prefrontal cortex. With stimulation, we’re able to reduce that barricade back to the normal level so that neurons can normally function,” Jain explained.

The current is very weak, similar to a 9-volt battery, and most people feel only a slight tingling sensation during treatment. By modulating brain activity, tDCS alleviates symptoms of conditions like depression. Mave’s Arc, a wearable device, does precisely this. 

As of now, the company imports the devices from a foreign based tDCS manufacturer. Since these devices are costly, the company imports them as per its requirements. 

Mave Health’s Days Of Incognito Mode

After tying up with the tDCS manufacturer, the company began operations in September 2023 in stealth mode. During this time, the startup began experimenting with the devices by partnering with numerous psychiatrists and health consultants, primarily in Bengaluru. 

While Jain thought that the startup would attract younger patients, he was surprised to see the adoption of the tech among the older generation. Another shocker for him came when even a farmer in an area neighbouring Bengaluru urged his tech’s intervention.

The startup founder said the team, in the pilot phase itself, was able to witness 88% improvement in their depression scores over 12 weeks, with 72% achieving remission (or overcoming depression). Furthermore, 65% of users reported enhancements in mood and cognitive function within the initial 21 days.

According to the cofounder, the tech has emerged as the answer to the traditional antidepressant medications, which often work by altering neurotransmitter levels in the brain and come with a range of side effects. 

How Does Mave Operate?

Currently, the startup operates on a cohort-based system, with new groups starting a 12-week programme each month. It charges one patient INR 20,000 per month for a three-month programme. This structure allows for close monitoring of progress and iterative improvements to the treatment protocol.

“We only onboard 25-30 people every month so that we can focus on everyone’s experience and provide an outcome. Ours is a hyper-personalised offering with a high touch model,” the cofounder elaborated. 

Upon enrolling, patients, whom the startup dubs ‘Mavericks’, receive the tDCS devices for the duration of the programme. The use of the devices is administered under expert guidance. Besides access to NIBS, the programme includes unlimited sessions with a range of experts, including doctors, psychologists, nutritionists, and fitness coaches. Psychiatric consultations are also part of the package, ensuring participants have access to personal medical care when needed.

So far, the company has only enrolled one batch of Mavericks. Moving forward, they plan on introducing new cohorts on a regular, monthly basis. 

What’s Ahead For Mave?

As of now, the company continues to import the tech from the oversees manufacturer. This acts as an inhibitor to its growth, as the import duties and the overall cost act as an impediment to its growth. 

To fuel its growth path, the startup raised a pre-seed funding round of INR 6 Cr from multiple investors in April. Some of Mave’s key investors include Zomato’s founder Deepinder Goyal, CRED’s Kunal Shah, and venture capitalist firms All In Capital and Bharat Founders Fund. 

With this backing, the startup is currently working on reducing its dependencies on offshore manufacturers. The company is in the process of developing its own wearable device, which is expected to launch by early next year. 

“The move towards in-house technology development is crucial for several reasons for Mave. It will allow us to customise the device to better suit Indians, potentially reduce costs, and navigate the complex regulatory landscape for health-related tech products in India,” he said, 

In terms of revenues, the company has yet to file a financial statement. However, giving a ballpark number, the cofounder said that they were currently doing somewhere around INR 5 Lakh to INR 6 Lakh a month from the Maverick cohorts. Meanwhile, Jain said that most of Mave’s customers either come through the organic content that his team creates on multiple platforms or through referrals. 

This allows the startup to minimise its advertising and promotion expenses. However, with the recent capital infusion, Jain will have enough headroom to bolster his digital advertising strategy. 

Besides, the company is also working to establish partnerships with psychologists, hospitals, and private clinics to expand its presence across India. 

 “The goal for FY25 is to hit $1 Mn in internal rate of return. Post this, we are planning to scale our revenues to $10 Mn in the upcoming fiscal. However, our focus isn’t only restricted to improving our finances. We’re more focussed on increasing the effectiveness of our treatment,” Jain said.

Currently, Jain, along with his team, seems to be on the right path, as he is looking to manufacture the tech in-house rather than depending on imported machines and tech. This will help the Mave cofounders to keep their tech costs at bay, all while bolstering other imperative divisions such as marketing and R&D. 

Besides this, the Mave founders have stepped into the mental health sector at a time when India has become a hotbed of depression cases, especially due to the challenges in the quality of life in the country. 

According to the National Mental Health Survey 2015-16, nearly 15% of Indian adults need active intervention for one or more mental health issues and one in 20 Indians suffers from depression. It is estimated that in 2012, India had over 2.5 Lakh+ suicides, with the age group of 15-49 years being most affected. It must be noted that the findings of the second phase of the National Mental Health Survey (NMHS-2) have yet to be made public.  

Overall, Mave Health operates in the Indian mental health market anticipated to grow at a CAGR of 1.08% to $1.19 Bn in 2028 from $1.14 Bn in 2024. 

[Edited by: Shishir Prasher]

The post How Mave Health Is Tackling India’s Mental Health Crisis With Its Wearable Tech appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Before November 2022, OpenAI was a little-known startup in the US. However, that very month, the company unveiled a chatbot, ChatGPT, which in just two months crossed 100 Mn monthly active users, making it the fastest-growing consumer application in history. 

OpenAI’s GPT-3, a large language model (LLM), has since paved the way for GPT-4 and $11 Bn+ in funding for OpenAI, mostly from Microsoft.

At the time when OpenAI was making waves across the globe, India’s GenAI ecosystem was still very much in its infancy.

However, the country’s GenAI space seems to have made massive strides since then. Not only have we been able to mint India’s first AI unicorn, Krutrim, but also attracted major interest from investors and entrepreneurs to cause a stir in this space.   

Consequently, India is home to more than 100 GenAI startups and these startups have raised more than $600 Mn since 2019.

Spearheading this transition are names like SarvamAI and Krutrim, which are focussed on building Indic LLMs, while others like ObserveAI, having secured $214 Mn, are leveraging AI to offer customised customer and operational support to businesses. 

Today, a large number of startups across sectors and industries, from OYO to Unacademy, are seen using this emerging technology to streamline user experience and operations.

According to Inc42, India’s GenAI market is expected to see a major boom in the coming years and is projected to cross the $17 Bn mark by 2030. 

In line with the growing market opportunity in this space, we have endeavoured to collate a list of Indian startups that are causing a stir in the rapidly evolving Indian GenAI space.

(Note: The startups below have been listed in the order of the amount of funding raised since their incorporation. This is not an exhaustive list, we will be updating it periodically. If you would like to refer a GenAI startup to be featured in this list, write to us @ editor@inc42.com)

Meet The GenAI Startups Putting India On The Global AI Map

1. Observe AI

Founded in 2017 by Sharath Keshava Narayana and Swapnil Jain, Observe AI is a conversational intelligence platform for contact centres. 

Observe.AI has raised a total of $214 Mn in funding over 6 rounds. It bagged 125 Mn in its last funding round in 2022. 

The platform is supported by marquee investors such as Zoom, Bossanova Investimentos, Y Combinator, Menlo Ventures, and Nexus Venture Partners. It competes with the likes of companies like Noogata, TUNGEE, Osense Technology, Slang Labs, etc.

2. Pixis

Founded in 2020 by Harikrishna Valiyath, Shubham A Mishra, Vrushali Prasade, Pixis provides a codeless AI infrastructure platform for brands to monitor and orchestrate their marketing campaigns.

Since its inception, the startup has raised $209 Mn in capital. It raised $85 Mn in its last funding round in 2023. 

Pixis is backed by startups like Grupo Carso, General Atlantic, Celesta Capital and Chiratae Ventures. It competes with the likes of Utilidata, HeadSpin, and Navikenz in the larger AI-powered technology space.

3. Ola Krutrim 

Founded in 2022 by Ola and Ola Electric founder Bhavish Aggarwal, Krutrim is experimenting with GenAI to develop an India-specific LLM. The startup’s family of LLMs is said to be capable of working with 10 Indian languages. However, Krutrim has yet to release any publicly-available products.

The startup made headlines in January 2024 when it became the first pure-play AI startup in India to hit a unicorn valuation over its recent $50 Mn funding round. So far, it has secured $74 Mn in funding, becoming one of the most well-funded AI startups in the country, from backers such as Matrix Partners India.

The startup competes with the likes of Sarvam AI, Mistral AI, and DeepMind.

4. SarvamAI

Founded in 2023 by AI4Bharat creators Vivek Raghavan and Pratyush Kumar, SarvamAI aims to develop custom-made LLMs, specifically designed for India-centric use cases.

Backed by names such as Peak XV Partners and Khosla Ventures, the Bengaluru-based GenAI startup raised a Series A funding of $41 Mn (around INR 342 Cr) led by Lightspeed Venture Partners in December 2023.

5. Avaamo

Founded in 2014 by Ram Menon and Sriram Chakravarthy, Avaamo is a deep-learning software company that specialises in conversational interfaces to solve specific, high-impact problems in the enterprise tech realm. 

Avaamo is building fundamental AI technology across a broad area of neural networks, speech synthesis and deep learning to make conversational computing for businesses a reality.

Over the years, Avaamo has raised more than $30 Mn from the likes of Intel Capital, Ericsson Ventures, Streamlined Ventures, WI Harper Group and Mahindra Partners. It raised 7 Mn in its last funding round in 2021. 

Avaamo counts PolyAI, Zira, Odeza, and wrnchAI as its competitors.

6. InVideo

Founded in 2019 by Sanket Shah, and later joined by Anshul Khandelwal, InVideo initially operated a web-based video editing platform that allowed users to convert existing pieces of static content into videos.

However, it has come a long way since then. Currently, the startup operates a full-fledged AI-powered video editing platform that leverages GenAI to create videos with just text prompts. Users just have to input the topic and the platform generates a script, adds scenes and voiceovers, among other things. 

The startup has raised capital to the tune of $52.5 Mn to date and is backed by marquee names such as Peak XV Partners, Tiger Global, Hummingbird, RTP Global and Base. It competes with the likes of Kapwing, Synthesia, Veed, and Rephrase.ai, among others.

7. Senseforth

Founded in 2017 by Krishna Kadiri, Ritesh Radhakrishnan, and Shridhar Marri, Senseforth is a leading Conversational AI solutions company that enables automated human-like conversations between organisations and people.

Since its inception, Avaamo has raised more than $16 Mn from the likes of Tenity and Fractal Analytics. It secured its last funding round of $14 Mn in 2021.

It competes with the likes of MoonShot AI, Locofy, and Suki.

8. Rephrase AI

Founded in 2019 by Ashray Malhotra, Nisheeth Lahoti and Shivam Mangla, Rephrase AI leverages GenAI to create professional videos with the ease of writing text within minutes. 

The growth-stage startup has raised a total funding of $12 Mn. In its last funding round, it raised $10.6 Mn in 2023.

The company counts Techstars, Silver Lake, 8VC, Red Ventures and AV8 Ventures among its investors. It competes with the likes of Imaginario AI, VideoDubber, MURFAI, etc. The Bengaluru-based AI video creator was acquired by Adobe in 2023.

9. Murf AI

Founded in 2020 by IIT-Kharagpur graduates Sneha Roy, Ankur Edkie, and Divyanshu Pandey, Murf AI uses AI to create high-quality voiceovers without recording equipment for its users in minutes. 

The growth-stage startup has raised a total funding of $11.5 Mn. In its last funding round, it raised $10 Mn in 2022. 

It is backed by investors like Matrix Partners, and Elevation Capital. It counts Imaginario AI, VideoDubber, and Rephrase AI as its competitors.

10. DhiWise

Founded in 2021 by Vishal Virani, DhiWise is an AI-enabled programming platform where developers can convert their designs into developer-friendly code for mobile and web apps. 

It automates and fastens the application development lifecycle and instantly generates readable, modular, and reusable code.

The growth-stage startup has raised a total of 9 Mn since its inception. It raised 7 Mn in 2022. DhiWise is supported by marquee investors like Accel, AngelList India, Storm Ventures, Abhishek Deo, and Pentathlon Ventures. It competes with the likes of Observe AI, Pixis, QpiAI, and Kombai.

11. Spyne

Founded in 2018 by Deepti Prasad and Sanjay Kumar, Spyne is helping businesses and marketplaces create and upgrade high-quality product images and videos at scale with AI. 

The growth stage company has so far raised $7.6 Mn from Accel Partners, Storm Ventures, and other investors. It raised $7 Mn in its last funding round in 2022. 

The Gurugram-based startup competes with companies like zapero.ai, Dresma, Ayna, Blend, and Orbo AI.

12. LimeChat

Founded in 2020 by Aniket Bajpai and Nikhil Gupta, LimeChat leverages AI to enable a brand to instantly respond to its customer queries throughout the buying journey across mediums such as WhatsApp, Meta Messenger and Instagram.

When it comes to WhatsApp commerce, it is working with 300+ brands like HUL, ITC, Mamaearth, Wow Skin Science, Neemans Shoes, and Snitch.

Backed by investors like Stellaris Venture Partners, Google, IFC, and Pi Ventures, the Faridabad-based company has raised a total funding of $5 Mn to date.

The seed-stage company competes with Noogata, TUNGEE, Osense Technology, Slang Labs,  etc.

13. QpiAI

Founded in 2019 by Dr Nagendra Nagaraja, QpiAI is a Bengaluru-based AI startup working in the areas of both AI and quantum computing. The startup’s key product, QpiAI Pro, helps deploy AI solutions at the production stage.

The startup also manufactures hardware solutions for quantum computers, including compute architecture, quantum processors and cryogenic controllers, and also offers quantum computing as a service (QCaaS) software. In 2021, it tied up with IISc Bengaluru to offer certification courses in AI and quantum computing.

QpiAI has yet to raise any funding.

14. Kombai

Founded in 2022 by Dipanjan Dey and Abhijit Bhole, Kombai is an AI model trained to understand and code UI designs like humans. It offers developer tools for web app developers, which helps them do away with mundane automatable tasks like writing and maintaining CSS and other boilerplate JS code. 

It has so far raised a total of $4.5 Mn from Foundation Capital and Stellaris Venture Partners.

Kombai competes with Locofy.ai, Adobe XD, Figma and Relume, which have a similar approach towards web design.

15. Contlo 

Founded in 2021 by Ishaan Bhola and Mukunda NS, Contlo is a GenAI-powered martech platform that helps businesses run and optimise end-to-end marketing campaigns. 

The seed-stage SaaS platform claims to help brands build personalised campaigns and automate customer journeys across all major channels including email, SMS, as well as social media platforms. 

The US-headquartered startup has raised $4.3 Mn in funding to date. It is backed by the likes of names such as Kae Capital, Better Capital and Titan Capital as well as angel investors such as Mamaearth’s Varun Alagh as well as Harshil Mathur and Shashank Kumar of Razorpay, among others.

16. Scalenut 

A brainchild of Mayank Jain, Gaurav Goyal, and Saurabh Wadhawan, Scalenut was founded in 2020. The startup is an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered SEO and content marketing platform.

Its AI co-pilot handhelds businesses through the entire content lifecycle, from keyword planning and content creation to SEO optimisation and competitive analysis.

The California-based startup has raised $3.5 Mn in funding till date and is backed by the likes of names such as Titan Capital, First Principles VC, AngelList, among others.

It claims to have so far catered to more than 200 businesses including homegrown startups such as PharmEasy and LeapScholar. 

17. Blend 

Founded in 2021 by Vaibhav Prakash, Vishwanath Kollapudi and Jamsheed Kamardeen, Blend is a GenAI-powered design tool that helps ecommerce sellers create social media graphics, product photos and SEO-optimised content. 

Incubated by Peak XV Surge and Google For Startups, the Bengaluru-based SaaS platform has raised $3.14 Mn in funding till date. Catering largely to ecommerce sellers, Blend is backed by names such as 3one4 Capital, Blume Ventures, PointOne Capital, among others.

The startup boasts of 15 proprietary AI models that have been trained on more than 80 Mn visuals and keywords.

18. Zocket

Founded in 2021 by second-time entrepreneurs – Karthik Venkateswaran, Nandha Kumar Ravi, Sundar Natesan, and Mukund Srivathsan — Zocket, with Gen AI, helps businesses launch their digital ads in less than 30 seconds. 

It has secured 3.1 Mn in its overall funding with support from investors like Surge Ventures, Surge, and PointOne Capital. 

It competes with the likes of Hexo, Metabrix, Predis.ai, and PostifyAI in the digital ads space.

19. Alltius 

Founded in 2022 by Vibhanshu Abhishek and Siddhant Mishra, Alltius’ no-code platform enables businesses to seamlessly create, train and deploy AI assistants within a day. These AI assistants can then be leveraged by enterprises to transform sales and support journeys.

The company claims that these AI assistants can be trained on a slew of company resources, including documents, images, PDFs, among others. Subsequently, these assistants can be deployed to answer queries, create pitches, compare insurance plans, create tickets, draft emails, among other things. 

The Bengaluru-based horizontal AI startup has raised $2.4 Mn till date and is backed by the likes of names such as Stellaris Venture Partner, Blume Ventures, Gemba Capital, peercheque, among others.

20. vPhrase

vPhrase offers a SaaS tool that leverages AI, machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) to help businesses derive insights from huge swathes of complex datasets. 

It has two products – Phrazor and Explorazor. While Phrazor is a report automation tool that converts complex graphs into actionable taking points, Explorazor helps users perform root cause analysis across multiple datasets via a No-SQL interface. It claims to have three granted patents under its kitty. 

The New York-headquartered startup was founded back in 2015 by Neerav Parekh and Naimisha Neerav Parekh. vPhrase has raised $2 Mn in funding till date and counts Falcon Edge Capital, Bharat Innovation Fund, Alpha Wave Global, among others as its backers. 

Its clientele includes giants such as Danone, GSK, Sanofi, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Fidelity, Abbott, Motilal Oswal, among others

21. Dubdub AI

Founded in 2021 by Anubhav Singh, Rahul Sankhwar, Rahul Garg and Anchal Jaiswal, Dubdub.ai is an online tool which leverages AI for making multilingual video content. It supports audio and video dubbing.

The growth stage startup has raised a total funding of $1.8 Mn since its inception. In its last funding round, it raised $1 Mn in 2022. 

Waveform Ventures, Accel Atoms, Forward Capital Fund, and Force Ventures are among the investors backing the company.

Dubdub.ai competes with the likes of names such as Pieces, Noogata, and ClearCOGS.

22. Gnani AI

Founded in 2017 by Ganesh Gopalan and Ananth Nagaraj, Gnani.ai offers a full-stack conversational AI product suite to help businesses automate and enhance customer support across all digital and conventional communication channels.

It also caters to the fraud detection market with its voice biometrics product, which is largely centred on its clients in the BFSI sector. 

The B2B platform claims to have a customer base of over 100 companies including multiple Indian lending companies such as TVS Credit, Muthoot Finance, and Fibe (formerly Early Salary). It also boasts more than 12 patents in its kitty.

The Bengaluru-based startup has raised $4 Mn in funding till date and counts the likes of names such as Samsung Ventures and angels such as Lakshmi Narayan, and BVR Mohan Reddy as its investors. 

It competes with the likes of names such as Rezo.ai, Haptik and Verloop.io. 

23. Floworks

Founded in 2022 by Sudipta Biswas and Sarthak Shrivastava, Floworks offers an AI assistant that helps sales personnel effectively utilise Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software from the confines of their Slack accounts.

Sales teams can just instruct the AI assistant in plain natural language to send CRM updates, send emails, raise escalations and get reports, without having to go through multiple applications.

Incubated by Y Combinator, the startup raised $1.5 Mn in seed funding in August last year. The US-based GenAI startup also counts names such as Sense AI, Gaingels, Entrepreneur First and ThinKuvate as investors. 

24. GoodMeetings

A brainchild of Srinivasan Narayan and Abhijeet Sahoo, GoodMeetings is a remote sales platform that leverages video, AI and analytics to help teams sell effectively. 

The startup’s proprietary platform helps users automate processes, generate human-level summaries and derive insights and actionable pointers from a real-time video. It also nudges the sales person about what to say and when during the video call itself.

Founded in 2020, GoodMeetings has raised $1.7 Mn in funding till date. It is backed by marquee names such as Chiratae Ventures, FortyTwo.VC, First Check, Adept Ventures, 100X Entrepreneurs, among others.

25. VisualDub

Founded in 2021 as NeuralGarage, VisualDub.ai is the brainchild of IIT Kanpur alumni Mandar Natekar, Subhabrata Debnath, Anjan Banerjee and Subhashish Saha. The GenAI startup is developing a proprietary tool, VisualDub, which syncs recorded voice overs with lip movement and visual cues. 

It claims to provide visual lip-sync delivered at 2K to 4K resolution with zero artefacts. VisualDub claims to transform the face under the eyes, including jaws, mouth, chin, smile lines and micro muscles in the cheeks and upper neck to offer a glitch-free video.

VisualDub claims to cater big-ticket clients such as Amazon, Coca-Cola, Britannia, Microsoft, GSK, and Ultratech Cement. Backed by Exfinity Venture Partners and AWS, it has raised $1.5 Mn in funding till date.

26. Orbo AI

Orbo leverages AI and augmented reality (AR) to help consumers virtually try-on products in real-time without stepping foot outside their homes. 

Catering to the ecommerce and retail sectors, the startup’s flagship product, Beauty GPT, offers immersive solutions such as makeup try-ons, deep skin analysis, embedded hairstyle, hair colour augmentation, among others. 

Founded by Manoj Shinde, Abhit Sinha and Danish Jamil, Orbo AI also featured on the third season of the popular TV show Shark Tank India and went home with an INR 1 Cr deal from SUGAR Cosmetics cofounder Vineeta Singh.

The startup has raised $1.5 Mn since its inception and counts names such as Venture Catalysts, YourNest Venture as investors.

27. Phot.AI

Founded in 2022 by Venus Dhuria and Aneesh Rayancha, Phot.AI is a full-visual design platform that leverages GenAI to enable users and brands to generate images from just text.

Catering to both B2B and B2C users, Phot.AI allows customers to generate photos, create design concepts and visualise them with GenAI. It also leverages this emerging technology to help users enhance their images and turn their “PDF” documents into any format.

Another key product of the startup is its AI training module, which allows end-users to train their AI models. It caters to businesses operating in areas such as ecommerce, packaging and branding, advertising and marketing, media, and BFSI, among others. 

Its clients include names such as Shiprocket, Fashinza, and Dukaan, among others. The two-year-old startup is bootstrapped and is yet to raise capital from external investors.

28. Wokelo

Founded in 2022 by Siddhant Masson and Saswat Nanda, Wokelo leverages OpenAI’s GPT and open source models such as LLaMA to produce detailed due-diligence reports for enterprises in a matter of minutes from publicly available data. 

Its proprietary “cognitive engine” sifts through the tonnes of data to build concise and customised reports and presentations without hallucinations. 

Backed by investors such as Untapped Capital, SeaChange Fund, Pack Ventures, Array Ventures, and Upsparks Capital, the Seattle-based startup has raised $1.5 Mn in funding since inception. 

Its solutions cater to clients in private equity, venture capital, investment banking, and management consulting. It counts names such as Tata Group, Deloitte, Seven Seven Six, among others as its customers. 

29. NeuroPixel.AI

Founded in 2020 by Arvind Nair and Amritendu Mukherjee, NeuroPixel.AI is a GenAI platform that allows online marketplaces to offer AI-enabled fashion cataloguing, synthetic model generation, and virtual try-ons. 

Leveraging advanced AI and ML as well as computer vision and image processing, the startup helps small online retailers with offerings such as automated cataloguing, improving customer experience, and reducing the time spent on clicking photos manually and editing images.

The Bengaluru-based startup has raised $1.2 Mn in funding till date and is backed by the likes of ecommerce major Flipkart, Inflection Point Ventures, Entrepreneur First, Huddle, DLabs, Dexter Angels, among others. 

NeuroPixel competes with the likes of OSlash, Vue.ai, Chargebee, and SaaS Labs in the broader Indian deeptech SaaS space.

30. Beatoven.AI 

Founded In 2021 by Mansoor Rahimat Khan and Siddharth Bhardwaj, Beatoven.ai’s genesis lay in the vast demand for original, royalty-free music suitable for commercial use. 

Beatoven.AI addressed this issue by simply leveraging GenAI to create background music for video, podcast, and game creators. Riding on the AI wave, the startup now boasts close to 1 Mn registered users worldwide, majority of them outside India.

Backed by the likes of Capital2B (Info Edge), IvyCap ventures, Upsparks Capital, the Bengaluru-based startup has raised more than $2.4 Mn in funding till date. 

31. Expertia AI

Founded in 2020 by Akshay Gugnani and Kanishk Shukla, Expertia AI is an AI-powered HR Tech platform that offers end-to-end hiring solutions from talent discovery to decision.

The B2B platform’s AI tool goes beyond the resume and understands the skills, personality and background of the candidate to offer a certain Expertia score. Not just this, it also identifies skill gaps in an applicant and actively engages with candidates on various fronts and makes them offer-ready. 

It caters to names such as Cognizant, Decathlon, Tech Mahindra, Reliance Jio, Justdial, among others. 

Incubated by Google For Startups, Expertia AI is backed by Chiratae Ventures and Endiya Partners. It has raised more than $1.2 Mn in funding till date.

32. Hypergro.ai 

Founded in 2022 by Rituraj Biswas, Neha Soman, Abhijeet Kumar and Arijit Mukhopadhyay, Hypergro.ai leverages AI to help brands conceptualise and create compelling video ads using user-generated content (UGC).

The startup’s proprietary AI platform helps its clients in understanding market trends and behaviour of their target customers, thereby optimising campaign performance. The platform then connects brands with creators who can craft videos that resonate with their target audience. 

The SaaS startup’s platform also offers its clients visibility into the entire video creation process and to monitor campaign results. 

Backed by the likes of Silverneedle Ventures, Huddle, TDV Partners, HME Ventures, Dholakia Ventures, among others, the martech startup last raised $1 Mn in funding in 2023. 

33. Dubverse.ai

Founded in 2021 by Varshul Gupta and Anuja Dhawan, Dubverse.ai harnesses the power of GenAI to help brands and video producers dub their video content. The platform helps its clients convert text into “natural-sounding” voice overs in multiple languages and generate subtitles. 

It currently claims to offer the functionality in 60 Indian and other global languages. Dubverse.ai’s text-to-speech engine also offers a broad range of AI voices as per the tone and style needs of its customers.

The SaaS platform claims to have so far worked with 5 Lakh brands including the likes of Mahindra FInance, Zupee, BluSmart, Ullu, among others. 

The startup last raised $800K in seed funding from Kalaari Capital in June 2022. 

34. SilcoFix

Founded in 2023 by Rajesh Jajodia, SilcoFix is a GenAI startup that helps brands generate images based on a text input. SilcoFix’s proprietary technology offers its clients the option to access multiple AI models including Stable Diffusion as well as other custom models. 

The startup has raised $770K in funding from the likes of IvyCap Ventures and 8i Ventures since its inception.

It competes with the likes of names such as Unstudio, Rephrase.ai, DhiWise, among others.

35. Vitra.ai

A brainchild of Satvik Jagannath and Akash Nidhi PS, Vitra is an AI-powered startup that helps creators and businesses leverage the emerging technology to translate videos, images, podcasts and text to 75+ languages in just one click.

Founded in 2020, Vitra.ai was incubated by Google India and was part of the tech major’s seventh cohort of Google for Startups Accelerator. The startup can be integrated with 250+ apps and services including Adobe Photoshop, Figma, Shopify, HubSpot, Google Drive, among others to offer a seamless experience to the end users. 

The startup has raised $571K in funding till date and is backed by the likes of 100X.VC and Inflexor Ventures. 

36. Slang Labs

Founded in 2017 by Satish Chandra Gupta, Giridhar Murthy, and Kumar Rangarajan, Slang Labs allows brands to deploy voice assistants within their apps. 

Its flagship in-app voice assistant platform (CONVA.ai) allows businesses to enable multilingual, voice-based interactions on their respective platforms. It can understand user queries in a number of languages, including Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, Spanish, and Vietnamese.

Backed by the likes of Google, Endiya Partner, 100X Entrepreneur, the startup has raised $2.39 Mn in funding till date. It competes with the likes of major players such as Observe.AI, Senseforth.ai, Yellow.ai, and ConveGenius.

37. Boltzmann

Founded in 2019 by Sarath Kolli, Boltzmann harnesses the power of GenAI for drug discovery and enhances the success rates of clinical trials.

The Bengaluru-based startup uses both open-source and proprietary models to design novel drugs and optimise R&D processes for Indian drug manufacturers. Alongside this, Boltzmann’s technology stack includes four platforms that aid in clinical trials, disease diagnosis, and the design and discovery of vaccines and antibodies.

Backed by AngeLlist India, the startup has raised $200K in funding since inception. Boltzmann currently competes with global companies such as Insilico Medicine, Recursion AI, and Exscientia.

38. Superjoin.ai

Founded in 2023 by Vinayak Jhunjhunwala and Abhinav Das, Superjoin.ai is a codeless SaaS platform that leverages artificial intelligence (AI) to help users import live data into spreadsheets and perform actions on top of this data. 

Users can create complex formulas and generate charts with simple text commands on the platform to accelerate data analysis.

Backed by Better Capital, the Bengaluru-based startup counts names such as Truecaller, CallHippo among others as its clients. 

39.Highperformr.ai

Founded in 2023 by former Freshworks executives Ramesh Ravishankar and Srivatsan Venkatesan, Highperformr.ai taps into generative AI (GenAI) to offer a one-stop-shop social media management platform for businesses.

Its flagship offering, Highperformr for Teams, helps B2B companies streamline their social media workflows, manage social publishing at scale, enable team collaboration, drive social selling, and monitor performance with social AI-driven analytics and insights.

In May 2024, the martech SaaS startup raised $3.5 Mn in a seed funding round led by Venture Highway, with participation from The Neon Fund, Matrix Partners-anchored DeVC and others.

[This is not an exhaustive list, we will be updating it periodically. If you would like to refer a GenAI startup to be featured in this list, write to us @ editor@inc42.com]

[Edited by Shishir Parasher]

The post Indian GenAI Startup Tracker: 60+ Startups Putting India On The Global AI Map appeared first on Inc42 Media.

In the sweltering heat of an Indian summer, nothing brings more joy than having an ice popsicle, aka ice gola or chuski. Not only do these colourful delights boast a history that spans across many cultures and regions but their global market is also set to soar to $8.9 Bn by 2032. 

While giants like Unilever, Nestlé, Mengniu, and Yili dominate the ice popsicle market worldwide, Mother Dairy, Amul, and Kwality Walls are some of the prominent players in the Indian market. 

However, identifying a big gap in the Indian ice popsicles market, which is largely dominated by a hand full of global and Indian players, Ravi Kabra and Anuja Kabra founded in Skippi in 2021. 

The Hyderabad-based startup offers different flavour popsicles, cream rolls and corn sticks via an omnichannel retail business model. Available at over 14,000 outlets nationwide, the founders claim that they provide ice popsicles that are 100% natural and free from artificial colours, flavours, and preservatives. 

The startup also sells its products on Zepto, Blinkit, Swiggy, Cred, Amazon, Flipkart, and BigBasket. Additionally, its products are available in Kuwait, Oman, Dubai, Nepal, Bhutan, Singapore, and the UAE. Today, approximately 50% of its sales come from online channels and 50% from offline channels.

Speaking with Inc42, Anuja said that while Skippi’s advantage rests in being India’s first exclusive ice popsicle brand, the claim to fame was the appearance on Shark Tank India in Season 1. Notably, Skippi was able to secure a deal from all five judges on the show for INR 1.2 Cr in exchange for a 5% equity.

The startup has raised around INR 11 Cr since its inception.

As per Ravi, when Skippi started on Shark Tank in FY22, it had closed the fiscal year at around INR 2.5 Cr in revenue. Following its appearance on the show, the startup’s revenue skyrocketed to nearly INR 15.4 Cr in FY23. The founders have set their eyes on earning INR 100 Cr in ARR in FY25.

The Skippi Chronicles

After spending a decade running his family business of biscuits manufacturing, Ravi and Anuja relocated to Australia for seven years. During this time, Ravi worked with renowned international brands like Krispy Kreme, George Weston Foods, and Kuehne Nagel, gaining valuable industry experience and insights. 

In 2019, the duo decided to move back to India and start something of their own, as, by now, even Anuja had gained over 14 years of experience in the food industry. 

However, as they were looking for ideas to pursue in the F&B sector, many of their propositions either hit cul-de-sacs or failed to hold their interest tightly. 

While looking for ideas to start up, Ravi remembered that during his time in Australia, his sister would come to stay with them for summer holidays, and on her way back to India, she would pack ice popsicles from local brands.

“When I asked her why she would do that, she said there wasn’t a single ice popsicle brand in India she could trust due to added preservatives and flavours. This made me dive deeper into the matter,” Ravi said.

To understand the ice popsicle market in India, Ravi conducted surveys in supermarkets and at places that had heavy footfall. As luck would have it, Ravi’s sister’s thesis proved to be correct, and almost everyone had negative feedback about the products available at that time. It was at this hint of an opportunity that convinced Ravi to launch Skippi.

It was also during the six months of extensive research that the cofounders realised that an increasing number of Indians were shifting towards organic, natural, and healthy products. In line with the trend, the duo decided to develop so-called guilt free ice popsicles. For market validation, the cofounders would distribute free samples outside a movie theatre in Hyderabad. 

“At the time, we did not have an FSSAI number, a barcode, or even a brand name. Still, people were happy with the product. From distributing free samples, we tried to sell our ice pops for INR 20 a piece. What infused confidence in us was the people’s willingness to buy our product,” Ravi said.

Creating Products For All 

After extensive research and customer validation, the Skippi founders launched their first SKU — The Ice Popsicle Box — in April 2021. Under this package, the founders offered a box of 12 popsicles and a saver pack option with 36 popsicles. The products garnered exceptional market response. Their next move was to take the Indian Tier 2 and 3 cities by storm. For this, the duo started selling ice pops for INR 10 a piece. 

After a year of experimentation, they expanded their product line with Indianised flavours. Since then, the brand has been launching a new product every six months and currently has a total of 15 SKUs.

Currently, some of its best-selling products such as the All Flavor Box, Desi Box, Yellow Tropical Box, Green Tropical Box, and Single-Flavor Boxes see in the price range of INR 120 to INR 240. 

Recently, it launched two new product categories including corn sticks (four flavours) and cream rolls (three flavours). “Currently, each ice popsicle sells at INR 20 at the unit level. That’s a very sweet spot for us. Our customers are happy with our price point,” Ravi said.

Interestingly, when the cofounder launched the startup, their target user base was kids. However, soon the duo realised that adults aged 30 and above, too, formed a significant part of their market, primarily due to the childhood nostalgia.

It is on the back of this market discovery that the startup was able to sell close to 2 Cr popsicles last year, the cofounders said. They aim to surpass the 40 Cr mark this year.

The company claims to have experienced year-on-year growth of 60-70%, with a 38% repeat customer rate. In addition, the startup’s average order value (AOV) has increased from INR 180 initially to almost INR 310 this year.

Skippi’s Future Roadmap

As per the admission by the founders, Skippi experienced a transformative boost after appearing on Shark Tank. It became a household name and achieved significant brand recall, so much so that many people recognise it as a Shark Tank brand, the cofounders claimed.

“The exposure resulted in a surge of website traffic and thousands of orders, with the website receiving lakhs of hits the next day. While the initial spike lasted about a week, Skippi continues to enjoy a significant footfall to date,” Ravi said. 

Before the show, Skippi averaged 80,000 to 90,000 visitors monthly, a number that increased to 3.2 Lakh monthly visitors post their Shark Tank appearance. Its offline coverage, too, has expanded from 1,200 outlets to 14,000 outlets.

Next, the cofounders plan to expand Skippi to 1 Lakh outlets across India by FY25, with initial focus on A and A+ category outlets in top Indian cities. They aim to enhance their online presence and have started establishing partnerships in international markets like Saudi Arabia and Dubai. Additionally, the brand is preparing to launch on Amazon US to target the US and UK markets in the coming month.

While Skippi aims to capture the Indian market by rapidly scaling up using both online and offline channels, it has several challenges ahead of it with the prominent being keeping the resembling counterfeit products at bay.   

“We are concerned about local brands that are either imitating our branding or claiming to be affiliated with Skippi, potentially confusing consumers. To address this, we are focussing on raising awareness among consumers,” the cofounders said.

In a market full of brands offering ice popsicles, it would be important for Skippi to maintain its brand uniqueness going ahead. If the brand is able to stay ahead of the product differentiation curve in the market otherwise dominated by deep-pocketed ice-cream players, it will have much to relish in the sector that is projected to offer an INR 95,600 Cr opportunity by 2032. 

The post How Skippi Is Tapping India’s Appetite For ‘Chuskis’ And Confectionery With A Modern Twist appeared first on Inc42 Media.

There was much euphoria when smart classrooms made a foray into India two decades ago. For this was the first time in the country’s history, millions of K-12 students from every social stratum could access a modernised method of learning through smart boards, instead of chalkboards. 

Fast forward to the Covid-19 pandemic, lockdowns compelled 298 Mn school students to miss their classes for nearly 82 weeks, according to UNESCO data. But despite digital advancements, screens were not everywhere to help students learn online. Only 17% had access to laptops, 4% used tablets and 79% used smartphones as their primary learning device, according to a report by VidyaSaarathi, a scholarship management portal promoted by the NSDL e-Governance.

Chitranshu Mahant and Aman Verma, roommates at IIT-Delhi while doing their engineering, used to volunteer for the National Social Scheme (NSS) and teach underprivileged students. Even before the Covid-19 outbreak, they were aware of the potential of e-learning and how the country’s digital divide could increase the number of school dropouts.

Recognising the potential of computing devices for education, the duo founded Primebook in 2018 to develop the right technology for digital learning. They launched PrimeOS, an Android OS for PCs, to make a laptop that efficiently serves students’ needs. Since India’s online education system is ‘Android-first’, an Android-based OS was essential for building a laptop that provides access to all Android apps.

The copyrighted OS was initially deployed to edtech platforms trying to collect feedback on its functionality, especially during the pandemic. After extensive research and discussions with students and teachers, they identified that students need laptop productivity, value for money, android apps and internet connectivity to enhance their digital learning experience.

So they launched Primebook as a made-in-India, cost-effective laptop brand suitable for students and learners for all ages and light users of laptops. The duo zeroed in on a super-portable laptop ideal for hours-long learning, doing assignments and writing online tests; a spacious keypad and trackpad — all built on top of the startup’s proprietary PrimeOS. 

This combination lets users access regular Android apps via the laptop and run multiple apps simultaneously like a regular computer. It also features a built-in 4G SIM slot for users to stay connected using their existing mobile data plans. Additionally, there is a built-in app store to download and manage Android apps, much like the Google Play Store. 

The brand currently offers four models with varying specifications, priced between INR 11,000 and INR 16,990. It also offers a mobile device management (MDM) solution that enhances parental control, empowering children with a safe browsing experience.

Between June 2023 and June 2024, Primebook’s Mahant said that it sold more than 35K laptops through its website and major online marketplaces like Amazon and Flipkart. It has also partnered with prominent NGOs and edtech platforms to distribute Primebooks among economically vulnerable students.

Primebook raised INR 8.5 Cr in equity and INR 8 Cr in debt from a clutch of investors, including INR 75 Lakh from Shark Tank India (Season 2), among other fundraising initiatives. The exposure boosted its brand visibility and led to a surge in sales. 

“By December 2023, we captured a 3% market share in the under-$250 category with an average customer rating of 4.3 out of 5 based on 10K+ reviews on ecommerce marketplaces,” said Mahant.

The startup claims to have turned profitable in FY24, with a 10x YoY revenue growth at INR 50 Cr. It aims to triple its revenue to INR 150 Cr in the current financial year, launch upgraded models with larger screens and expand to the African and Southeast Asian markets in the next two to three years.

How Primebook Countered Challenges Galore To Make In India, For India

India’s experimentation with premium yet affordable personal hardware is far from over, although the country has spent a considerable amount on R&D, inspired by the MIT-powered OLPC (one laptop per child) programme. 

But when buying laptops, however inexpensive, average Indian consumers still trust established brands like HP, Lenovo or Dell, which have secured a firm foothold in the ‘affordable’ segment. In fact, a 2023 survey on laptop ownership in India revealed that 33.2% of users owned HP devices, followed by Dell (23.1%) and Lenovo (14.7%).

Aware of the customer bias, the founders have gone beyond pricing and pushed a utility-rich, smoothly functioning PC interface running on PrimeOS that grants access to the vast Android library, which houses more than 50K+ apps.  

“Online education in our country thrives on Android apps, and the content is primarily perused on handhelds [smartphones, phablets, and tablets]. However, laptops offer a superior learning experience due to improved UI. Therefore, we ensure seamless compatibility between all existing Android apps and a user-friendly laptop interface,” explained Mahant.

Its R&D team focusses on two major areas — hardware innovation to ensure better performance, longer durability and greater energy efficiency, and improving PrimeOS to optimise it for a smooth learning experience. The startup has already implemented diagnostic tools and QC benchmarking software for constant evaluation and upgrade.

Primebook has partnered with three manufacturing experts in Delhi NCR, Manesar (Haryana) and Pollachi (Tamil Nadu) to build devices that are ready to be connected and played.

The startup has also incorporated the latest Google AOSP security patches – updates released by the tech giant to fix vulnerabilities in the Android Open Source Project, essentially the foundation of the Android OS. It also ensures stringent student safety via MDM and parental controls.   

On the brand-building front, as a new kid on the block, Primebook also struggled with the visibility factor until it appeared on Shark Tank, narrating its entrepreneurial journey and bagging funds from Aman Gupta of boAT. 

“Our appearance there was a major milestone in our brand-building journey. Since then, we have seen a 100x increase in business growth, including sales, brand awareness and business partnerships,” said Mahant.

Primebook raised funding as early as 2018 (its launch year) from Venture Catalysts++, India’s first multi-stage venture capital firm. Mahant said the capital was crucial for Primebook, as it helped weather the financial challenges during the pandemic. VCats++ also provided extensive networking opportunities, enabling the hardware startup to connect with edtech platforms and grow its business. In addition, the VC firm took part in Primebook’s recent bridge round in August 2023.

Is Primebook’s Success Story A One-Off Narrative?

True to its vision of bridging the digital divide, 50% of Primebook’s revenue currently rolls in from Tier II (35%) and III (15%) locations. Interestingly, Patna, the capital of Bihar but still a Tier II city, is No. 2 on its sales list. Meanwhile, New Delhi tops that list. 

“Our mission is to deliver the right technology to students and learners worldwide, ensuring no one is left behind in the digital education race,” said Mahant. “We are also developing an AI layer for PrimeOS to provide adaptive learning tools, personalised recommendations and intelligent tutoring.”

Globally, the educational PC market (laptops, desktops and tablets) is estimated to reach $44.2 Bn by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 10.8% from $17.6 Bn in 2023. Although schools are no longer operating virtually, the demand for laptops is projected to go up in India, with the revenue forecast indicating $12.8 Bn by 2028, up from $7.6 Bn in 2021, a CAGR of 7.7% for the estimated period.

A host of homegrown players such as Primebook, JioBook and AXL, can leverage this market growth if they can improve specification limits and enhance performance in spite of the price constraints. For instance, the Primebook 4G, priced at around INR 15K, has limited RAM (4 GB) and cannot handle complex multi-tasking beyond routine browsing, document editing and media consumption. 

However, domestic brands enjoy a distinct advantage: They have a thorough understanding of the country’s education market and students’ requirements. For them, growth hinges on finding the convergence of affordability, functionality and advanced tech (not necessarily expensive, given the rise of standard tech stacks) to keep the e-learning ecosystem running smoothly. 

Screens are everywhere nowadays. But the buck may stop with Primebook and its ilk if digital devices have to help students and the youth learn in this tech-first era.

The post How Primebook Raked In INR 50 Cr Revenue In FY24 By Selling Affordable Laptops For Learners appeared first on Inc42 Media.

With sustainability becoming one of the top priorities for countries and businesses alike, the narrative around increasing the usage of electric vehicles (EVs) has taken centre stage in the past few years. Though the electrification of vehicles started a bit late in India compared to some European countries, the US, China, and Japan, the country’s EV adoption has grown exponentially on the back of more startups joining the segment and government policies.

Many Indian EV startups such as Ather Energy, Altigreen, BluSmart, and Exponent Energy have now come up with sustainable solutions for mobility. The Indian EV market houses various small as well as large EV startups and is estimated to reach $110.74 Bn by 2029.

Indian EV startups offer services such as sustainable mobility, energy infrastructure, commercial mobility and battery management system, among others, to the general masses and enterprises. Besides, they are also helping reduce carbon emissions and offering a cheaper alternative to fossil fuels.

Let’s take a look at some of the Indian startups that are helping keep the earth healthy and green through their technology and products. The list below is not meant to be a ranking of any kind. The Indian EV brands have been listed in alphabetical order.

Startups In The EV Segment 

1. 3EV Industries

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Peter Hartmut Voelkner, Suman K. Mishra
• Funding Raised To Date: $2 Mn
• Investors: Credence Family Office
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

3EV Industries was founded in association between RUGGED Solar Products Pvt Ltd and ReBatt Limited in 2019. It offers last-mile hyper-local connectivity to customers across India. 

In November 2021, 3EV Industries raised $2 Mn in its seed funding round from several family offices including Credence Family Office. The startup originally aligns with the Indian government’s ‘Make in India’ ambitions.

It manufactures vehicles across cargo and passenger segments, along with kits to convert conventional vehicles to electric. It aims to use renewable energy and off-grid power systems to optimise last-mile logistics. 

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2. Altigreen Propulsion Labs

• Founded In: 2013
• Founders: Amitabh Saran, Shalendra Gupta 
• Funding Raised To Date: $40 Mn 
• Investors: Reliance New Energy Limited, Xponentia Capital, Accurant International and Momentum Venture Capital
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Altigreen offers last-mile transportation through two-wheeler, three-wheeler and four-wheeler EVs for commercial use.

In February 2022, Altigreen raised INR 300 Cr ($40 Mn) in a Series A funding round led by Sixth Sense Ventures. The round saw participation from Reliance New Energy Limited (RNEL), Xponentia Capital, Accurant International and Momentum Venture Capital.

The startup has a presence in 60 countries, along with 26 global patents. It had a turnover of INR 1.04  Cr in FY21 against INR 61.62 lakh in FY20.

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3. AMO Mobility

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders: Sushant Kumar
• Funding Raised To Date: Bootstrapped
• Investors: NA
• Headquarters: Noida

AMO Mobility is an MSME-registered and ICAT-certified electric mobility startup. It is also certified by the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT). 

The original equipment manufacturer follows a business model for both B2C and B2B customers. Besides selling its electric two-wheelers through dealerships, AMO also has partnerships with OEMs, sub-dealerships, channel partners, and B2C partners to distribute its products. 

Some of its most noteworthy B2B partnerships include JustDial, Indiamart, the ecommerce platform of Paytm, and BikeDekho.

Recently, AMO Mobility signed a pact with EV-as-a -service platform, Trigo Electric, to provide its advanced electric mobility solutions to the company.

AMO Mobility has a range of escooter models, including Jaunty, Feisty, and Inspirer. Its customer base comprises corporates, ecommerce players, and CSR segments.

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4. Ather Energy

• Founded In: 2013
• Founders: Tarun Mehta, Swapnil Jain
• Funding Raised To Date: $400 Mn+
• Investors: Hero Motocorp, Department of Science and Technology, IIT Madras, Binny Bansal, Sachin Bansal, Tiger Global, NIIF Limited
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Ather Energy offers sustainable mobility and energy infrastructure solutions. It manufactures two-wheeler electric vehicles, 450X and 450 Plus, that are sold on its website and offline retail stores. 

In May, Ather secured $128 Mn in its Series E funding round from sovereign fund NIIF Limited and existing investor Hero MotoCorp. With this round, it also closed its Series E round. In September 2023, it raised INR 900 Cr from existing shareholders Hero MotoCorp and GIC through a rights issue.

The startup claims to have installed more than 1,000 charging stations across 80 cities in India. It aims to have around 2,500+ charging stations by the end of 2023.

It was earlier reported that the EV startup had set up its second manufacturing plant in Hosur to meet the demand for electric scooters. In October 2021, its annual revenue rate (ARR) rose by 12X to $100 Mn.

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5. Baaz Bikes

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Karan Singla, Abhijeet Saxena, Shubham Srivastava 
• Funding Raised To Date: $10.3 Mn
• Investors: BIG Capital, Kalaari Capital, AdvantEdge, 9Unicorns, Sumant Sinha
• Headquarters: New Delhi

Baaz Bikes, a subsidiary of ElecTorq Technologies, offers micro-mobility solutions to gig workers. It helps gig workers earn money by using its electric scooters for deliveries for companies such as Zomato, Amazon and Grofers.

Baaz Bikes raised $2 Mn in Pre-Series A funding round from Kalaari Capital along with the participation of AdvantEdge, 9Unicorns and Renew Power’s Sumant Sinha. In November 2023, the EV startup raised $8 Mn in its Series A funding round.

Baaz Bikes has built a full stack EV ecosystem that provides the delivery executives of companies, including Zomato, Zepto, and Amazon, access to its low-speed ebikes (Baaz Bikes) as well as battery swapping stations (Baaz Swap) under a subscription model.

With more than 500 vehicles on the road, the startup claims to earn around INR 5,000 per month from each delivery executive.

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6. Battery Smart

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Pulkit Khurana and Siddharth Sikka
• Funding Raised To Date: $65 Mn
• Investors: Blume Ventures, Orios Ventures, Green Frontier Capital, TradeCred, Baring Private Equity India, Srinivas Anumolu, K Ganesh, Niraj Singh, Amit Bhasin  
• Headquarters: New Delhi

Battery Smart allows customers to swap their EV batteries at its stations, called Swap Stations. It currently offers its services to e-rickshaw owners. 

Battery Smart claims to operate more than 850 Swap Stations across Delhi-NCR and says it has completed more than 220 lakh battery swaps. Currently, it has 35,000 active vehicles on its platform and makes 80,000 swaps on a daily basis as of November 2023.

In November 2021, Battery Smart raised $7 Mn in a Pre-Series A funding round led by Blume Ventures and Orios Ventures. The round saw participation from investors including Green Frontier Capital, TradeCred, Baring Private Equity India, and angel investors such as Bluestone’s Srinivas Anumolu, and GrowthStory.in’s K Ganesh, Spinny’s Niraj Singh and GoMechanic’s Amit Bhasin.

Prior to this, Battery Smart raised an undisclosed amount of investment in a seed funding round from Orios Venture Partners in February 2021. The startup has further raised $25 Mn in its Series A round in June 2022 led by Tiger Global, Blume Ventures and Orios Ventures and two debt rounds from Stride Ventures and BlackSoil.

In its pre-series B funding round in July of 2023, Battery Smart raised $33 Mn led by investors Tiger Global and Blume Ventures, with participation from the Ecosystem Integrity Fund and British International Investment.

Battery Smart claims to have live swap stations across 27 cities and it works with 35,500 vehicles.

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7. BGauss

• Founded In: 2020
• Founders: Hemant Kabra
• Funding Raised To Date: $7 Mn
• Investors: Darshan Patel
• Headquarters:  Mumbai

BGauss, which is promoted by RR Global, offers sustainable mobility solutions. The startup manufactures two EVs – BGauss B8 and BGauss A2 – which are sold on its website as well as in offline stores. It is currently expanding its product portfolio by launching two new EV scooters in 2022. 

According to an Inc42 report, BGauss’ new EV scooter D15 will be launched in May 2022, while the other scooter will be launched later this year. The startup claims that these scooters will be 100% ‘Made in India’ at its production facility located in Chakan near Pune.

Recently, the EV startup got $7 Mn in funding from Vini Cosmetics’ Darshan Patel to expand retail and manufacturing capacity in India, perform R&D and develop in-house products across various EV components. It claims to have 100 dealer networks across India and is planning to enter Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities by the end of 2022. It is further looking to scale up operations and focus on the export market.

As per its website, it has a presence in more than 85 countries. It also has 13 manufacturing facilities and over 25K retail stores. ______________________________________________________________________________________________

8. BLive

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders: Samarth Kholkar, Sandeep Mukherjee
• Funding Raised To Date: Approximately $3 Mn
• Investors: LetsVenture, Mumbai Angels, Ankit Agrawal
• Headquarters: Goa

BLive is a multi-brand EV store that offers a wide range of EV products and services on its digital platform as well as in retail stores. It’s a one-stop shop for EV products and solutions.

BLive’s EV Store features a lineup of electric two-wheelers from brands like TVS, Ola, and Ather. In August 2023, the startup collaborated with electric bike manufacturer Revolt Motors to support its sales, service and spares pan India.

BLive also offers customised EV financing solutions.

Recently, the startup expanded its collaboration with Zomato to deploy escooters for last-mile deliveries in more southern cities, including Bengaluru. As part of the partnership, the startup is deploying TVS iQube scooters for Zomato’s last-mile deliveries.

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9. BluSmart 

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Anmol Singh Jaggi, Punit K Goyal
• Funding Raised To Date: $110 Mn+
• Investors: Stride Ventures, Alteria Capital, BlackSoil, UCIC, BP Ventures, Green Frontier Capital, Mayfield India Fund, 9Unicorns, Suvan Partners,  Mumbai Angels, Inflection Point Ventures, Venture Catalysts
• Headquarters: Gurugram

BluSmart offers electric ride-hailing mobility services through its mobile-based app. It primarily provides sustainable mobility solutions to urban customers.

In May 2022, BluSmart secured $25 Mn through equity and debt financing in its Series A funding round. Investors who participated in the round include BP Ventures, Green Frontier Capital, Stride Ventures, Alteria Capital, BlackSoil and UCIC. It raised over $66 Mn in two rounds in 2023. 

BluSmart claims to have completed over 10 Mn rides so far. It also owned and operated over 4,000 EV chargers, across its 34 EV charging superhubs as of 2023 end. The startup is looking to raise around INR 200 Cr in a pre-Series B funding round.

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10. BOLT

• Founded: 2017
• Founders: Jyotiranjan Harichandan and Mohit Yadav
• Funding Raised To Date: $4 Mn 
• Investors: ITI Growth Opportunities Fund, SUN Mobility, Union Square Ventures, Prime Venture Partners
• Headquarters: Bengaluru 

BOLT, previously known as REVOS, is an AI-based IoT platform that helps people operate EVs. It essentially tracks and monitors motor controllers as well as batteries on the platform. 

In September 2021, BOLT raised $4 Mn in its Series A round led by Union Square Ventures (USV) and Prime Venture Partners. It claims to have sold about 1,000 devices, including EVs and chargers in 30 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), across India, China, Nepal, Egypt and Vietnam to date. The startup claims it has installed 10,000 EV charging stations in India in the past six months. 

BOLT is reportedly aiming to deploy 100K charging stations in the coming six months to meet the demand in cities like Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Lucknow, Nagpur, Nashik, Chandigarh, Surat, and Bhubaneswar, among others.

Recently, BOLT also partnered with the Delhi Capitals cricket team for the IPL.

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11. Bounce

• Founded In: 2014
• Founders: Anil G, Varun Agni, Vivekananda Halleker
• Funding Raised To Date: $214 Mn
• Investors: Peak XV, Accel Partners, B Capital Group, Chiratae Ventures

Initially, Bounce started its operations as a bike/scooter rental platform. In 2022, it pivoted to become an escooter manufacturer. 

Currently, Bounce manufactures and sells Bounce Inifinity escooters. It also gives its escooters on rent.

The EV maker currently has three escooter variants – E.1, E.1 LE, and E.1+ – with their prices ranging from INR 1.09 Lakh to INR 1.12 Lakh.

Bounce last raised $105 Mn in 2020 from Accel Partners and B Capital Group. The company is trying to raise more funding.

In FY23, its net loss narrowed 19% YoY to INR 197 Cr and operating revenue jumped 510% to INR 90.9 Cr.

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12. Cell Propulsion

• Founded In: 2017
• Founders: Nakul Kukar, Paras Kaushal, Supratim Naskar
• Funding Raised To Date: $4 Mn
• Investors: growX ventures, Micelio, Endiya Partners, CIIE.CO, Sangam Ventures
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Cell Propulsion offers sustainable mobility solutions and charging infrastructure. The startup develops high-voltage powertrains technology for commercial vehicle applications. Besides this, it manufactures electric commercial vehicles – Oryx Electric and Beluga Electric. While Oryx Electric is available for sale, Beluga Electric has not been officially launched yet by the startup. 

As per its website, GrowX Ventures, Endiya, Micelio and CIIE.CO and Sangam Ventures are among its investors. It has covered over 200K emission-free distance and onboarded five fleets to date. It is currently managing over 10 fast-charging stations.

In 2021, it reportedly secured $2 Mn of funding from a cohort of private equity investors including Endiya Partners, GrowX Ventures, Huddle Accelerator and Micelio. Prior to this, it raised $1 Mn in a pre-Series A funding round in September 2020. 

In 2019, it was also a part of Huddle and growX Ventures’ EV accelerator program.

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13. CHARGE+ZONE

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders: Kartikey Hariyani and Pavan Bakeri
• Funding Raised To Date: $17 Mn
• Investors: Venture Catalysts, Mumbai Angels, Keiretsu Forum, Ramakrishnan Family Office
• Headquarters: Gujarat

CHARGE+ZONE offers an OEM charging network through its app-based charging stations. Its app provides an array of services to EV drivers, such as finding charging points, and booking them in advance. 

In December 2021, CHARGE+ZONE raised $10 Mn in a bridge funding round led by Venture Catalysts. Prior to this, it raised $4 Mn in the same round. CHARGE+ZONE currently aims to raise another $50 Mn in a Series A funding round in 2022. 

In November 2021, CHARGE+ZONE raised $3 Mn in a Pre-Series funding A round led by Venture Catalysts. The round saw participation from Mumbai Angels, Keiretsu Forum and Ramakrishnan Family Office. Earlier in May 2021, it raised an undisclosed amount from Mumbai Angels. 

CHARGE+ZONE is reported to have started the distribution of AC-Type2 EV charging networks and intercity fast DC charging networks for 1,500 new points over the next 150 days.

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14. Chargeup

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Varun Goenka and Ankur Madan
• Funding Raised To Date: $2.5 Mn
• Investors:  Capital A, Anicut Capital, MapmyIndia,  Sameer Mehta, Aman Gupta, Tiger Shroff, Shraddha Kapoor  
• Headquarters: New Delhi

Chargeup offers battery swapping services for three-wheeler EVs in India. 

In February 2022, Chargeup reportedly raised $2.5 Mn in Pre-Series A funding round led by Capital A and Anicut Capita. 

The round also saw participation from angel investors including boAt’s Sameer Mehta, Aman Gupta, Tiger Shroff and Shraddha Kapoor. The startup claims to have expanded to 100 stations and onboarded 800 drivers on its platform. It further says that it has 100 dealers working with the platform.

As per its website, Chargeup has an AI and ML-based platform that provides services such as subscription-based usage, delivers 5,000 MwHr, forecasts demand hotspots, predicts energy demand, and operates 10K charging stations. The startup claims to have 800 satisfied users and 100 dealers associated with it. It also aims to power 1 Mn EVs by 2027.

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15. Corrit Electric

• Founded In: 2020
• Founders: Mayur Misra
• Funding Raised To Date: $9 Mn 
• Investors: SphitiCap
• Headquarters: Noida

Corrit Electric offers sustainable mobility solutions to consumers and B2B customers. It sells three electric bikes – Hover 1.0, Hover 2.0 and Hover 2.0+. The company has recently launched an electric bike, Transit, for B2B deliveries. It has a top speed of 70 kmph and payload capacity of 200 Kg. 

In November 2022, it secured $9 Mn in funding from venture capital fund SphitiCap to ramp up its production facility and manufacture electric bikes to resolve issues related to last-mile connectivity.

Earlier, it had shared plans to build 1.5 Lakh electric bikes in the next three years.

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16. eee-Taxi 

• Founded In: 2015
• Founders: Vipul Nanda, Nishant Saini
• Funding Raised To Date: NA
• Investors: NA

eee-Taxi is a tech-enabled platform offering EV ride-hailing management solutions working in a B2B model. It helps businesses reduce their employee logistics costs while also promoting the use and adoption of EVs.

The company develops modules including employee dashboards, employee applications, budget tracking, and others. The EV company also offers airport transfers, self-drive, and spot rentals.

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17. ElectricPe

• Founded In: 2021
• Founders: Avinash Sharma, Raghav Rohila
• Funding Raised To Date: $8 Mn
• Investors: Blume Ventures, Micelio Fund, Anshuman Bapna, Anupam Mittal, Arjun Ravi Sheth, Ashish Goel, Bhuvan Gupta, Green Frontier Capital, NB Ventures, Anchorage Capital Partners, Supermorpheus, and Climate Angels
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

ElectricPe offers charging infrastructure to customers. Through its app, EV owners can locate charging stations near them.

In November 2021, ElectricPe raised $3 Mn in a seed funding round led by Blume Ventures and Micelio Fund. The round saw participation from Terra.do’s Anshuman Bapna, Shaadi.com’s Anupam Mittal, Anchorage Capital’s Arjun Ravi Sheth, Urban Ladder’s Ashish Goel, and OfBusiness’ Bhuvan Gupta, among others.

Recently, Hero Electric partnered with ElectricPe to set up charging points pan-India for its customers. The charging infrastructure would be built in residential complexes, offices, malls, and other establishments. The partnership aims to strengthen the charging network and support EV adoption across India.

Prior to this, NoBroker had also partnered with ElectricPe to set up 1 Lakh electric charging stations in residential communities across India in 2022.

In January 2022, ElectricPe raised $5 Mn in its pre-series A round led by Green Frontier Capital, Blume Ventures and Micelio Fund, with participation from NB Ventures, Anchorage Capital Partners, Supermorpheus and Climate Angels.

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18. Electrifi Mobility

• Founded In: 2023
• Founders: Kunal Mundra and Nikhil Aggarwal
• Funding Raised To Date: NA
• Investors: NA
• Headquarters: Delhi-NCR

Founded in 2023 by former Cars24 CEO Kunal Mundra, Electrifi Mobility is a full-stack EV leasing startup. It offers an end-to-end asset management solution covering asset selection, leasing, maintenance, post-sales support, refurbishment, and redeployment of EV assets. 

The startup is built in partnership with Grip Invest and its founder and CEO Nikhil Aggarwal. In just a few months of its operations, Electrifi announced multiple partnerships and developments.

In December, BluSmart and Electrifi Mobility partnered to deploy over 1,000 four-wheeler EVs.

Recently, the startup also announced the opening of Electrifi Labs, where detailed testing of EVs and batteries will be conducted so that they can be rebuilt from scratch or refurbished as required.

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19. Emflux Motors 

• Founded In: 2016
• Founders: Ankit Khatry, Varun Mittal, Vinay Raj Somashekar
• Funding Raised To Date: $648K
• Investors: Meher Roy, Nikhil Arora, Meet Kanodia, Krit Sankalp, Nitish Singh and Risabh Gupta
• Headquarters: Bengaluru 

Emflux Motors offers sustainable mobility solutions and other tech solutions for EVs. It sells an electronic bike Emflux One that has a maximum speed of 200 kmph and can cover up to 200 km on a single charge. Besides this, it sells technology stack such as battery management system, motors, motor controller, charger circuit, EVSE, master controller, and battery pack. 

In 2017, Emflux Motors raised $648K in an angel funding round. The round saw participation from Meher Roy, Nikhil Arora, Meet Kanodia, Krit Sankalp, Jugnoo’s Nitish Singh, and Risabh Gupta.

The EV startup aims to create 10 Mn two-wheeler EVs in India by 2027. It primarily focuses on building brand and loyalty by creating high-performance electric vehicles.  It also plans to build an ecosystem of partner OEMs and become their tech and component supplier. 

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20. EMO Energy

• Founded In: 2022
• Founders: Sheetanshu Tyagi and Rahul Patel
• Funding Raised To Date: $1.5 Mn
• Investors: Transition VC, Gruhas
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

With its integrated tech stack for two- and three-wheeler EVs and heavy-duty vehicles, deeptech startup EMO Energy is addressing two challenges adversely affecting EV adoption in India – safety and charging efficiency. 

The startup calls its technology platform ZEN, which comes with different applications such as ZEN PAC (swappable battery packs for two- and three-wheelers), ZEN Ctrl. (battery management system and connected software), ZEN Rig (battery packs for heavy-duty vehicles), and ZEN Wall (fully integrated battery inverter system for residential and light commercial use).

EMO Energy has successfully conducted pilot programmes with nearly 10 electric vehicle (EV) companies in the country, deploying approximately 100 batteries to date. The startup is rapidly expanding its network of partnerships. While most of its offerings are still in the pilot phase, EMO Energy has already started generating revenue by selling its battery packs, ranging from 2 kWh to 3 kWh, for two- and three-wheelers.

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21. EMotorad

• Founded In: 2020
• Founders: Rajib Gangopadhyay, Kunal Gupta, Aditya Oza, Sumedh Battewar
• Funding Raised To Date: $23.2 Mn
• Investor: Basant Lohia from TaraSafe, Green Frontier Capital, LetsVenture, Ivy Growth associates, Panthera Growth Partners, Mahendra Singh Dhoni  
• Headquarters: Pune
• EMotorad sells electric cycles for daily commuting and casual rides. The startup uses local sourcing and manufacturing facilities in India to build electric cycles.

In October 2022, the Pune-based startup secured $2.9 Mn (INR 24 Cr) in its Pre-Series A funding round. During that time, it asserted that it sold more than 16K electric cycles in India since its inception. In November 2023, EMotorad raised $20 Mn (INR 166.8 Cr) as a part of its Series B funding round led by Panthera Growth Partners.

In early 2024, EMotorad also roped in former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni as an equity investor.

Its cap table also includes Green Frontier Capital (GFC), LetsVenture, Alteria Capital, Ivy Growth associates and Basant Lohia from TaraSafe. 

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22. ETrio 

• Founded In: 2016
• Founders: Sathya Yalamanchili, Deepak M V 
• Funding Raised To Date: $3 Mn
• Investor: Janardhan Rao
• Headquarters: Hyderabad

Etrio offers commercial and non-commercial electricity mobility solutions. Its product portfolio includes electric kits, retrofitted electric light commercial vehicles (eLCVs), a three-wheeler EV named Touro, and two bicycles – Ashva and iSwitch. eLCVs have been launched to transform and electrify the logistics segment, while bicycles were launched to meet the demands of cargo and personal segments. 

In 2020, ETrio raised $3 Mn in a Series A funding round led by Triumph Global’s Janardhan Rao. The round saw participation from a cohort of Singapore-based HNIs. 

As per its website, ETrio has partnered with various companies including Amazon, BigBasket, Flipkart, DIAGEO, Lightning Logistics, Amplus Solar, and ZYPP Electric. 

It has also received certifications from various government bodies such as ARAI, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, and the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, among others. 

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23. Euler Motors

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders:  Saurav Kumar
• Funding Raised To Date:  $100 Mn+ 
• Investors: Blume Venture, Emergent Ventures, Andrew Lee, Inventus India, Jetty Ventures, Srinivas Anumolu, K Ganesh, Sujeet Kumar, QRG Investments and Holdings, ADB Ventures,
• Headquarters: New Delhi 

Euler Motors offers commercial electrical mobility solutions through three-wheeler EVs, energy infrastructure, app and web-based software solutions. Its three-wheeler EV, Euler HiLoad, has the capacity to hold up to 688 Kg. The company claims it can get charged in 15 minutes and cover a distance of 151 Km on a single charge.

In the charging infra, the EV startup offers three types of chargers – Flash2, onboard charger, and Charge on Wheels. In the software segment, its app provides an array of services such as real-time GPS tracking, learning analytics, geo-fencing, and battery temperature, among others. 

In October 2022, Euler Motors raised about $60 Mn in its Series C round led by Singapore’s sovereign fund GIC. In November 2023, the startup raised about $14.4 Mn in its ongoing Series C extension round from British International Investment (BII) and Green Frontier Capital.  Existing investors, including ADB Ventures, Blume Ventures, Athera Venture Partners, Alteria Capital, GIC Singapore, and QRG Holdings, also participated in the round.

It claims to have supplied more than 250 three-wheeler EVs to various companies including Ecom Express, BigBasket and Udaan.

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24. EVage

• Founded In: 2014
• Founders: Inderveer Singh, Pulkit Srivastava, Harnoor Kaur
• Funding Raised To Date: $28 Mn
• Investors: RedBlue Capital
• Headquarters: Chandigarh

EVage offers commercial solutions for sustainable mobility. It plans to supply electric commercial vehicles to the delivery fleets of logistics companies. 

Recently, Evage raised $28 Mn in a seed funding round from RedBlue Capital. Its first model, X, is a one-tonne truck built for the commercial delivery market.

The startup claims to be the supplier to Amazon India’s delivery partners. 

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25. Evera

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Nimish Trivedi, Vikas Bansal, Rajeev Tiwari
• Funding Raised To Date: $7 Mn
• Investors: Westova Capital, Devonshire Capital, IEG – Investment Banking Group
• Headquarters: New Delhi

Evera is a New Delhi-based electric cab services provider that operates in both B2B and B2C verticals. Founded in 2019, the startup claims to have taken more than 40,000 rides, with a network of 43 charging stations in the national capital region. Its parent entity is Prakriti E-Mobility.

Unlike many ride-hailing companies, Evera employs full-time drivers rather than working with gig workers. The startup says the drivers can’t cancel rides since they’re paid by the startup.

In early 2023, Evera raised $7 Mn in multiple tranches as part of its Pre-Series A funding round, led by IEG Investment Banking Group, Direct Capital, and Westova Global.

Evera competes directly with BluSmart, which raised $42 Mn in May 2023.

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26. Exponent Energy

• Founded In: 2020 
• Founders: Arun Vinayak, Sanjay Byalal
• Funding Raised To Date: $18 Mn 
• Investors: YourNest VC, 3one4 Capital, AdvantEdge VC, Motherson Group, Rajesh Yabaji, Pushkar Singh
• Headquarters: Bengaluru 

Exponent Energy offers energy solutions to EV owners. The startup claims that its lithium-ion battery and charger combo can charge EVs up to 100% within 15 minutes.  

In December 2021, the EV startup raised $5 Mn in a Pre Series A funding round led by existing investor YourNest VC. The round saw participation from other investors including 3one4 Capital, AdvantEdge VC and Motherson Group. 

As per an Inc42 report, it also raised an undisclosed investment in September 2021 from investors including YourNest, 3one4 Capital, AdvantEdge, BlackBuck’s Rajesh Yabaji, and LetsTransport’s Pushkar Singh among others.

Before launching Exponent Energy, its cofounder Arun Vinayak worked with Ather Energy for seven years, while the other cofounder Sanjay Byalal had earlier worked with Ather Energy as well as HUL.

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27. Finayo

• Founded In: 2020
• Founders: Brajendra Singh Tomar and Yogesh Prakash
• Funding Raised To Date: ~$2 Mn
• Investors: F Mec International Financial Services Limited, Choice Finserv
• Headquarters: Delhi NCR

Finayo is an EV financing startup that connects its lending partners with customers of EV retailers and OEMs through its AI-powered platform.

With a dedicated web dashboard for its lending partners, the platform allows them to see and manage borrower profiles and automate loan processing end-to-end. 

For EV borrower-facing entities, the startup provides a dashboard and mobile application for their executives to process loan applications and generate real-time loan offers for customers with multiple lenders. 

In December 2023, Finayo raised INR 16 Cr (approximately $1.9 Mn) in a mix of debt and equity funding from NBFCs and angel investor Manish Mehta.

Till November 2023, the EV lending startup had disbursed INR 20 Cr. In the forthcoming fiscal year, it plans to disburse INR 100 Cr with 60-70% of funds to be disbursed in the advancement of three-wheeler L3 and L5 EVs.

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28. Fresh Bus

• Founded In: 2022
• Founders: Sudhakar Reddy Chirra
• Funding Raised To Date: 8 Mn+
• Investors: ixigo, Kunal Shah, Sudarshan Venu, Deepak Garg
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Founded by former AbhiBus founder Sudhakar Reddy Chirra, Fresh Bus is an electric bus (ebus) platform that operates in the intercity bus travel market.

The startup, backed by traveltech major ixigo, launched its ebus service in early 2023 by unveiling its first route between Bengaluru and Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh. Currently, the bus service is also functional on the Hyderabad-Vijaywada route while the startup plans to start its intercity ebus service on newer routes like Bengaluru-Chennai, Mumbai-Ahmedabad, and Goa-Pune.

Fleet operator Fresh Bus has collaborated with EV manufacturer Olectra to procure its buses. 

In the growing ebus market, Fresh Bus competes with NueGo, Zingbus, and other major intercity bus platforms in the market. The startup has also built its own charging station network. In July 2024, Fresh Bus raised about $5.3 Mn as part of its Series A funding round.

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29. Fyn Mobility

• Founded In: 2013
• Founders: Visakh Sasikumar
• Funding Raised To Date: $2.4 Mn 
• Investors: Eagle10 Ventures, Bluehill Capital, Sattva Group, Nanavati family, Sincere Syndication, Conscience Multi-Family Office, GAIL (India) Ltd,  Arshad Sayyad, Vijay Ratnaparke, Shaji Koshy and IITM Research Park’s Ashok Jhunjhunwala, among others.
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Fyn Mobility, which was earlier known as Pi Beam, offers micro-mobility EV solutions and data analytics services for the EV ecosystem. Its product portfolio includes PIMO Utility two-wheeler, E-Trike, E-Kart, and E-Auto.  

In March 2022, Fyn reportedly raised $1.7 Mn in a Pre-Series A round led by Inflection Point Ventures. 

The round saw participation from investors including Sattva Group and Nanavati family, Sincere Syndication and Conscience Multi-Family Office, and angel investors Fidelity Investments’ Arshad Sayyad, Robert Bosch’s Vijay Ratnaparke, Royal Enfield’s Shaji Koshy and IITM Research Park’s Ashok Jhunjhunwala, among others.

Prior to this, the EV startup raised $705K in a bridge funding round from GAIL (India) Ltd. Currently, it has a presence in Bengaluru and Chennai. It plans to add 2,000 EVs by FY23. 

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30. goEgoNetwork

• Founded In: 2021
• Founders: Sayantan Chakraborti, Dheeman Kadam, Pravin Kumar 
• Funding Raised To Date: $2 Mn
• Investors: Olivier Guillaumond, Rishi Bagla
• Headquarters: Pune

goEgoNetwork offers energy solutions to customers. With its goME app, EV owners can locate the nearest charging stations and use them. 

In August 2021, goEgoNetwork raised $2 Mn (nearly INR 15 Cr) in seed funding to expand its existing electric charging network. The round saw participation from Bagla Group’s Rishi Bagla and Global Innovation Labs’ Olivier Guillaumond.

In 2021, goEgoNetwork is reported to have partnered with TVS Motor to promote EV infra in Himachal Pradesh. Following this, it set up an EV charging facility at Kaza in Spiti Valley to cater to the needs of EV scooters and cars in the region.

The EV startup has got certifications from various government bodies including ARAI and OCA.

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31. Grinntech 

• Founded In: 2013
• Founders: Nikhilesh Mishra, Puneet Jain
• Funding Raised To Date: $2 Mn  
• Investors: V Sumantran, Lakshmi Narayan, KS Manian
• Headquarters: Chennai

Grinntech offers energy storage solutions to customers. It claims to provide an array of lithium-ion batteries such as IC Engine starter batteries, e-cycle and robotics batteries, two-wheeler batteries, three-wheeler batteries, small commercial vehicle batteries, light commercial vehicle batteries, and MHCV batteries, among others.

In 2020, Grinntech raised $2 Mn in an angel funding round. The round saw participation from investors including Ashok Leyland’s V Sumantran, Cognizant’s Lakshmi Narayan, and NAPC’s KS Manian. During the same year, the startup also graduated from the IIT Madras Incubation Cell.

In 2020, Grinntech inked an MoU with the Tamil Nadu government involving an investment of INR 100 Cr. In the following year, it established a manufacturing facility in Chennai that can meet the demand of up to 400 MWh.

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32. Kabira Mobility

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Jaibir Siwach, Akash Siwach, and Sagar Siwach
• Funding Raised To Date: $52 Mn
• Investors: Al-Abdulla Group, Classic Group
• Headquarters: Goa

Kabira Mobility is a Goa-based electric motorcycle manufacturer, which started a fledged sales of its ebikes in April 2022. It targets young bike enthusiasts. 

The startup has so far launched two models of its flagship bikes – KM3000 and KM4000. While its KM3000 bike model comes with a 4.14 kWh battery capacity and a range of 120 km per charge, the KM4000 model has a battery capacity of 4.60 kWh and offers a range of 150 km. 

Kabira Mobility also has plans to launch pro variants of its KM3000 and KM4000 models this year. Next year, the ebike startup is expected to launch a new model – KM5000 – in the cruiser bike category.

Earlier this year, the startup raised $50 Mn (around INR 412 Cr) in its Series A funding round Qatar-based Al-Abdulla Group, taking its total funding received to INR 430 Cr.

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33. Kazam EV

• Founded In: 2020 
• Founders: Akshay Shekhar, Vaibhav Tyagi
• Funding Raised To Date: $4.53 Mn
• Investors: Inflection Point Ventures, We Founder Circle 
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Kazam EV offers software solutions for energy infrastructure. Besides aligning with its own charging stations, the startup’s software supports charging stations of other EV companies as well. It additionally helps micro-entrepreneurs earn money by setting up charging stations in their parking areas. 

In 2021, Kazam raised INR 7 Cr ($0.93 Mn) in a seed round led by Inflection Point Ventures. Besides, it raised an undisclosed amount of investment from We Founder Circle. Earlier in May 2023, the startup picked up $3.6 Mn in a round led by Avaana Climate Fund.

As per its website, Kazam has set up over 7,000 charging stations in India. It has a presence in Karnataka, Maharashtra, Delhi-NCR, Telangana and Tamil Nadu. Its products are essentially utilised by EV OEMs, EV fleet operators and micro-entrepreneurs.

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34. Lithium Urban Technologies

• Founded In: 2014
• Founders: Sanjay Krishnan
• Funding Raised To Date: $58 Mn
• Investors: IFC, EverSource Capital 
• Headquarters: Bengaluru 

Lithium Urban offers sustainability solutions and charging infrastructure to business organisations. The startup essentially offers transport service through its fleet of EVs and associated charging stations.

As per its website, the startup is certified by ISO for implementing guidance on social responsibility. It presently has a fleet size of 2,000 vehicles and operates in over 15 cities, including Bengaluru, NCR, Hyderabad, Pune, Chennai and Mumbai. 

Through its tech stack, the startup claims to deliver 2X productivity, reduce carbon footprint and cut down transportation costs by 40%. As per Tofler, its revenue from operations stood at INR 53.6 Cr in FY20 as against INR 41.8 Cr in FY19. However, its loss widened to INR 21.1 Cr in FY20 as compared to INR 15.3 Cr in the previous fiscal year. 

A few days ago, it reportedly partnered with Tata Motors to deploy 5000 XPRES T Electric Sedans across India for employee transportation.

In March 2022, EverSource Capital, which manages India’s largest climate impact funds, acquired a majority stake in the startup for about $50 Mn. Prior to this, the startup raised $8 Mn from World Bank’s investment arm, International Finance Corporation (IFC), as an equity investor. It raised additional capital from other investors as well. 

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35. Log9 Materials

• Founded In: 2015
• Founders:Akshay Singhal, Kartik Hajela and Pankaj Sharma
• Funding Raised To Date: $65 Mn
• Investors: Amara Raja Batteries, Petronas Venture, Oxyzo Financial Services
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Incubated at IIT-Roorkee, deeptech startup Log9 Materials manufactures batteries for EVs and energy storage. The startup is also one of the few Li-ion cell manufacturers in the country.

In April 2023, Log9 Materials launched the country’s first commercial cell manufacturing facility at its campus in Bengaluru with an initial capacity of 50 MWh. The startup is working on both lithium titanate oxide (LTO) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cell technologies.

Log9 Materials’ batteries have powered vehicles of EV manufacturers like Quantum Energy and Hala Mobility, along with the electric fleet of last-mile logistics companies such as Maersk, Blue Dart, and BluWheelz.

In January 2023, the startup raised $40 Mn in its Series B funding round led by Amara Raja Batteries. 

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36. Lohum

• Founded In: 2017
• Founders: Rajat Verma, Justin Lemmon, Gazanfar Safvi
• Funding Raised To Date: $20 Mn+
• Investors: Baring Private Equity Partners, Talbros Automotive Components, Stride Ventures
• Headquarters: Noida

Lohum is a producer of lithium-ion battery raw materials, which it achieves by recycling, repurposing, and low-carbon refining.

Working in a closed-loop recycling model, Lohum acquires used lithium-ion batteries from electric vehicles, stationary storage, and consumer electronics. These batteries are then tested and, if deemed reusable, they are given a second life. If the batteries reach their end-of-life, Lohum recycles the battery materials and sells the resulting metals and chemicals to various customers across the supply chain.

Since its inception, the startup has raised over $20 Mn in funding. Lohum recently said that it has collaborated with insurtech unicorn ACKO to optimise the battery insurance and financing costs for the customers.

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37. Magenta Mobility

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders: Maxson Lewis, Darryl Dias
• Funding Raised To Date: $35 Mn
• Investors: bp Ventures, Morgan Stanley India, JITO Angel Network, HPCL, Indian American philanthropist Dr Kiran Patel
• Headquarters: Mumbai

From being a solution provider in the EV charging ecosystem, Magenta Mobility has pivoted to becoming an end-to-end integrated emobility solution provider. 

Currently, it operates over 2K electric three-wheelers and four-wheelers in the L5 and N1 category for last-mile delivery, which it is planning to expand to 5K vehicles by the end of FY24. Magenta Mobility runs its cargo delivery and logistics services in 18 cities, including Bengaluru, Mysuru, Pune Mumbai, Delhi NCR, and Hyderabad. The startup is not a manufacturer and sources its three-wheeler EVs from Altigreen Propulsion Labs, Euler Motors, Mahindra, and Bajaj, and four-wheeler EVs from Tata Motors and Switch Mobility.

In its charging ecosystem, Magenta Mobility manages 72 charging depots to cater to the charging needs of its EV fleet.

Besides, it also develops software technology to enable this entire emobility ecosystem.

In April 2023, Magenta Mobility raised $22 Mn (about INR 180.6 Cr) in its Series A1 funding round from bp Ventures and Morgan Stanley India infrastructure.

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38. Matter

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Mohal Lalbhai, Arun Pratap Singh, Kumar Prasad Telikepalli, and Saran Babu
• Funding Raised To Date: $45 Mn+
• Investors:  Info Edge’s Capital 2B Fund 1, Climate Angel Fund
• Headquarters: Ahmedabad

Founded in 2019 by Mohal Lalbhai, Arun Pratap Singh, Kumar Prasad Telikepalli and Saran Babu, Matter is an electric mobility and energy storage-focussed startup. 

The startup boasts a fully functional electric motorcycle AERA, which it launched earlier this year. The ebike has two variants – AERA 5000 and AERA 5000+ – which come with a range of up to 125 km.  

Not just this, Matter, last year, also unveiled what it claims is the country’s first active liquid-cooled two-wheeler EV battery MatterEnergy 1.0. It also closed a $10 Mn in an initial funding round in 2022.

In July 2024, it raised $35 Mn (about INR 290 Cr) in its ongoing Series B funding round, from US-based Helena, Japan Airlines & Translink Innovation Fund, and other existing investors. Matter will raise $65 Mn-$70 Mn overall in the Series B round.

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39. Metastable Materials

• Founded In: 2021
• Founders: Shubham Vishvakarma, Saurav Goyal, Manikumar Uppala
• Funding Raised To Date: Undisclosed 
• Investors: Sequoia Capital’s Surge,  Speciale Invest, Theia Ventures, Akshay Singhal, Sanjeev Rangrass
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Metastable Materials has developed a one-of-its-kind mechanism, a chemical-free integrated carbothermal reduction process, for extracting and recycling materials from lithium-ion batteries in a more economical and efficient manner. 

The startup was part of the eighth cohort of Sequoia’s Surge accelerator program.

In April 2023, the cleantech startup raised an undisclosed amount of funding in its Seed round from Sequoia Capital’s Surge and other venture capitalists like Speciale Invest and Theia Ventures. 

Metastable Materials is now setting up a 21,000 sq ft battery recycling facility on the outskirts of Bengaluru.

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40. MoEVing

• Founded In: 2021
• Founders: Mragank Jain, Vikash Mishra
• Funding Raised To Date:  $10 Mn 
• Investors:  D.S. Brar, Anshuman Maheshwary, Srihari Raju Kalidindi, Ashish Goel, Krishnadeva Veerareddy, BeyondTeq, GCC family offices, StrideOne, TradeCred, N+1 Capital, and Nitish Mittersain
• Headquarters: Gurugram

MoEVing offers intra-city last-mile delivery solutions, energy infrastructure and fintech solutions. It provides delivery services to companies operating in ecommerce, e-grocery, FMCG, logistics and D2C. Besides, it also works along with OEMs, drivers and financial institutions to address the problems of EV owners when they adopt EVs.

In May, the EV startup secured $5 Mn through equity and debt financing in its ongoing seed funding round. Investors like BeyondTeq, GCC family offices, StrideOne, TradeCred, N+1 Capital, and Nitish Mittersain from Nazara Technologies participated in the round. 

MoEving has a presence in 10 cities in India including Delhi-NCR, Pune, Mumbai, Chandigarh, Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Kolkata. It aims to add 10,000 EVs and 100 charging hubs in 30 cities by 2023. 

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41. Motovolt Mobility

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders: Tushar Choudhary 
• Funding Raised To Date: $1.9 Mn 
• Investors: Wami Capital, PPAP Automotive, Vikrampati Singhania, Ankur Agarwal, Vikas Bagaria
• Headquarters: Kolkata

Motovolt offers sustainable mobility solutions to consumers. Some of its electric bikes are URBN e-Bike, Kivo Easy, Ice, and Kivo 24. 

Recently, the startup also launched an electric bike called URBN for its consumers. The new electric bike has removable twin batteries, weighing about 10 kg each.

In November last year, it bagged $1.9 Mn in Pre-Series A funding round led by Wami Capital. Earlier, it had shared plans to invest INR 200 Cr into its business (in 2023) to enhance product offerings and expand its facility as well as sales network. It claims to have more than 100 POS across the country.

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42. Oben Electric

• Founded In: 2020
• Founders: Madhumita Agrawal, Dinkar Agarwal, and Sagar Thakkar
• Funding Raised To Date: $10.7 Mn
• Investors: Stride Ventures, Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency, Mumbai Angels, We Founder Circle
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Currently, the electric two-wheeler market is predominantly dominated by escooter manufacturers. However, the electric motorcycle sector is relatively limited, with only a few companies operating in this space.

Oben Electric is one of those few startups that are manufacturing electric bikes to make a major shift in a market ruled by the stalwarts like Bajaj Auto, TVS Motor, Hero MotoCorp, and Eicher Motors.

Its flagship electric motorcycle Oben Rorr comes with a top speed of 100 km per hour and a 4.4 kWh battery capacity that can fully charge in two hours.

In the electric motorcycle manufacturing space, Oben Electric currently competes with Revolt Motors, Ultraviolette, Matter, Odysse, Hop Electric, Kabira Mobility, and Orxa Energies.

The startup has raised around $10.7 Mn (over 88 Cr) in total funding so far. In its extended Pre-Series A funding round, it raised $4.88 Mn (INR 72 Cr) in June 2023.

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43. Odysse Electric

• Founded In: 2020
• Founders: Nemin Vora
• Funding Raised To Date: Bootstrapped
• Investors: NA
• Headquarters: Mumbai

Electric mobility startup Odysse is a part of the Vora group of companies that has a vast line of businesses with a primary focus on automobile-based products. As a two-wheeler EV manufacturer, Odysse makes both electric scooters and motorcycles.

In the motorcycle category, the startup has two models – Evoqis and Vader. In the escooter category, Odysse’s main two-wheeler models are E2go, Hawk, and V2.

Odysse also manufactures a last-mile delivery escooter electric scooter, TROT.

Hence, the startup competes with the major players across the EV two-wheeler market, including Revolt, Oben Electric, Ola Electric, TVS Motor, Hero Electric as well as the likes of Yulu.

The company has set up its EV manufacturing facility in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.

In July 2023, Odysse announced a strategic partnership with Flipkart to help customers pre-book and purchase Odysse’s EVs more seamlessly from the marketplace.

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44. Ohm Mobility

• Founded In: 2020
• Founders: Nikhil Nair
• Funding Raised To Date: $400K
• Investors: Antler India, Blume Founders Fund, Catalyst Fund, Kunal Shah
• Headquarters: Bangalore

Ohm Mobility is an end-to-end EV-focussed financing platform, which aims to help EV players to get easier access to institutional capital while enabling lenders to discover, verify, and deploy capital to EV companies. It is building a technology platform to connect EV buyers with capital providers.

In May 2023, Ohm Mobility raised INR 3 Cr in a pre-seed funding round led by Antler India. The funding round also saw participation from Blume Founders Fund and angels like Sagar Gubbi, Anshuman Bapna Mathew Chako, and Karishma Menon.

Its current client portfolio includes Race Energy, Eveez, and Hala Mobility, among others. The startup competes with the likes of Vidyut and Turno in the space.

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45. Okinawa Autotech

• Founded In: 2015
• Founders: Jeetender Sharma 
• Funding Raised To Date: Bootstrapped 
• Investors: NA
• Headquarters: Gurugram

Okinawa offers sustainable mobility solutions. The startup offers EV vehicles–RIDGE+, PRAISE PRO, IPRAISE+, R30, Okinawa R30 and LITE. Its high-speed scooters hold various features such as detachable batteries, fast charging, central locking, app connectivity, etc. Its EV vehicles are priced at INR 50K-INR 1.14 Lakh.

As per LinkedIn, it has over 350 dealerships across India so far. It has received a FAME II subsidy from the Indian government and also, got IATD certification for design and manufacturing. It also partnered with the Indian Navy, Delhi Transport Corporation and Tirupati Smart City.

It claims to have sold more than 1 lakh EV scooters since its inception. It has two manufacturing plants in Rajasthan; one plant with a capacity of more than 1 lakh units is in Bhiwandi while the other with 0.5 Mn units is in Alwar. 

Since It’s a bootstrapped venture, the startup has not got external financing so far. However, it is reportedly looking at raising INR 400-INR 500 Cr from American and European private equity players.

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46. Ola Electric 

• Founded In: 2017
• Founders: Bhavish Aggarwal
• Funding Raised To Date: $1 Bn  
• Investors: Tekne Private Ventures, Alpine Opportunity Fund, Edelweiss, Tiger Global and Matrix India, SoftBank, Hyundai, Kia Motors, Bank of Baroda, Falcon Edge, IIFL PE, Cars 24, Moglix, Dealshare, VSS Investco, Pawan Munjal, Ratan Tata, Rahul Mehta
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Bhavish Agarwal-led Ola Electric offers two-wheelers EVs and energy infrastructure. Founded in 2017, the EV startup manufacturing facility, Ola Future Factory, has a production capacity of 10 Mn two-wheeler EVs per annum and deploys over 3000 robots. 

Recently, Ola Electric was also selected for receiving incentives from the Indian government under the $2.4 Bn PLI scheme to manufacture advanced chemistry cell batteries. A few days later, it also invested in Israel-based battery technology company StoreDot to have access to its XFC battery technology that charges batteries in five minutes. 

In January 2022, Ola Electric had completed its $200 Mn Series C funding round at a valuation of $5 Bn. The round saw participation from investors including Tekne Private Ventures, Alpine Opportunity Fund, and Edelweiss, among others. In October 2023, the company announced closing a $384 Mn funding round in a mix of equity and debt led by Temasek and the State Bank of India.  

Ola Electric, which is currently leading the electric two-wheeler market, is now preparing to get listed on the bourses in 2024 and filed its DRHP with SEBI in December 2023 for an over INR 5,500 Cr IPO.

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47. Omega Seiki Mobility

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders: Uday Narang
• Funding Raised To Date: Bootstrapped 
• Investors: NA
• Headquarters: New Delhi

Omega Seiki Mobility is an EV manufacturer working across multiple vehicle categories including two-wheelers, cargo and passenger three-wheelers, and trucks tailored for commercial use. Its EV models include Rage+, Stream, and Mopido. 

With an investment of $75 Mn in total, the company has established R&D facilities in India and across other global locations – Thailand, South Korea, Europe, and Latin America. Omega Seiki has manufacturing facilities in Faridabad and Pune.

The company is a part of the Anglian Omega Group, which consists of more than 20 companies.

 Omega Seiki Mobility claims to have sold more than 8,000 EVs so far and operates a vast network of more than 190 dealerships across India. As per Vahan data, Omega Seiki Pvt Ltd’s total EV registrations were 3,579 units in 2023.

The company claims that it is also foraying into the premium electric two-wheeler segment soon – a category that Ola Electric, Ather, and TVS Motor currently dominate.

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48. Pure EV 

• Founded In: 2015
• Founders: Rohit Vadera, Nishanth Dongari
• Funding Raised To Date: $40 Mn+
• Investors: VC Nannapaneni, Bennett Coleman, Hindustan Times Media 
• Headquarters: Telangana

PURE offers sustainable mobility solutions and energy storage systems. It manufactures five EVs models including eTryst 350, epluto, epluto7G, ETranceNEO and ETrance+.   

Its electric bike, eTryst 350 is powered by 4.0 KW peak and 3.0 KW nominal motors. The EV bike’s top speed is 85 kmph and has a load capacity of 160 kg. The epluto scooter is powered with 250 Watt brushless hub motor, and has a top speed of 25 kmph. The epluto7G is powered by 2.2 KW peak and 1.5 KW nominal motors and has a top speed of 60 kmph. 

The startup graduated from IIT Hyderabad. In February 2024, the startup raised $8 Mn in a fresh funding round led by Bennett Coleman, Hindustan Times Media Ventures, with participation from Ushodaya Enterprises and some HNIs.

The EV maker claims to have sold over 70,000 vehicles through a network of 140+ outlets so far, operating across India and exporting to South Asian countries. 

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49. RACE Energy 

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders: Arun Sreyas, Gautham M
• Funding Raised To Date: $6 Mn
• Investors:  Huddle, Prophetic Ventures, Micelio, growX Ventures
• Headquarters: Hyderabad

RACE Energy builds retrofit kits for transforming conventional three-wheeler vehicles into EVs. It also provides energy infrastructure via its battery-swapping stations.

The startup raised $1.3 Mn in a seed funding round led by Micelio Fund and growX ventures in 2021. The round saw participation from Huddle, Prophetic Ventures and BITSian Angels, among others. 

The capital, raised from the round, was infused in research and development (R&D), enhancing the startup’s swapping technology and infrastructure. Prior to this, it raised $500K in a seed funding round from growX ventures, Prophetic Ventures and some angel investors.

The company raised $3 Mn in a pre-series A round led by growx Ventures with participation from Micelio Mobility, Huddle and other angel investors in 2023. The funds will be used for market expansion and for building a new facility.

It aims to set up an extensive battery-swapping network in India and foray into other continents by ​2023.

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50. Revfin

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders: Sameer Aggarwal
• Funding Raised To Date: $15.4 Mn
• Investors: DFC, Lets Venture, Dheeraj Jain, Dheeraj Jain
• Headquarters: Delhi

Revfin is a Delhi-based startup that is trying to make EV financing easier. It provides loans for two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and other small EVs.

The startup is focussed on helping individual drivers in Tier II and III towns get loans for commercial EVs. It largely provides financing for passenger transportation, ecommerce, and cargo delivery EVs.

Revfin has its own NBFC to issue loans. In June 2023, the startup raised $5 Mn in debt from the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC). Revfin claims to be witnessing almost 4X year-on-year growth in its loan book currently.

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51. Revolt Motors 

• Founded In: 2017
• Founders: Rahul Sharma 
• Funding Raised To Date: $20 Mn+ (approx)
• Investors: RattanIndia Group
• Headquarters: Haryana

Revolt offers sustainable mobility solutions across India. The startup manufactures AI-enabled EV bikes – RV 400 and RV 300. Its EV bikes are equipped with onboard charging and portable charging features. The RV 400 has a 3.24 kWh lithium battery while RV 300 has a 2.7 kWh lithium battery. 

The startup also offers app-based battery swapping stations named Revolt Switch Stations where EV bike owners can exchange their batteries for a charged one. It has retail stores in multiple cities of India, including Jaipur, Surat, Bengaluru, Delhi, Pune, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Noida, Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai, Coimbatore, Madurai, Visakhapatnam, Lucknow, Kochi and Hubli. 

In April 2021, it secured INR 150 Cr (around $20.12 Mn at then exchange rates) from RattanIndia Group to expand its footprint in India and the South Asian market. With this investment, RattanIndia acquired a 43% stake in the Haryana-based EV startup, while Rajiv Rattan, chairman of RattanIndia Enterprises, joined its board as a non-executive chairman.

Earlier this year, RattanIndia acquired Revolt entirely, making it a wholly-owned subsidy.

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52. River

• Founded In: 2021
• Founders: Aravind Mani and Vipin George
• Funding Raised To Date: $68 Mn
• Investors: Al Futtaim Group, Lowercarbon Capital, Toyota Ventures, Yamaha Motor Corp
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

River is an electric two-wheeler manufacturer that launched its first escooter model India in February 2023. The startup ran operations in stealth mode for the last two years while working on its product development and R&D.

River’s Indie comes with a motor that has a peak power of 6.7 kW and can reach a top speed of 90 km per hour. The current vehicle model has a 4 kWh battery with a range of 120 km. 

River throws direct competition to the escooter majors like Ola Electric, Ather Energy, TVS Motor, Pure EV, and others.

In June 2023, River raised $15 Mn (INR 124 Cr) and in February 2024, it raised another $40 Mn in its Series B funding round. So far, the startup has raised $68 Mn in three funding rounds.

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53. SmartE 

• Founded In: 2015 
• Founders: Goldie Srivastava 
• Funding Raised To Date: $18.3 Mn 
• Investors: Mitsui and Co, Ecotransit Investments International, Shell Foundation
• Headquarters: Delhi

SmartE offers last-mile connectivity to commuters. The startup operates a fleet of electric vehicles in more than 10 cities in India, including Faridabad, Noida, Gurugram, Delhi, Lucknow, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Bengaluru. 

In January 2022, SmartE along with Revfin, an EV-focused lending startup, got an undisclosed amount of investment from the Shell Foundation to extend new loans to three-wheelers EVs on its platform. In July 2019, it raised INR 100 Cr in a Series B funding round from Mitsui and Co. Prior to this, it had raised $5 Mn in Series A round from Ecotransit Investments International.  

According to its website, SmartE has partnered with 17 companies such as Kinetic Green, NTPC, SBI, HSIIDC, ACME, Sun Mobility, Exicom and AMARA RAJA. It further claims to have worked with more than 25 clients, including BigBasket, Flipkart, SpicXpress, Milkbasket, and Blowhorn.

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54. Snap-E Cabs

• Founded In: 2022
• Founders: Mayank Bindal and Jaydip Mukherjee
• Funding Raised To Date: Bootstrapped
• Investors: NA
• Headquarters: Kolkata

The 2022-founded Snap-E Cabs is an electric ride-hailing business that competes with the likes of BluSmart as well as Uber and Ola in the fast-evolving Indian ride-hailing market.

The bootstrapped startup initiated its operations in August 2022 and achieved a total fleet size of 600 electric cars by November 2023. 

Currently running in Kolkata only, Snap-E plans to deploy 2,000-3,000 more cars in the city in the next two years. However, instead of expanding its operations further in Tier-I cities, Snap-E aims to bring its electric cab services to cities in Raipur and Bhuvaneshwar.

It achieved a gross merchandise value (GMV) of INR 11 Cr in just six months till October 2023. Snap-E is in talks with some VC firms and angel investors to raise some external funding.

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55. Sheru

• Founded In: 2019
• Founders: Ankit Mittal, Nakul Mehan, and Shikhar Sharma
• Funding Raised To Date: $2 Mn
• Investors: Micelio, Smile Group, AdvantEdge
• Headquarters: Delhi

A brainchild of Ankit Mittal, Nakul Mehan and Shikhar Sharma, Sheru is a new-generation energy storage startup that has integrated vehicle-to-grid (V2G) technology with battery swapping infrastructure. 

The startup initially operated battery swapping infrastructure for e-rickshaws. In 2023, Sheru launched a virtual cloud storage network, NetBat, which aggregates idle EV batteries to create energy storage facilities for utility companies. 

Power producers can simply tap into Sheru’s platform to store energy virtually as per their demand and on a pay-per-use basis. 

Sheru’s range of products and services also cater to battery manufacturers, financiers, resellers, and distribution companies. 

In June 2023, Sheru announced a partnership with intercity bus service provider, zingbus. Recently, Sheru also launched EnergyBox, a battery charging dock designed to charge detachable electric two-wheeler batteries at home, while also providing power backup for homes.

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56. SUN Mobility 

• Founded In: 2016
• Founders: Chetan Maini, Uday Khemka
• Funding Raised To Date: $50 Mn 
• Investors: Vitol
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

SUN Mobility, a joint venture of Maini Group and Sun Group, offers energy infrastructure. It manufactures lithium-ion batteries, named Smart Batteries, for two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and buses. 

Through its app, EV drivers can locate its battery swapping stations and Quick Interchange Solutions, and swap their batteries. 

As per its website, the startup has partnered with various companies such as Omega Seiki, Vitol, Zypp Electric, Tata Power-DDL, Zyngo, Bosch, Piaggio, IndianOil, Uber, SmartE, Microsoft, and Ashok Leyland. It presently has 65 swapping stations in 15 cities in India, including Delhi, Noida, Faridabad, Chandigarh, Amritsar, Gurugram, and Bengaluru.

In October 2021, it reportedly secured $50 Mn in funding from Vitol to expand its footprint in India and abroad. 

It aims to set up 500 battery-swapping stations in the country by the end of the current year. It further plans to launch new products to improve the battery-swapping experience and strengthen its leadership.

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57. TORK Motors

• Founded In: 2010
• Founders:  Kapil Shelke
• Funding Raised To Date: $10 Mn+
• Investors: Ratan Tata, Maxis Capital, Bharat Forge, Bhavish Aggarwal

TORK Motors is an electric motorcycle manufacturer. Registered in 2010, the EV startup also claims to be the first electric motorcycle maker in the country.

In early 2024, TORK Motors raised $6 Mn in a fresh funding round from Maxis Capital. The startup claims to have filed over 50 patents and designs so far. It also manufactures powertrains for two- and three-wheelers.

In 2023, Log9 and TORK Motors partnered to promote interoperable charging infrastructure in the country under the Bharat Charge Alliance (BCA).

As per Vahan data, the EV bike OEM saw a total vehicle registration of 1,589 units in 2023, up almost 400% YoY.

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58. TSUYO

• Founded In: 2020
• Founders: Lalit Baid, Vijay Kumar 
• Funding Raised To Date: $12 Mn+
• Investors: Ramkrishna Forgings
• Headquarters: Delhi

TSUYO Manufacturing, a subsidiary of JYVA Engineering, makes powertrain solutions for electric vehicles (EVs) in India and other Asian nations.  

The startup produces BLDC motors and controllers for three-wheeler electric vehicles. It also builds customised EV solutions for companies, according to its website.

In December last year, Kolkata-based supplier Ramkrishna Forgings Ltd. acquired a 51% stake in TSUYO for around INR 100 Cr (around $12.07 Mn at the then exchange rates). 

Ramkrishna Forgings had said that it would invest heavily in TSUYO in the next five years to increase its turnover to around INR 500 Cr by the end of the fifth year. 

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59. Ultraviolette Automotive

• Founded In: 2016
• Founders: Narayan Subramaniam and Niraj Rajmohan  
• Funding Raised To Date: $20.56 Mn
• Investors: TVS, Zoho Corporation, Kumar Vembu, 
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Ultraviolette Automotive offers sustainable mobility solutions and energy infrastructure to customers. The EV startup sells a zero-emission electric bike named F77 and batteries on its website. 

In December 2021, Ultraviolette Automotive raised INR 112.5 Cr (about $15 Mn) from TVS Motor and Zoho. While TVS invested INR 75 Cr, Zoho pumped INR 38 Cr into the startup.  

Prior to this, Ultraviolette Automotive got an investment of INR 30 Cr from TVS in Series B funding round. In October 2020, it got an undisclosed amount of investment from GoFrugal’s Kumar Vembu as a part of a Series B round. Vembu also invested in the EV startup’s Series A round.

In 2018, Ultraviolette Automotive raised $862K (INR 6 Cr) in Series A round from TVS Motor Company. Earlier in 2017, TVS invested $700K (INR5 Cr) for a 14.78% stake in the EV startup.

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60. Vecmocon

• Founded In: 2016
• Founders:  Peeyush Asati, Adarshkumar B and Shivam Wankhede 
• Funding Raised To Date: Funding: $5.2 Mn
• Investors: Tiger Global, Blume Ventures, Tessellate Ventures
• Headquarters: Delhi-NCR

Vecmocon offers battery management systems, vehicle intelligence services, chargers and instrument clusters. Its plug-and-play service integrates into electric vehicles’ OEMs. It is currently offering these services to electric two-wheelers, three-wheelers, forklifts and tractors.

According to its website, the EV startup will soon begin offering motor controllers and fleet management for electric vehicles. 

In October, the EV startup secured $5.2 Mn in its Pre-Series A funding round from Tiger Global, Blume Ventures and other angel investors. The startup said it powered 5K EVs to date and aims to power more than 500K electric vehicles by 2025.

In 2019, it secured $300K in its seed funding round led by Tessellate Ventures.

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61. Vidyut Tech

• Founded In: 2021
• Founders: Xitij Kothi and Gaurav Srivastava
• Funding Raised To Date: $14 Mn+
• Investors: 3one4 Capital, Force Ventures, Veda VC, Kunal Shah, Sahil Barua
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Founded in 2021, Vidyut Tech is a commercial EV financing and vehicle lifecycle management platform, which aims to make commercial EV ownership more accessible and affordable.

The startup is trying to solve some of the biggest problems in the EV financing space by decoupling batteries from vehicles while underwriting loans for EVs. Given there is a gap in the longevity of EV batteries and vehicle chassis, Vidyut Tech believes that this approach works better for most customers in the L5 category of vehicles that it caters to.

Besides a traditional term loan plan, Vidyut provides buyers with a hybrid financing model for vehicle loans with a battery subscription. This brings down the upfront cost of the EVs by 40%-50%.

Using battery health data and its proprietary underwriting model, Vidyut extracts a high residual value for EVs, enabling customers to get an effective interest rate of 7% while buying the vehicles.

Recently, in February, it raised $10 Mn as a part of its Series A funding round led by 3one4 Capital. Vidyut now plans to expand its offerings in EV insurance, after-sales, servicing maintenance, and even charging and resale.

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62. Yulu

• Founded In: 2017
• Founders: Amit Gupta, RK Misra, Naveen Dachuri, Hemant Gupta
• Funding Raised To Date: $125 Mn+
• Investors: Blume Ventures, 3One4 Capital, Wavemaker Partners, Incubate Fund India, Magna, Bajaj
• Headquarters: Bengaluru

Yulu offers sustainable mobility solutions and charging infrastructure. It provides emobility solutions in cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, and Hyderabad while also offering an AI-enabled battery-as-a-service (BaaS) to its electric vehicle users through the ‘Yuma Energy’ battery swapping stations.

The startup offers Yulu Miracle for urban commuters and Yulu DeX for last-mile delivery. Besides, in 2023, the company also launched Yulu Wynn to provide its customers with the experience of owning its bikes.

In 2022, Yulu raised $82 Mn in its Series B funding round led by the Magna, with participation from Bajaj Auto. In February 2024, the startup secured another $19.25 Mn from the same strategic investors.

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63. Zen Mobility

• Founded In: 2018
• Founders: Namit Jain
• Funding Raised To Date: Bootstrapped
• Investors: NA

Zen Mobility designs, engineers, and manufactures custom light electric vehicles (LEVs) with an aim to transform logistics and urban mobility. 

Zen Mobility is currently piloting the delivery of grocery and dairy products for startups, including BigBasket and Country Delight, via its newly launched mobile refrigeration unit, Micro Pod ThermoFlex. 

Its Micro Pod ThermoFlex can store products in a range of 15 to -15 degrees Celsius, depending on the needs. 

The startup is aiming to raise $10 Mn in its maiden funding round from a strategic partner.

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64. Zypp Electric

• Founded In: 2017
• Founders: Akash Gupta, Rashi Agarwal
• Funding Raised To Date: $12 Mn
• Investors: Northern Arc, 9Unicorns, Anthill Ventures, Nanavati Family Office, We Founder Circle, Riso Capital Fund, Dholakia Ventures, Venture Catalysts, IAN Fund, Tarun Saraf, Rahul Khera, Arjun Seth, Mark Joseph
• Headquarters: Gurugram

Zypp Electric offers B2B delivery and shared mobility services to consumers. It provides electric scooters for last-mile delivery to more than 50 companies, including Zomato, Swiggy, BigBasket, Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, PharmEasy, Delhivery, and Spencers, among others. 

Earlier, it had shared that with 6,000 electric vehicles on the road, it helped its partners complete more than 5 Mn deliveries in the financial year 2021-22.

In September 2021, it bagged $7 Mn in a Series A funding round led by 9Unicorns and Anthill Ventures. 

It has a headcount of 400 employees and plans to double its employee base by September 2023. 

This is a running article, we will keep adding more names to the list.

Last updated on July 22, 2024

The post 64 EV Startups That Are Helping Keep The Earth Healthy And Clean appeared first on Inc42 Media.

In India’s crowded D2C market, which demands a strong online presence and where innovation and product differentiation are pivotal to success, Delhi NCR-based women’s hygiene startup Soothe Healthcare has become an INR 100 Cr+ brand all while refuting the rules of the game. 

Instead of building a strong online presence first, the CEO and founder Sahil Dharia chose to take the road less travelled, and fortunes did favour the brave. 

“We aced the hard thing first, which was to build a strong offline business. But now, we are transitioning from offline to online, and we are witnessing everybody else struggling to move offline from online,” said Dharia.

Incorporated in 2013, Soothe Healthcare has a strong presence at offline retail stores. The startup, which largely caters to semi-urban and rural markets in the country, has now set its eyes on taking urban Indian households by storm with its online play.

In the offline space, Soothe claims to have positioned itself as one of the leading menstrual hygiene brands, with Paree sanitary pads as the jewel in its crown.

Locking horns with Johnson & Johnson’s Stayfree Secure and Procter & Gamble’s Whisper, Soothe boasts a monthly traction of over 55 Lakh customers for its sanitary napkins Paree, which caters primarily to the women in low to middle-income groups.

Pertinent to mention that Whisper by P&G dominates the Indian sanitary pads market with more than 50% market share, followed by J&J’s Stayfree Secure. As per the founder, Paree claimed a mere 3% of the total market share in 2022, which was more than the rest of its peers like Kotex, Sofy, and others. Today, its market share stands at over 7%.

Now, with its zero-to-one growth already coming to fruition, Soothe embarked on its omnichannel journey in 2023. Per the founder, its online presence has only put the company into the speed lane.

For context — In FY23, Soothe clocked a revenue of INR 172 Cr, up 25% from INR 139 Cr a year ago when it had yet to transition online. 

Meanwhile, Dharia said that the company ended its FY24 with an INR 180 Cr top line. Going by Dharia’s claims, although the metric translated to a mere 4.5% year-on-year (YoY) gain, the founder said that the decision to grow less during this period was intentional, as the entire focus was on improving the bottom line. 

The founder’s strategy bore fruits, and in FY24, Soothe was able to chalk out its path to profitability. The founder claims the company was EBITDA profitable in Q3 and Q4 of the last fiscal. In FY23, Soothe’s net loss stood at INR 97.2 Cr, up almost 20% YoY. 

Now, with the omnichannel model in play and the company’s foray into more urban households with premium products, Soothe has set sail for first full year EBITDA profitability in FY25. It aims to report over INR 260 Cr in revenue, with online channels anticipated to add around INR 70 Cr-INR 80 Cr to its top line this fiscal. Dharia expects the startup to emerge net profitable by FY26.

Soothe Founder’s Reverse D2C Psychology 

Being in the FMCG market for more than a decade, Dharia believes that the businesses that are trying to build online first are faced with challenges like adhering to a list of tight or unfavourable terms and conditions and thin profit margins when working with ecommerce platforms. 

However, given that his business has already built trust in the market and has a strong customer recall, Soothe’s existing business has little dependency on online marketplaces.

“Unlike online platforms, general trade is a very secular channel for us, and we have built our business there. So, now when we go to ecommerce, quick commerce or even supermarkets, we have the power to walk away from the table. Our business model is far more resilient that way,” Dharia said.

Dharia gets this confidence on the back of the performance of the startup’s star product, Paree, which has a strong foothold in the northern and eastern parts of India. The founder claims that Paree takes the third spot after Whisper and Stayfree in the menstrual hygiene category.  

Besides its women’s hygiene products, which include sanitary pads, menstrual cups, panty liners, razors, and hair removal cream, the startup also manufactures baby diapers.

Its Super Cutes range of baby diapers gets a monthly traction of 10 Lakh customers, contributing around 30% to its total revenue. 

However, Paree sanitary pads have been the company’s core business with new product categories, including diapers and other personal care products, launched in the last three years. 

Moving on, the founder claims Soothe to be one of the few menstrual hygiene brands to have a manufacturing facility. Per Dharia, several top sanitary napkin companies selling in India buy products from China, which are often cheaper and inferior in quality.

He also questions the claims made by new-age menstrual hygiene brands about their products being 100% biodegradable.

“There are some startups with innovative claims that their sanitary pads are 100% biodegradable, but it’s absolutely false. When you are small, you can get away by lying but as a large company, we don’t have that luxury,” he said. 

Explaining this, Dharia pointed out that 100% biodegradable sanitary pads is a white lie, as 80% of these pads are made from hygiene-grade paper but the back sheet, comprising the remaining 20% of the product, is plastic to make them leakproof.

Soothe’s Major Milestones In Its Zero-To-One Stride

Even though the company was incorporated in 2013, it took Dharia quite a while to launch its first product, Paree, which came out in 2016. He spent nearly three years doing R&D and building a manufacturing capacity. 

Being an ex-banker, one thing was clear in Dharia’s mind — he wanted to build a profitable business soon, and he wished to do it by keeping customer acquisition costs at bare minimum. For this, he initially restricted his adventure only to Tier II and Tier III regions of the country, which also helped him save a fortune on the expense front. 

Not a big fan of cash burns, Dharia’s playbook also helped the company provide quality feminine hygiene products at an affordable price to women living in the rural parts of the nation.

As the startup was preparing to launch its Paree sanitary pads in 2016, it was time for it to give a face to the brand. So, in 2015, Dharia roped in Indian badminton player Saina Nehwal as its investor and brand ambassador. Though Nehwal’s association with the startup as its brand ambassador was short-lived, she continues to be an investor in Soothe. Later, in 2021, Paree roped in Janhvi Kapoor as its brand ambassador.

According to Dharia, he recognised early on that a top-down approach wouldn’t be effective for their target market, which already had top brands catering to urban households. Therefore, Soothe rather focussed on creating value for women in rural areas. 

Since its inception, Soothe has raised around INR 400 Cr ($48 Mn) through multiple funding rounds. It counts investors like A91 Partners, Gulf Islamic Investments (GII), Northern Arc, Sixth Sense Ventures, and the US International Development Finance Corporation on its cap table.

Its last funding round took place in 2022 when it raised INR 175 Cr ($21 Mn) to expand its distribution channels and deepen its reach across Tier II and Tier III markets. Notably, Soothe boasts an offline presence at 2.5 Lakh retail stores today. 

Moving on, now that Soothe plans to spread its wings online, it aspires to target premium customers with Paree Prima. 

Apart from this, Dharia said that the startup’s manufacturing setup gives it an edge and solidifies its position in the industry.

“We can produce 1 Bn pieces of sanitary pads per annum. Having our in-house manufacturing actually gives us the advantage of being able to do innovation and differentiation. I can create products at a good gross margin for Bharat, middle class, and premium via quick commerce and Kirana stores efficiently.”

Soothe’s manufacturing plant, which is registered with the US FDA and holds BIS (ISI) Mark & ISO certifications, has allowed Soothe to add a B2B aspect to its business, supplying products to other brands. Its B2B sales contribute approximately 8-9% to its revenue.

What’s Next On The Card?

A year ago, when Soothe began its online sales, 95% of its revenues came from offline sales and only 5% from online sales. Per Dharia, online channels account for about 15% of the company’s revenues today.

In addition to selling through various marketplaces and quick commerce platforms, Soothe is developing its own platform to sell directly to customers.

With its new business strategy, Soothe aims to reach INR 1,000 Cr in revenue over the next three years while maintaining profitability. The company plans to achieve this by increasing its presence in 5 Lakh stores, boosting online sales, and expanding into international markets. In the near term, the startup plans to grow its footprint in geographies like Nepal, Bangladesh, and Africa.

As of now, Soothe aspires to maintain its dominant position in the country’s feminine hygiene market, which is expected to reach $1.79 Bn by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 14.85% from 2024.

Even as Soothe has tall claims about its stronghold offline in Tier II regions and beyond, it could face extreme competition online from new-age D2C brands like Nua, Carmesi, Pee Safe, and Niine, and the list is far from over. 

Also, these brands have a strong social media connection with GenZ and millennials, which Soothe will have to replicate if it wants to strive and rule the proverbial online roost.

The post Inside Feminine Hygiene Brand Soothe’s Reverse D2C Playbook appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Indians have amazing hair, but if one were to look closely at what gives the average Indian hair its distinct thickness, tensile strength, shine, and smoothness, the answer rests in the rich diet we have been taking for centuries — cereals, millets, vegetable oils, ghee, nuts and oilseeds.

However, with the rising stress levels, inadequate nutrition and numerous other factors combined, the Indian hair has started to lose its sheen — literally. Pertinent to note that while excessive stress is directly responsible for the premature greying of hair, a protein-deficient diet can result in hair loss. Also, common medical problems like anaemia and thyroid can make your hair thin and brittle, eventually leading to hair loss.

This is the primary reason why the country’s hair care market has evolved to become a $3 Bn opportunity in today’s hustle-first lifestyle. Until just a few years ago, before the Covid-19 pandemic wreaked havoc, mammoths like Procter & Gamble, Unilever, L’Oréal, Vatika, and Dabur ruled this market with an iron fist.

However, as Indians opened their eyes to a more health-conscious post-Covid era, a wave of D2C brands, including Pilgrim, Ravel Care, Mars by GHC (Good Health Company), and Bare Anatomy, formed a beeline to cater to their haircare needs, eventually flooding marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart and Nykaa with anything and everything related to hair oils, shampoos, serums, masks and even nutrition supplements for healthy hair. 

Trying to distinguish itself with its comprehensive hair treatment solutions is a new kid on the block, Traya. Founded in 2019 by Saloni Anand and Altaf Saiyed, the D2C brand specialises in personalised hair care solutions, addressing individual customer hair issues through advanced technology. 

“Although the market is saturated with hair care brands and countless products claiming to promote hair growth, none have delivered effective results. For us, the whitespace has been the entire hair care industry,” cofounder Saloni Anand said.

The startup integrates Ayurveda, Dermatology and Nutrition to treat hair loss. It operates via its app, website and major ecommerce platforms like Amazon and Flipkart.

The founders claim to have served over 8 Lakh customers, with 70% of its consumer base residing in non-metro cities. The startup generated revenues to the tune of INR 61 Cr in FY23, as per the cofounders.

The startup has garnered significant interest from Xponentia Capital, Fireside Ventures, Kae Capital, Stride Ventures and Whiteboard Capital, raising INR 165 Cr since its inception.

In the competitive customised beauty and personal care market, Traya faces direct competition from brands like Arata, Vedix, SkinKraft, and Ravel Care.

How The Quest For Better Health Sparked Traya’s Inception?

Cofounder Anand, a computer science engineer, discovered her entrepreneurial inclination when she was working with a small B2B startup in 2015. Here she learnt much about managing a startup, including setting up a team, finding product-market fit and acquiring first clients.             

In contrast, her husband and Traya’s second cofounder, Saiyed, was trying to keep a sinking food startup afloat at the cost of his deteriorating health. Much to his chagrin, not only had he gained a lot of weight, but his out of control thyroid levels were also causing him to lose hair.

The husband-wife duo knew it was time to seek help. “We realised that allopathic medicine offered limited solutions, which prompted us to embark on a quest for alternative treatments for his elevating health problems,” Anand said.

Initially focussed on addressing his thyroid issues rather than his hair loss, the cofounders consulted over 12 Ayurvedic doctors in India. 

“Eventually, we found Dr Shailendra Chaubey, an Ayurvedic practitioner, who helped Saiyed heal through dietary interventions,” said Anand. Chaubey currently is the head of the Ayurveda division at Traya.

After following a specific diet and taking medicines for three months, Saiyed saw improvements in his health and experienced hair regrowth.

This episode led them to the realisation about the fragmented nature of the chronic health space in the country.

“We noticed that clinics were not integrating multiple sciences to address health issues, which made us question why patients had to choose between Ayurveda and allopathy instead of benefiting from a combination of both,” Anand said.

Driven by this realisation, they immersed themselves in extensive research across various fields, with hair loss emerging as a particularly compelling area of study for the cofounders.

In 2019, the cofounders assembled a team of seven doctors, including Chaubey. They proceeded with a trial involving 55 individuals, comprising both men and women of different ages and suffering from various types of hair loss. Over the course of five months, the trial yielded remarkable results — 35 participants experienced significant hair regrowth.

This success spurred the duo to officially establish Traya in December 2019 and launch the website a year later in November 2020. 

Traya’s Evolution Theory

One thing the cofounders were very sure of when launching the startup was their vision, which was to enter the market only if their formulation could grow hair better than other brands in the market.

Traya started with a simple business model featuring a landing page where people suffering from hair loss could share their details. The cofounders would then call them to understand their health condition before providing them a solution certified by their team of doctors. 

For most of 2019 and 2020, the founders sourced allopathic products directly from dermatologists and focussed on manufacturing proprietary Ayurvedic formulations. This is when the cofounders realised that their success lay not in their formulae but in streamlining the process of customising and delivering everything in a box to the consumer’s doorstep.

The Traya founders got a shot in the arm during the peak pandemic period when people, confined inside their homes, actively embraced telemedicine.  

Despite this, the period proved to be challenging, as selling comprehensive hair treatment kits rather than single products on its platform required significant efforts to convince customers.

“The first year and a half was challenging because although we knew the merits of our products, educating our customers was difficult. As a D2C startup claiming to regrow hair, we faced scepticism,” Anand said.

During this time, the founders focussed on building tech, advanced diagnostic tools and predictive models through close collaboration with medical experts. By early 2022, Traya transitioned to a fully digital revenue model, completely eliminating the need for phone calls.

Currently, its business model involves visiting the Traya website and completing a comprehensive online form. This test covers health history and other relevant details. Subsequently, customers receive a month-long kit that includes a hair transformation kit, a customised treatment plan from doctors, an Ayurvedic diet plan, and access to a personal hair coach. The entire process requires a minimum of five months.

Started with 8 SKUs, Traya currently offers 30 SKUs, including solutions like Hair Vitamin, Hair Ras, Digest Boost, Iron Santulan, PCOS Santulan, Nourish Hair Oil, and Recap Serum, among others. 

Traya’s Future Roadmap

Currently, Traya distinguishes itself by offering personalised treatments that prioritise efficacy over merely selling products. According to Anand, while competitors may customise products based on superficial preferences such as shampoo essence or personalised labelling, Traya provides each customer with tailored prescriptions and treatments specifically designed to address their individual hair health needs.

As part of its brand-building plan, it aims to maintain efficacy and innovation, all while getting the first-mover advantage in everything it plans to offer.

Going forward, the cofounders aim to expand internationally. This year, they plan to set foot into Bengal and South India. Additionally, they aim to expand their women’s segment, which currently comprises healthcare solutions for PCOS, postpartum, and menopause.

Vital to note that Traya operates in a highly competitive market, alongside brands that have similar offerings. At a time when there is a growing acceptance of diverse hair care regimes, many more players have stepped forth to claim a stake in this growing market with their organic shampoos, anti-greying hair serums, hair masks, suppliments and what not.

Amid the unabated influx of new brands, Traya will have to keep striving to stay ahead of the competition curve if it plans to sustain in this cut-throat market for long. For this, the Traya founders will need to up the ante from just providing customised hair treatments to users, who may jump ships in the absence of quick and concrete results. 

[Edited by Shishir Parasher]

The post How Traya Is Filling The Bald Spot Left Unattended By Unilever, L’Oréal & Others In The Indian Hair Care Market appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Indians love Chinese food so much that we have some of the most flavourful Indian-Chinese fusions available in almost every restaurant or eatery in the country. In fact, Indo-Chinese cuisines are relished so much that around 80% of Indians treat themselves to this cuisine at least once or twice a month. 

Not to mention, the amalgamation of the two most-loved cuisines in the world has taken the Indian ready-to-cook (RTC) market, projected to cross $489 Mn by 2027, by storm. 

While Capital Foods’ Ching’s Secret has been dominating the Chinese RTC market since 1995, many smaller brands, including Veeba, Gusto Foods, Bechef, and Moi Soi, among others, have now formed a beeline on the back of the growing demand for Chinese food.

Eyeing to capture a major chunk of this market opportunity is a D2C brand MasterChow, which specialises in RTC and ready-to-eat authentic Chinese and Asian foods. Founded in 2020 by Vidur Kataria and Sidhanth Madan, MasterChow provides a wide range of RTC options, including instant noodles, dipping sauces, sticky rice and condiments, among others.

Along with being available on Amazon, Flipkart, JioMart, Blinkit and Swiggy, the D2C brand is present at 2,500 offline outlets, including modern trade stores and self-service stores. It aims to dominate the Asian packaged food category in India and expand to 10,000 stores.

MasterChow’s customer base has grown from a mere 100 to 10 Lakh since its launch. 

According to the founder, this growth has helped the company expand its top line by 390% from INR 8.10 Cr in FY23 to over INR 40 Cr in FY24. By 2025, it aims to become an INR 100 Cr revenue-generating brand. 

Speaking with Inc42, Kataria said that the brand has been able to achieve much in little time on the back of its unique value proposition, which is — “unlike other brands, MasterChow focusses on offering authentic flavours and handcrafted sauces”. 

Also, the brand’s range of speciality noodles and sauces, including gluten-free and vegan choices, as well as meal kits that come with recipe cards for an enhanced cooking experience, is an addition to its brand value.

“However, there’s currently only one major player offering a single type of sauce — Capital Foods. Beyond them, there’s a clear opportunity for market expansion. Our focus is on building a strong brand presence in households and delivering a variety of flavours to our consumers. We are trying to build a narrative that we are ‘Asli’ Chinese (Indo-Chinese),” Kataria said.

The Early Legend Of MasterChow

The inception story of MasterChow stems from Kataria’s craving for Chinese food when he returned to India from the UK in 2014 after completing engineering. 

Missing the authentic international Chinese flavours and recognising a gap, where high-quality Chinese meals in India were limited to five-star hotels or specific eateries, Kataria estimated that at least 10,000 to 20,000 international travellers felt the same way.

With this idea, he approached his close friend Madan (now cofounder). The duo then decided to turn their passion for pan-Asian cuisine into a business by opening their first restaurant, Wok Me. Inspired by the QSR chain of Subway, the two set up their first restaurant at Delhi’s Aurobindo Marg in 2016.

“Before launching Wok Me, we spent six months perfecting 58 sauces and refining the flavours of the Chinese cuisine offered by us. We then introduced six signature sauces, allowing customers to customise their meals. After establishing trust with early customers, we expanded to multiple outlets,” Kataria said. 

However, they received a big blow due to the Covid-19 pandemic just before opening their sixth outlet and securing their first funding round.

The cofounders were quick to realise that although customers couldn’t come to them during the peak pandemic times, nothing hindered them to connect with their customers. Realising the opportunity, they launched MasterChow, delivering their first order in June 2020.

“Next, we moved quickly with branding and packaging, completing everything in just seven days. My sister-in-law, a designer, led the effort. Within three days, the branding was finalised, stickers were printed, and my house in Saket became a micro-factory where we sterilised bottles, filled, labelled, and dispatched orders,” Kataria said.

MasterChow’s Pandemic Puzzle

During the pandemic, while customer demand for unique foods inspired an innovative idea among the cofounders, it also proved to be the most challenging time for them, as they were uncertain about MasterChow’s future. 

“Our entire business model shifted from planning to scale up to six outlets by 2020 to making unanticipated adjustments during the pandemic,” Kataria said.

Despite raising funds, the founders said they were unsure where and how to allocate the funds. However, encouragement from their investors pushed them to take risks, prompting Kataria to become more proactive in his business approach.

“We didn’t foresee what MasterChow would become, but it was crucial to stay afloat during tough times. We made sure to pay salaries out of pocket, refusing to let anyone go,” Kataria added.

While Madan managed orders via WhatsApp, his wife assisted with management and they operated their micro-factory from home, packing orders late at night for morning delivery with the help of a Domino’s delivery guy.

“Covid presented unique challenges — from scaling orders to reaching our first milestone of 250 orders during Rakhi, it became a family affair with everyone pitching in. From producing 12 bottles a day at home, we have grown to produce nearly 10,000 bottles daily in the last three years,” Kataria said.

MasterChow’s Customer Acquisition Strategy 

Initially, the cofounders decided to operate only through their website. However, managing D2C wasn’t easy, as it required ensuring timely orders and a strong communication strategy.

They then decided to strategise on enabling same-day or next-day deliveries outside of Delhi, leveraging Amazon for quick fulfilment. By November 2020, they began with Amazon’s Easy Ship model, simplifying order processing and dispatch. When quick commerce gained pace towards the end of 2021, the MasterChow founders decided to make the shift to expand their user base.

As per the cofounder, the key focus at the time was to figure out how to reach the maximum number of households and increase the distribution network.  

“Initially, we started with six SKUs, focussing solely on cooking sauces. While this was a good starting point, it wasn’t ideal for a large-scale expansion strategy. We needed to make people understand what MasterChow was and how we make them experience its flavours,” Kataria said.

So, they launched a line of condiments with chilli oil becoming one of their strongest SKUs. Currently, MasterChow has 36 SKUs and offers sauces under four categories covering everything from chowmein and manchurian sauce to condiments and vinegar. Their fifth category is stick noodles.

Another strategy the founders employed was content. They created a community by sharing authentic, relatable content that showcased their journey, including their success and mistakes. They created ads that incorporated humour to engage people and make the brand more relatable. Recipes played a key role, leading to the launch of MasterChow Mondays, a weekly initiative where the cofounder himself uploads videos cooking new recipes with MasterChow sauces. 

Kataria shares a recipe video every Monday. “Our Instagram growth is entirely organic and we do not spend a dime on ads,” he added.

In April this year, MasterChow roped in celebrity chef Ranveer Brar as its brand ambassador to establish itself as the leading choice for “Asli Chinese” cuisine.

By leveraging digital platforms like Instagram, Meta, and Amazon marketplace, along with strategic collaborations with influencers, the brand further seeks to enhance its market presence and establish itself as a household name.

MasterChow’s Big Plans

As of now, the startup is focussed on differentiating itself by offering freshly cooked sauces that have little to no additives. In addition, Master Chow aims to stand out by offering a variety of high-quality products to woo health-conscious consumers interested in innovative Asian cuisine options.

“Our focus is on delivering high-quality products, even if it means shorter shelf life of our products. We aim to minimise additives and preservatives and become 100% preservative-free. Our strategy revolves around offering superior taste and variety, leveraging extensive trial activities across offline touchpoints and sampling initiatives to introduce consumers to our products,” the cofounders said. 

Going forward, they aim to double down on their sampling activities. They also aim to increase offline touchpoints to 10,000 stores, including self-service grocery stores and supermarkets. 

The company has set its eyes on achieving a revenue milestone of INR 100 Cr by FY25.

“In the last four months, MasterChow has grown by 20% month-on-month. We are already 60% towards our goal and on track to reach the INR 100 Cr mark,” Kataria said.

Apart from this, the brand will soon be launching several marketing campaigns and partnering with major national brands for new product collaborations.

With its focus on providing authentic Chinese cuisine, it will be interesting to see how MasterChow plans to capture market share from competitors like Veeba, Nomad Food, and others in the coming years.

The post What’s MasterChow’s Saucy Plan To Dominate The Indian Ready-To-Cook Market? appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Earlier this year, we reported how the Indian healthcare sector was poised for a complete makeover with the advent of GenAI. From lab assistance and clinical diagnosis to health monitoring and drug discovery, hardly anything falls outside the ambit of this emerging technology today.

In fact, the technology has now seamlessly seeped into the realm of medicine and antibody discovery to combat some of the most gruesome diseases known to mankind. 

However, given that the tech is in its nascent stages, we have yet to make major headways towards making the use of this tech cost-effective and more agile. Any move in this direction will prove to be pivotal, as it typically takes more than a decade and billions of dollars in investments to discover a new drug and then bring it to market.   

It is this paradigm that Bengaluru-based startup immunitoAI aspires to disrupt. Founded by Aridni Shah and Trisha Chatterjee in 2020, the biotech startup is using artificial intelligence (AI) to expedite antibody discovery and reduce its cost.

Operating in a market expected to reach $13.21 Bn by 2028 on the back of increased investment in drug discovery and demand for precision therapeutics, the startup uses AI to design novel antibodies from scratch. In the process, the founders remain laser-focused on reducing drug discovery time from an average of 4-5 years to 11-12 months. In September 2020, immunitoAI secured $1 Mn in seed funding led by pi Ventures.

immunito’s Inception Saga

The startup’s story began in 2020 with Entrepreneur First’s (EF) talent program, which brought Shah and Chatterjee together, as they shared a common goal of changing how drugs are discovered. This eventually paved the way for the incorporation of immunitoAI.

“EF’s program provided the platform for us to meet and combine our expertise,” Chatterjee said.

However, the path ahead presents significant challenges, and the biggest one amongst the spectrum was scepticism of the industry and investors towards AI applications in the field of biology. 

The biotech industry’s history of unfulfilled promises, and there are several of them, has bred scepticism towards AI in healthcare. Shah noted, “In biology, AI has unfortunately been misused. Many have made humongous claims and have not delivered. Hence, people are sceptical to accept AI-based solutions in biology.”

immunitoAI faces the challenge of proving its AI-driven approach can truly accelerate antibody discovery while maintaining scientific rigour. The founders’ combined expertise in biology and computer science has been crucial in addressing these concerns. 

Nevertheless, as per Chatterjee, immunitoAI treads differently as compared to traditional antibody discovery companies that follow the standard operating procedures of injecting target proteins into animals to produce antibodies. Chatterjee added that this popular practice can take years and doesn’t guarantee effective drug candidates.

Speaking about the startup’s AI tech stack, the cofounder said that the immunitoAI platform comprises two main arms: imDESIGN and imRANK. 

She elaborated that while imDESIGN utilises generative AI models to create new antibody designs from scratch, imRANK then evaluates these designs, predicting how well they might bind to their targets and ranking them based on various parameters.

The platform employs deep learning algorithms trained on experimental data from protein databases. In addition, it uses graph neural networks to represent the 3D structure of proteins and transformer models to generate antibody sequences.

“Our AI models work at the atomic level, analysing the interactions between individual atoms in the antibody and target protein. This allows for a more precise prediction of binding affinity and potential drug properties,” Chatterjee further explained. 

Although in the testing phase, immunitoAI has achieved 90-95% accuracy in generating biologically viable antibody sequences. 

“Currently, we’re focused on improving the binding affinity of antibodies to their targets. Our next step is to benchmark our antibody designs against existing ones. We’ll select a target with a known antibody in the market and generate our own version. This will allow us to compare the development timelines and efficacy,” the cofounder said.

Apart from this, the startup plans to conduct laboratory experiments to validate its AI-generated antibodies. This includes synthesising the antibodies and testing their binding properties and stability in real-world conditions.

What’s Ahead For immunitoAI

Currently, immunitoAI has plans to collaborate with pharmaceutical companies to design antibodies aimed at specific diseases. Once the startup develops promising antibody candidates, it plans to licence them to pharmaceutical companies for further development and clinical trials.

“We’re in discussions with several top pharmaceutical companies. They’re interested in our ability to potentially reduce the time and cost of the initial drug discovery phase,” Chatterjee said.

The startup is also in the process of protecting its intellectual property. Looking ahead, immunitoAI is preparing for future funding rounds. 

Meanwhile, companies like immunitoAI seem to be growing in the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem. In March this year, we extensively talked about a similar startup, Boltzmann, which, too, harnesses GenAI to facilitate drug discovery and enhance the success rates of clinical trials.

Boltzmann uses both open-source and proprietary models to design novel drugs and optimise R&D processes for Indian drug manufacturers. Alongside this, Boltzmann’s technology stack includes four platforms that aid in clinical trials, disease diagnosis, and the design and discovery of vaccines and antibodies.

As per a report, the Indian market for AI in drug discovery is projected to surpass INR 2.57 Lakh Cr by 2028. For now, it will be interesting to see how immunitoAI changes the drug discovery game in the country going ahead.

The post How immunitoAI Is Changing The Rule Of Antibody Discovery With Its AI Stack appeared first on Inc42 Media.

India has made significant progress in adopting electric vehicles (EVs) over the past few years, but charging infrastructure remains a major challenge. 

Notably, this issue is not unique to India. Globally, too, the lack of robust EV charging infrastructure and the significant time required for charging are preventing consumers from switching from internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles to EVs.

Even Deloitte acknowledges this concern in its recent global survey, which recognises charging time, range anxiety, cost, and battery safety as consumers’ primary concerns with battery electric vehicles.

In India, 43% of the 864 people surveyed expressed concerns about the time required to charge EVs, while 42% were worried about the lack of public EV charging infrastructure.

Now, much is being done by Indians in this area, which has largely proven to be the Achilles heel of this ever-evolving sector. A case in point is Exponent Energy, which has already made headway into the fast-charging domain. With its 15-minute fast charging technology, the company caters to commercial EVs at its dedicated charging stations. 

Similarly, Bengaluru-based EMO Energy has also developed EV battery packs that can be charged in under 30 minutes. 

Meanwhile, Pune-based Clean Electric has gone further. Using nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) and lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells, the startup is developing 12-minute charging technology for two- and three-wheeler EVs. As per the startup, the icing on the cake is that its batteries are designed to deliver consistent performance across all public charging stations.

Clean Electric: The Inception Saga

Clean Electric was founded in 2020 by former IITBHU students Akash Gupta, Abhinav Roy and Ankit Joshi to address the safety, cost, and convenience issues associated with EV batteries.

“We believe that for EVs to become mainstream and for us to succeed in this space, we need to address cost and convenience. Currently, it takes five minutes to refuel a combustion engine vehicle, while EVs take 60-100 minutes to charge. Our goal was to find a way to charge these batteries in under 10-15 minutes. That’s how it all started in 2020,” cofounder and CEO Gupta said.

The cofounders then started developing a new architecture called direct contact liquid cooling, which is a type of immersion liquid cooling technology. As per Gupta, no one has been able to scale this technology globally so far.

Notably, one of the biggest challenges in EV development pertains to battery management. 

Keeping batteries cool enough to maintain peak performance throughout the lifespan of vehicles is crucial, as overheating could lead to quick degradation of batteries. Besides, fire-related incidents in EVs are common due to poor cell quality or faulty battery management systems (BMS) due to the innately sensitive nature of lithium-ion batteries.

Globally, various cooling systems such as liquid cooling, air cooling, and phase change material cooling are used to keep EV batteries at their optimal temperature. Immersion cooling is a system where the battery cells are directly immersed in a dielectric fluid. However, this has several drawbacks, making this technology difficult to scale.

Despite this Clean Electric claims that its proprietary technology provides high cycle life and performance. Its batteries come with around 3,000 cycle life. The startup claims to have achieved this level of efficiency through intense R&D processes over the last four years. 

For batteries to charge rapidly (say 10 to 15 minutes), a superior cooling architecture is required, which Clean Electric has been able to achieve in sync with its proprietary intelligent battery management system. Gupta said that the startup has been granted four patents in India and the US.

In 2022, Clean Electric raised around $2.2 Mn in a seed funding round led by Kalaari Capital. Its cap table includes institutional investors such as IIM Ahmedabad, Climate Angels, and LetsVenture.

Clean Electric’s Value Proposition

Currently, the startup closely rivals Exponent Energy, but unlike Exponent, whose entire tech stack is around 15-minute chargeable batteries, Clean Electric’s batteries are designed to be compatible with universal charging points.

“You can use any charging station set up by ChargeZone, Tata Power, Shell, HPCL, or IOCL and still charge our EV batteries in 12 minutes. We utilise the vehicle’s own cooling system for charging. Therefore, our batteries can be adopted globally and are not restricted by proprietary charging stations,” Gupta said.

The cofounder added that the startup aims to create a global solution, similar to how smartphones have standardised chargers. 

The EV startup has already built batteries for two, three and four-wheelers. Also, given the cooling system of electric two-wheelers and electric rickshaws are different from the refrigerated cooling system in electric cars and L5 vehicles, the battery warranty for the former ranges between 1,000 to 2,000 cycles.

Clean Electric batteries are already powering EVs manufactured by Bounce Infinity in almost 38 cities. Apart from this, the company is in discussions with multiple other EV OEMs and conducting pilots with international carmakers.

Clean Electric’s Road Ahead

Having started selling its batteries last year, Clean Electric is still operating on a smaller scale. Currently, its batteries are slightly more expensive than others in the market, but the cofounder believes that it could be resolved with scale.

Currently, the startup reports monthly revenue of around INR 1 Cr. It aims to increase this to INR 10 Cr per month by the middle of next year.

The startup is also planning to scale its existing technology to provide battery solutions to electric bus operators. Gupta highlighted that their batteries are undergoing extensive R&D to cater to buses and trucks.

The startup is in advanced discussions with existing and new investors to raise funds in a fresh round soon, though the amount has not yet been disclosed.

In a market that is projected to reach about $114 Bn in size by 2029, Clean Electric, with its current value proposition, is looking at a significant market opportunity if it can scale its tech. With the backing of some marquee investors and an aim to provide fast-charging solutions to every vehicle category, it would be interesting to map the startup’s growth trajectory from this point.

The post How Clean Electric Wants To Dominate The Indian EV Paradigm With Its 12-Minute Battery Charging Tech appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Conversations about menstrual health in India have historically been constrained by stigma and misinformation, impacting women the most. This stigma has resulted in inadequate hygiene practices and compromised wellness, highlighting the pressing need to challenge societal taboos surrounding menstruation.

However, recent years have seen a significant increase in awareness campaigns and initiatives by both the government and private entities that aim to break menstrual health taboos and provide accessible menstrual care solutions. 

Some of these government initiatives include Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK), tax exemptions on sanitary products, the Menstrual Hygiene Scheme (MHS), and Pradhan Mantri Bhartiya Janaushadhi Pariyojana (PMBJP) have bolstered this progress.

This growth is evidenced by the projected expansion of the Indian feminine hygiene market, estimated to grow from $900 Mn in 2024 to $1,790 Mn by 2029. Notably, many new-age brands like Nua, Sanfe, Pee Safe, and Sirona are striving to carve out a niche to cash in on this opportunity. 

Among them is Hyderabad-based Lemme Be, which aims to distinguish itself with its range of menstrual care products and a platform for open discussions about menstruation. The brand seeks to address the lack of awareness and encourage open conversations about menstruation and menstrual health management.

Founded in 2020 by Devidutta Dash, Lemme Be offers more than 48 period care and eco-friendly products, including sanitary pads, panty liners, menstrual cups and discs, GOTS-certified tampons, and reusable period panties. 

The D2C startup sells primarily through online channels, including major marketplaces like Amazon, Nykaa, Flipkart and Myntra, accounting for about 50% of its sales. 

It is also present at 40-50 upscale modern trade stores, including Le Marche Retail in Delhi and Ratnadeep in Hyderabad. As per the founder, the brand has a 77% repeat user percentage on Amazon. Additionally, the startup engages in CSR initiatives, using funds to educate on menstrual health management in schools. Currently, it has 2 Lakh plus total users. Dash said that the startup’s FY23 revenue stood at INR 6.3 Cr. 

The period care startup has raised INR 15 Cr since its inception and counts Multiply Ventures, Anicut Capital and AUM Ventures as its investors. It counts Sirona, Pee Safe, Nua, and Sanfe as its key competitors.

The Inspiration Behind Lemme Be

Dash, a Biotech engineer, began her journey in 1999 when she volunteered at her first Menstrual Health Management (MHM) camp in Odisha. Organised by her mother, the camp inspired her to advocate for the cause of menstrual and intimate health. Since then, Dash has volunteered intermittently with various organisations.

In 2014, she decided to make waves by starting a business in the period care segment that was crying for disruption back then. Despite staring directly at a real-world problem at the time, she had little knowledge about how to make any headway. Therefore, she decided to pursue an MBA in design thinking from Australia to develop products and fathom marketing strategies.

After returning to India in 2017, Dash decided to launch her first period care brand, Mirai Me — an organic period care brand focussed on exploring customer journeys and developing need-based products in 2018. 

Unfortunately, Mirai Me shut down during the Covid-19 pandemic. After shutting down her first-period care brand, the cofounder couldn’t shun her passion for the category. Drawing on insights from her previous venture, she dedicated five to six months to intensive research and brand development and finally launched Lemme Be in November 2020. 

This time she focussed on defining the brand’s visual and auditory identity, ensuring inclusivity, and identifying its target audience, archetype, and distribution channels.

Dash highlighted that entering the menstrual care market poses significant barriers. This is because shifting from established brands like Stayfree or Whisper is challenging and transitioning to more sustainable products requires substantial effort and understanding. “Convincing new users to switch and educating consumers has been a big challenge for us,” Dash said.

In 2022, Vinod Abrol, a seasoned CA and Jabong’s former CFO, joined Lemme Be as its cofounder and CFO.  

Now, unlike her previous startup that targeted women aged 35 and older, Dash shifted her focus to younger generations like Gen Z and Gen Alpha, who prioritise sustainable options such as menstrual cups. According to Dash, these groups value high-quality, eco-friendly products and view cups as transformative.

“Recognising the need to reach younger demographics like Gen Alpha, we began targeting their mothers as well. We also introduced leak-proof underwear to address incontinence, particularly for women after pregnancy. Expanding further, we started catering to older women in their menopausal journey with leak-proof underwear, addressing issues of unpredictable periods and wetness. We also launched products tailored for niche groups such as tampons for athletes,” she added.

Dash said that the startup achieved sales of approximately INR 2.34 Lakhs in the first year of operation. Sales increased to INR 2 Cr in the second year and to INR 6.5 Cr the following year.

What’s Next For Lemme Be?

To foster an inclusive, sustainable, and affordable ecosystem for menstrual health, sexual wellness, and intimate health, the startup aims to normalise open discussions about these topics and provide accessible solutions to enhance the well-being of women. 

According to Dash, Lemme Be will continue distinguishing itself with unique product designs. For instance, unlike regular bell-shaped cups commonly available in the market, Lemme Be’s menstrual cups feature a slightly angular design, are reusable and made from 100% medical-grade silicone.  

She said that another USP of the brand is their teen tampons range, which excludes super absorbent polymers, minimising chemical exposure. Additionally, these tampons are 100% biodegradable and quite small in size.

Currently, the brand is employing several key strategies to establish its market presence. Its short-term aim is to reduce costs and align prices with consumer budgets while maintaining profitability.

Focussed on Gen Z, the cofounders are investing heavily in performance marketing. Going forward, the brand aspires to become EBITDA positive and reach about INR 36 Cr in ARR in the ongoing financial year.

The cofounders are also planning to expand their sexual wellness category. Before a full-scale launch likely in September or October this year, they have floated some products to test the market and understand consumer preferences.

The post How Lemme Be Is Rewiring India’s Intimate Health Space With Sustainable Menstrual Products appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Listing on public markets is a milestone all companies chase, as IPOs mark a crescendo in their journey. A handful of Indian tech unicorns such as Mamaearth, Zomato, Paytm, Delhivery, Nykaa, Digit and Policybazaar had been there and done that after years of hard work and patient strategising. But how would one position a financial business that started its journey from this pinnacle to service the perpetually cash-strapped Indian MSMEs?

Shachindra Nath’s non-banking financial company (NBFC) U GRO Capital has defied all typical growth norms. So has the founder, navigating an oft-contentious niche loan segment. However, NBFCs account for 30% of the total bank credit in India and play a critical role in credit intermediation and outreach.

Set up in 2018 through the acquisition, recapitalisation and rebranding of the listed entity Chokhani Securities, U GRO took an unconventional route.

“Traditional FIs have a long-term business model and those in alternative investments like private equity and venture capital [PE/VC] look for quick returns. For instance, VCs put their money in a company for three to five years. So, we decided to structure the NBFC as a listed company for investors [banks and PE/VCs] to come and go via the public market, while the entity is there in perpetuity,” explained Nath.

That he emerged as a successful finance entrepreneur was not a lucky coincidence. A thorough understanding of SME lending and capital markets was part of his professional expertise, spanning nearly a quarter of a century. He worked for Landmark Partners, a $27 Bn asset management business, and Northgate Capital, which manages approximately $4.3 Bn in PE/VC assets, before joining Religare for a 15-year span, where he climbed from COO in 2006 to group CEO in 2010.

But by 2011, Religare was bleeding INR 7K Cr, and Nath proposed a bold buyout at INR 8.4K Cr with PE backing. He aimed to rebuild it as a finance company for small businesses and bridge the huge MSME credit gap. For context, the credit deficit stood at $530 Bn, per a 2023 Avendus Capital report, with only 14% of the companies having access to formal credit compared to 30% in developed nations. This is despite the fact that MSME gross value added (GVA) was 29.1% of all-India GDP in FY22. And the sector’s manufacturing output stood at 36.2% of the country’s total in that year.

Nath was in for a shock. His out-of-the-box approach was considered too audacious and ruffled many feathers. “How could an employee, who started at a meagre salary of INR 16K, dare to take over the entire business? So, in December 2015, I was thrown out,” he still smarted. (Inc42 could not independently ascertain the details of the infighting that rocked Religare then.)

The years that followed were an acid test for Nath. Penniless and jobless, he pitched his vision to as many as 121 investors until four of them – TPG NewQuest, PAG, ADV Capital and Samena Capital – agreed to come on board. Chokhani Securities was acquired and re-emerged as U GRO Capital in April 2018, while Nath managed to raise INR 950 Cr within four months of its inception, drawing upon his outstanding work experience.

Today, U GRO is one of India’s most profitable, data-driven and impactful NBFCs. With a customer base of 80K+ and nearly INR 17K Cr deployed in loans, it boasts an average loan book of INR 8K Cr. Profitable from Day 1, it has designed and implemented a proprietary tech stack for loan underwriting (more on that later) and held its ground against formidable competitors like Lendingkart, Kinara Capital, Finova Capital, Kissht and Navi Finserv.

The NBFC’s profit after tax (PAT) soared to INR 119 Cr in FY24, a nearly 200% increase from INR 40 Cr in the previous financial year. Nath attributes the growth to U GRO’s proprietary data-centric underwriting model, expansion of distribution channels and a broadening lender base.

“I would say several factors triggered this success. For instance, the SBI lent INR 650 Cr as our partner bank. Also, we are driven purely by data and technology and spend INR 58 Cr+ annually on tech development. With INR 9K Cr+ AUM in FY24, we have emerged as an institutional company,” the founder added.

How U GRO Coped With Turbulence Soon After The Launch 

Although U GRO has a commendable mission – that of addressing the small business credit need – no business can achieve success overnight. The NBFC’s remarkable performance in FY24 can be traced back to the strategic vision of its founder, who focussed on building a robust foundation from the outset.

U GRO was off to a sound start after securing INR 950 Cr capital by August 2018. But the company had to battle tough challenges in the following years due to the IL&FS liquidity crisis in 2018 (the infrastructure-focussed shadow banker, sitting on a debt of INR 94K Cr, defaulted on many bank loans), the DHFL loan fraud that came to light in 2019 (the housing loan NBFC allegedly disbursed loans fake borrowers and shell companies) and, finally, the YES Bank crisis in 2020 (triggered by overwhelming NPAs due to the NBFC crises and excessive withdrawals, compelling the RBI to step in to resolve liquidity and governance issues).

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted businesses further and deploying credit was in the doldrums during those years.

“Moreover, we are a listed entity, owning public money. We cannot burn cash like a VC-backed startup. So, we put about INR 861 Cr of our equity capital in the public market to earn money during those four to five years. Now, we are competing with the best [NBFCs] in the class,” said Nath.

The pandemic left a trail of business challenges in its wake, shuttering companies and killing jobs. But the NBFC seems to have bounced back with a vengeance. In the pre-Covid period, U GRO employed 120 people across nine locations. Post-Covid, it has 1,500 people at 105 locations. The NBFC’s data analytics team has been expanded from five to 275 and the number of lenders has surged from three to 60. It also works with several co-lending partners, including prominent names like the SBI, SIDBI and Bank of Baroda, among others.

U Gro raised around INR 2,013.66 Cr in the past two years from notable AIFs, HNIs, family offices and other domestic investors. It also acquired another NBFC called MyShubhLife to expand its embedded finance opportunity. The aim is to harness MSL’s potential to add 2 Lakh new customers in the next three years for an incremental AUM of INR 1.5K Cr.

As of June 18, 2024, the company had a market cap of INR 2.50K Cr and traded at a 52-week high of INR 319.85 on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). Its AUM was worth INR 9,047 Cr in FY24, up by 49% from INR 6,081 Cr in the previous fiscal.

The Making Of U GRO Score, A Proprietary Tech Stack For Cornering Success 

If India has to emerge as a $10 Tn GDP economy, FIs must address the viable debt gaps of 6.3 Cr homegrown micro, small and medium enterprises, accounting for 44% of the country’s exports and 31% of the workforce. In fact, increased economic activity spurred the demand for commercial loans by 29% in the July-September quarter of FY24, compared to the same period of FY23. More importantly, MSME credit demand at NBFCs, earlier standing at 14%, grew fastest at 39% during that quarter. Delinquencies were down at 2.3%, clocking a -0.7% YoY change, and MSMEs are adopting digital technologies at a fast clip, thereby giving an edge to modern lending firms.

U GRO was aware of the upcoming opportunity from the beginning but also recognised the importance of a robust underwriting model. The reason? Even today, around 47% of the total debt demand of $1,544 Bn is not addressable, which means many of these enterprises are not financially viable or prefer informal sources to raise capital.

The scenario was not different before, and U GRO laid the groundwork to overcome these hurdles. The NBFC launched its patented underwriting model, GRO Score, right at inception, which employs advanced AI-ML algorithms to analyse more than 25K data points from an applicant’s credit bureau record and bank statements.

The model then consolidates banking and bureau scorecards to generate a unified score, further fine-tuned using GST data as an external input. These scores are then categorised under five heads, ranging from A to E, with E representing the lowest rating.

“GRO Score is India’s first small business credit scoring model using the data power of GST, banking and credit bureau. Several banks and NBFCs have already requested that we deploy this model. However, we have decided to use this proprietary model in-house only,” said Nath.

The NBFC’s data analytics team has helped it identify nine core sectors and 200+ ecosystems, featuring nearly 50% of the MSME lending market. These sectors include chemicals, education, auto components, healthcare, food processing, light engineering, hospitality, electrical equipment and micro-enterprises.

Additionally, its data analytics engine enables the NBFC to pinpoint states and locations for expansion, track portfolios and manage daily operations.

Its in-house business rule engine (BRE) also enables the swift rollout of new models, integrates various platforms and automates multiple processes. The system covers all operations of U GRO’s branch-led channel GRO-Plus, partnerships and alliances-driven GRO-Xstream, the supply chain financing-led Gro Chain and digital channel Gro-Direct, which allows MSMEs to apply for credit directly, with loans approved within 60 minutes.

Can U GRO Leverage The 7.5 Cr MSME Opportunity?

As per March 2024 data from the ministry of micro, small and medium enterprises, the number of MSMEs is projected to increase from 6.3 Cr to 7.5 Cr at a CAGR of 2.5%. However, only 2.5 Cr businesses have accessed credit from formal sources until now. A key reason for this gap is the need for a large financial institution exclusively servicing this segment.

Nath explained the persistent challenge fintechs and traditional lenders face in servicing MSMES. Primarily operating in unorganised markets, these businesses typically generate 90% of their revenue in cash, with only 10% coming from formal income streams. Their heavy reliance on cash-based incomes makes it difficult for formal lenders to assess their repayment capabilities accurately. Hence the credit squeeze.

He further added that as for fintechs, offering unsecured loans even at 30-40% interest rates leads to a substantial loss of 5-7%, whereas secured loans at an 11% interest rate (an advantage enjoyed by banks) result in a modest credit loss of 0.25%.

“Lending institutions must maintain a credit cost band of at least 2%. This balance can only be achieved through a diversified portfolio strategy, a method effectively employed by U GRO,” Nath added.

Despite many challenges, Nath believes that MSMEs require special hand-holding and there will be distinct improvements in the lending market. U GRO has set ambitious goals, aiming to double its return on equity (ROE) to 18% and increase return on assets (ROA) to 4% by FY26, up from 9.9% ROE and 2.3% ROA clocked at the close of FY24. The NBFC also targets an AUM worth INR 25K Cr by FY26.

As the country is rapidly transitioning from collateral-based to cash-flow lending, the likes of U GRO are pioneering this change. Nath is excited about the road ahead, as the strong credit demand, pushed by robust economic growth, will pave the path for NBFC growth and fuel the sector’s profitability. Like startup funding, the much-maligned ‘middle’ financing may soon play a pivotal role in shaping India’s fast-evolving growth story.

The post U GRO Capital’s Stellar FY24: Unboxing The NBFC’s Success Tools That Led To A 200% Net Profit Surge  appeared first on Inc42 Media.

For generations, local stone mills have been at the heart of Indian households to produce flour (atta). Yet, in the last two decades or more, this age-old practice has been replaced by the rise of branded packaged atta. 

Notably, the expansion of the packaged atta industry has been unprecedented ever since names like Aashirvaad, Fortune and the ilk took the onus of grinding grains to make that perfectly round Indian bread (Chapati). Not to mention, this growth knows no bars, with the industry projected to swell at a CAGR of 13.71% to become an INR 24,000 Cr+ opportunity by 2032.  

However, post the pandemic, as the country shows its commitment to adopting a healthier lifestyle and moving away from everything refined and processed, including atta, a number of D2C brands are ready to seize this opportunity. 

Chakkizza, TWF Flour, Namma Chakki, and Natraj Attachakki are some names reshaping the market paradigm that is being ruled with an iron fist by the aforementioned legacy players.  

Amid this transition, Floryo, founded in 2022 by Manohar Kumar, aspires to keep the traditional stone mill culture alive, serving flour that has all its nutritional value intact, unlike ultra-refined packaged products in the market.

All in all, with a sharp focus on eating into the market share of established brands, Floryo currently sells freshly produced and made-to-order wheat flour via its platform —  although it aims to rule the entire staples category, including rice, millet, processed oil and ground masala, in the not-so-distant future.

Currently, it offers different types of whole grain flours such as functional multigrain flours, single grain flour, customised multigrain flours, and gluten-free multigrain flours. 

According to the founder, the startup’s made-to-order lineup of flour is “far superior in taste and texture compared to packaged flour”.

“This is because traditional legacy players adhere to a conventional, internal, and manufacturer-driven approach focussed on cost and margins rather than quality and consumer needs. In contrast, we have adopted an outside-in approach, prioritising the consumer’s perspective and needs first,” Kumar said.

Started primarily through its own website, the startup then moved to Amazon in February 2023, joined the ONDC network in June 2023, and very recently, in January 2024, expanded to BigBasket Daily and other quick commerce platforms.

According to Kumar, the startup has grown its top line almost 4X from INR 1 Cr in FY23 to INR 4 Cr in FY24. He aims to hit an ARR of INR 36 Cr by March 2025. The startup is currently operating in Bengaluru and Hyderabad with a hyperlocal approach.

Floryo’s Journey So Far

Before founding Floryo, Kumar spent nearly four years at Licious as the business head of the packaged foods business. His mandate was to build their packaged food business, specifically the value-added segment. 

Prior to that, Kumar headed marketing for brands like ARROW, IZOD, and HANES at Arvind Brands. He was also one of the first employees at Hershey’s India and played a crucial role in launching its syrup, spreads, cocoa, and milk. 

However, Kumar always had an urge to start something of his own. 

“Be it helping set up Hershey’s in India, managing large portfolios for marquee brands like ARROW and US Polo Assn at Arvind Brands, or joining Licious early in its journey — this consistent urge to build and grow businesses has been a significant part of my career.”

What motivated him to launch Floryo was his deep understanding of the food category and consumers. The trigger came during his time at Licious, where he closely followed consumer trends and discovered that India faces over 1 Bn incidences of lifestyle diseases, making it the capital for obesity, hypertension, and other ailments. 

After eight months of research and conversations with over 1K consumers, Kumar found a significant shift in dietary habits from the freshly processed or minimally processed foods consumed by previous generations to today’s additive-laden processed foods. This realisation motivated him to address the issue by founding Floryo to offer freshly made, minimally processed foods.

Kumar said that the initial months after the launch were overwhelmingly positive as people were coming out of the pandemic period and were increasingly aware and conscious about choosing healthier, wholesome food options.

“Our proposition resonated well with consumers seeking such alternatives. Since then, we’ve acquired over 1 Lakh consumers, exclusively in Bengaluru and Hyderabad, with approximately 30,000 active monthly users.”

Floryo’s Tech-Enabled Approach

Starting with just 21 SKUs and now offering a total of 45 SKUs of freshly processed flours, the D2C brand continues to expand its product portfolio every six months. The founder claims to deliver products to the customer’s doorstep within 24 hours, which is also its key USP.

Its product lineup includes single grain atta such as wheat and millets, as well as speciality atta like oats and barley. It also sells multi-grain varieties, including functional types like diabetic care, cholesterol care, keto, gluten-free, and high protein atta. Per Kumar, customers can customise their multi-grain atta based on their specific nutritional needs directly on its platform.

“Floryo is built on four pillars — freshness in processing and packaging, customisation through technology, quality and transparency, and innovation in the staples category,” Kumar said.

The startup uses traditional stone mills (chakki) for milling grains against high-speed steel rollers used by several other players. This method minimises heat production, preserving the nutritional integrity of the grains. 

“There are a few players who use or claim to use stone mills, but those are few and far between. But, we are tech-enabled in terms of responsive manufacturing and are exploring ways to leverage IoT devices for our made-to-order model, including leveraging AI to fine-tune our responsive manufacturing capabilities,” Kumar said.

He added that the startup’s tech-enabled “responsive manufacturing” leverages advanced technologies to enhance flexibility, agility, and efficiency. Key elements include real-time data and analytics with IoT sensors on equipment to monitor production, performance, and conditions.  

With the help of this milling method and tech-enabled practices, the startup aims to deliver freshly processed, high-quality flours while retaining the nutritional benefits. 

Apart from using traditional stone mills, the startup works with zero finished goods inventory, ensuring that all its products are made to order and freshly milled upon customer request. 

“When a customer places an order on the website, then only we start processing the batch, ensuring each product is prepared freshly,” Kumar said.

What’s Ahead For Floryo

While the founder sees substantial market potential and is optimistic about competing with players like Aashirvaad, he also sees several challenges ahead.

One major challenge is distribution in India, given the nation’s vastness. “Despite the rise of ecommerce and quick commerce, the market remains predominantly offline, with over 90% of sales occurring through traditional channels. Scaling our operations requires effectively navigating this offline landscape,” Kumar said.

The second major challenge is persuading value-conscious Indian consumers about the health benefits and value of its products, which cost 7-10% more than the range the market leaders offer. 

“Additionally, creating awareness and educating people about the benefits of food and their choices remain a major challenge,” he said.

To overcome these challenges and achieve its goals, the founder plans to foray into the offline space, targeting large modern trade stores and general trade outlets.

By December, it aims to be in 200 stores in Bengaluru, scaling to 500 stores by March 2025 across Bengaluru and Hyderabad. 

As per the founder, the startup will initially target large format stores, modern trade outlets, and supermarkets. Once established, Floryo will expand to standalone supermarkets, followed by its entry into big grocery and kirana stores. Its ultimate aim is to leverage shop-in-shop arrangements across various retail formats.

Looking ahead to March 2025, the founder aims to reach an ARR of INR 36 Cr. In the short term (8-10 months), the startup has plans to enter multiple South Indian cities, including Chennai, Coimbatore, and Mysore.

[Edited by Shishir Parasher]

The post How Floryo Aspires To Outpace Legacy Brands Like Aashirvaad Atta With Its Traditional Stone Mills appeared first on Inc42 Media.

India is poised to tap into a $300 Bn D2C opportunity by 2030 on the back of the nation’s internet users projected to surpass the 1 Bn mark by then. Also, one must recognise the rapid expansion of ecommerce to Tier III cities and beyond, which has catapulted several homegrown D2C brands under the spotlight.

According to Inc42 data, the Indian D2C sector secured $1.5 Bn in 2023, the highest funding among all ecommerce subsectors. As we witness this high-octane growth, we must not forget that the world’s third-largest startup ecosystem is filled to the brim with several opportunities, piggybacking on which India has become home to some of the most innovative D2C startups. 

Being a core part of the D2C ecosystem since 2019, Inc42 has launched multiple initiatives to boost the ecosystem like 30 Startups To Watch series and our FAST42 rankings. While engaging with the community, Inc42 identified major knowledge gaps among the founders. The most critical one is finding a 10x growth path after achieving product-market fit. 

To plug this gap, Inc42 launched D2CX, a 12-week programme designed to help the 0-1 D2C brands find their 10X growth path to reach INR 10 Cr in annual revenues. In the inaugural cohort, we were joined by 48 early-stage founders who rigorously spent 150+ hours in boosting their brands.

So much so, that 25% of the D2CX fellows doubled their revenue within three months of the program, and 60% of the cohort is confident to achieve at least 5x growth in the next 6-12 months.

This was made possible because of the generosity and passion of 50+ D2C founders and C-level executives from established names like CaratLane, The Good Glamm Group, Bold Care, mCaffeine, WOW Skin Science et al, who joined as the faculty in D2CX to share their hard-earned learnings across 60+ knowledge sessions. 

Following the resounding success of the inaugural cohort, Inc42 has now opened admissions for its second cohort, commencing on August 8.

With that said, it’s time to unveil 35 D2C brands that participated in D2CX and their ambitious plans for the future. 

Editor’s note: The startups are listed alphabetically and this list is not a ranking.

AGEasy by Antara

Bridging Gap In Senior Healthcare

Founded in 2023 by Tara Singh Vachani, AGEasy by Antara is a D2C healthtech brand focussing on chronic health problems that come with age, including mobility support, hearing and joint-related issues. While serving seniors through the company’s residencies and assisted living centres, Vachani realised that many seniors are ageing at home and there is white space in the medical products specifically designed for seniors.

The startup currently offers hearing aids, knee braces, joint care vitamins, walking sticks, and fall-detection smartwatches powered by Fossil. In the black, the startup claims to have an average monthly revenue of around INR 50 Lakh. Around half of the startup’s average revenue comes from marketplaces, while the rest comes from its website and offline channels. 

AGEasy by Antara is currently working on solutions to address other chronic issues that affect the elderly, including respiratory problems and diabetes, which it plans to launch this year.

Aurum Crafts

Made-In-India Artisanal Homeware

Founded in 2023 by the husband-wife duo of Punit and Chandni Agarwal, Aurum Crafts is a Jaipur-based artisanal homeware and kitchenware products startup. The D2C brand was born out of the desire to create homeware products that are meticulously handcrafted by local artisans of India, rooted in conventional design blended with modern aesthetics.

The startup manufactures mango wood chopping & cheese boards, platters, bowls, ceramic jars, and other wooden kitchenware products. Aurum Crafts claims to have delivered more than a thousand orders since its launch in 2023. While the D2C kitchenware startup has yet to hit profitability, it claims to generate INR 1 Lakh per month in revenue. 

Ayurvedic Sutra

Skincare Revolution

Founded by Neha and Abhinav Bansal earlier this year, Gurugram-based Ayurvedic Sutra is a D2C skincare brand catering to the increasing demand for Ayurvedic products. Neha connected with several Korean OEMs and noticed the presence of Ayurvedic elements within Korean skincare products, prompting her to set up Ayurvedic Sutra.

The startup is addressing the increasing demand for quality Ayurvedic skincare products at affordable prices. Ayurvedic Sutra currently sells day cream, anti-ageing cream, body butter, face scrub and face wash and has plans to launch a new product range soon. Ayurvedic Sutra claims to be a profitable venture, pulling in around INR 1 Lakh in average monthly revenue. 

BharatRohan

Revitalising Agriculture With Drones

Founded in 2016 by Amandeep Panwar and Rishabh Choudhary, BharatRohan was born out of the need to address the challenges faced by Indian farmers and a passion for innovation in agriculture. The founders conducted tests with drones while pursuing aeronautical engineering. Along the way, they learnt the difficulties farmers faced in detecting pests and diseases early, relying on visual inspections until significant damage had already occurred.

BharatRohan’s drone-based decision support system, CropAssure, detects pests and diseases early, enabling farmers to minimise losses. Additionally, BharatRohan offers a D2C brand of spices, pulses, and oilseeds grown by farmers using their sustainable methods. Rigorous quality control ensures residue-free produce, and QR code traceability allows consumers to follow their food’s journey from farm to table.

The startup has raised $2.3 Mn in funding from Villgro Innovation Foundation, Caspian, RevX, and Venture Garage, bringing INR 3 Cr in average monthly revenue as a profitable venture.

Cunei

Decluttering Women’s Shoe Closet

Founded in 2022 by brothers Ankit and Ankur Pandey and their parents Sandhya and Anup, Cunei is a D2C women’s footwear brand based in Mumbai. The startup, set up to keep the retired Sandhya and Anup busy during their golden years, quickly became a success story big enough that it became a full-time job for everyone in the family.

Cunei has tied up with two contract manufacturers for their supply of shoes, which are handmade in Mumbai. The startup offers several types of shoes, including heels, flats, sandals, wedges and slip-ons. Cunei heavily relies on its website for its sales, and it claims to bring in around INR 6.50 Lakh in average monthly revenue while being profitable.

Dente91

Oral Care Redefined

Founded in 2021 by Yash and Paridhi Singh in Ahmedabad, Dente91 is a D2C startup that manufactures and sells oral care products and protein bars (under the brand name Whey91). The startup is looking to address the increasing instances of oral diseases within the Indian population with quality oral care products.

Dente91 manufactures toothpaste and mouthwash, including anti-stain and whitening toothpaste, while its Whey91 brand makes and sells whey-based protein bars. The startup claims to use Lactoferrin and Nano Hydroxyapatite (N-Hap) in its product range, some of the safest endogenous molecules with no side effects.

The startup plans to launch a fluoride-free toothpaste for children, while it recently launched a toothpaste for women. The toothpaste is enriched with a blend of vitamins and nutrients to support and enhance oral health for women. Dente91 claims to be at the breakeven stage, attracting an average monthly revenue of INR 26 Lakh.

Ejaa

Silver Jewellery From The Heart Of Uttarakhand

Founded in 2020 by Parth Khandelwal and Madhurima Singh, Ejaa is a Nainital-based D2C jewellery brand bringing Uttarakhand’s traditional handcrafted pahadi jewellery in 92.5 hallmark silver to the forefront. 

The D2C brand aims to improve traditional jewellery’s wearability while retaining the motifs, designs and visual appeal. Ejaa also uses silver instead of gold (traditionally used) to make the jewellery more accessible and affordable. The founders come from a jewellery background and employ the artisans who make all the jewellery pieces.

Ejaa claims to be profitable with an average monthly revenue hovering around INR 3 Lakh. Most of its sales are driven through its offline store.

Erotissch

Exquisite Women’s Wear Collection

Founded in 2019 by sister duo Aayuushi and Anushka Agarwal, Erotissch is a D2C lingerie and loungewear brand designed with keeping Indian women in mind. The founders’ belief that clothing for women should be freeing and wholesome led them to create lingerie, swimwear, and beachwear.

The startup manufactures and sells 50+ SKUs across the aforementioned categories, selling through most ecommerce platforms in India and its website. Erotissch, set to rebrand itself to AOBA later this year and expand into Western clothing for women, also appeared on Season 3 of Shark Tank India. The D2C brand also claims to bring in around INR 32 Lakh in average monthly revenue.

Fancy Fluff

Cosy Comfort For The Little Ones

Founded in 2016 by Kasturi Ruparelia and Hamza Patel, Fancy Fluff is a D2C baby products startup making bedding, bath, feeding and nightwear essentials. The startup was born out of a necessity to address the quality gap in the baby products market.  

The startup claims to have scaled over the past five years to become the top-selling brand at mothercare stores across India. Fancy Fluff is also available in the Middle East on Mumzworld.com and the Babyshop online store by Landmark Group. The D2C brand is now looking to improve customer experience on its website to boost its performance marketing performance.

Fancy Fluff sells products across 50+ SKUs and claims to bring around INR 25 Lakh in average monthly revenue.

GIKSO

Interactive Storybooks For Children

Founded in 2019 by Rohit Khurana and GK Jaju, GIKSO is a D2C brand offering high-quality children’s books, including non-academic activities, puzzles, and arts and crafts. Khurana, a second-time founder in the publishing space, looked to extend the positive impact of books on children, leading to GIKSO.

The D2C brand offers several children’s books in English and Hindi, all published in India. Beyond activities, GIKSO’s children’s books also cover topics like basic math, language and puzzles. Currently, the D2C brand is active on online marketplaces like Amazon.

The startup claims to bring INR 6 Lakh in average monthly revenue and is profitable as of its latest figures. In the short term, GIKSO plans to add more books to its repertoire and boost its website.

Grainova

Supercharging Your Daily Meals

Founded in 2023 by Maj Gen (Retd.) Prem Mohan Vats, Udayan Vats, Sanchi Vats Sharma and Vikrant Sharma, Grainova is a D2C food brand looking to reintroduce nutrient-rich millets and superfoods into contemporary diets. The startup was launched after the founders moved to Delhi NCR and noticed a poor change in their eating habits, aiming to revert to eating healthier.

The startup manufactures millet flour, cookies, grains and breakfast goods at Bhimtal, Nainital, Uttarakhand. The startup is focused on offline channels, as it recently expanded its presence in modern retail stores in the NCR region by 50%. 

Grainova claims to earn around INR 15 Lakh in average monthly revenue and is currently at a breakeven. In 2024, the D2C brand intends to diversify its product offerings and broaden its FPO base to support more farmers.

Harvest Square

Quality Vegetables & Millet-Based Goods

Founded earlier this year by Jothi and Rohitha Prasad, Harvest Square is a Hosur-based D2C brand that focuses on offering quality vegetables and millet-based goods to its customers. The startup primarily aims to solve problems at all stages of the crop life cycle, specifically hydroponics – growing plants mainly in water and producing large food quantities. 

Currently, Harvest Square is building two D2C brands – Harvest Bites and Harvest Treats – focussed on millet-based goods. The D2C brand is working on setting up ecommerce and quick commerce platforms. Despite its early days, Harvest Square is bringing around INR 7 Lakh in average monthly revenue while being profitable. 

Homegrounds

Discover Specialty Coffees

Founded in 2024 by Mohit Odhrani, Homegrounds is a D2C coffee marketplace app that allows users to explore and discover the best coffee roasters across India, along with a curated selection of equipment. The D2C brand is trying to address the market gap within coffee, as users often struggle to discover niche roasters that match their needs. 

Homegrounds’ mission is to celebrate India’s rich coffee heritage while supporting local roasters on their journey to recognition. For now, the startup is building the Homegrounds community, for people to share their world around coffee, culture and experiences. The startup brings around INR 1 Lakh in average monthly revenue. Homegrounds aims to diversify its sales channels beyond its mobile app and hire the right team in the short term.

HustleCulture

Reinterpreting Men’s Clothing

Founded in 2020 by Sumant Agarwal, HustleCulture is a multi-designer D2C platform for sneakers, streetwear and accessories. Agarwal, having worked for five years in the B2B segment within the textile industry, sought to tap into the growing sneaker culture in India by creating a platform for customers to buy and sell sneakers and other apparel.

The D2C platform has recently launched its website, though most of its business comes via Instagram. HustleCulture claims to have 3,000+ customers across India. The startup is now in the process of setting up an office.

HustleCulture claims to bring in INR 22 Lakh in average monthly revenue, with figures crossing INR 30 Lakh in April this year. In the short term, the D2C brand is looking to launch an in-house apparel label.

Jolger

Sustainable Activewear For All

Founded in 2022 by Smitha Jacob and Dileep Kumar PS, Jolger is a D2C activewear brand, offering men’s and women’s clothing and accessories. Jogler also offers men’s activewear manufactured from up to 45% recycled materials.

The startup sources its materials from Vietnam and Taiwan, while it manufactures in Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Jordan. Recently, the D2C brand got listed on Myntra and set up its website. Most of Jogler’s business comes via ecommerce marketplaces, though it is also building up its omnichannel presence via the website and offline sales.

Though Jogler is not profitable, it brings around INR 5 Lakh in average monthly revenue. The D2C brand is now looking to get listed on Nykaa, expand its offline presence and launch a new line of work leisurewear.

Jvapa

Asian Cuisine At Your Doorstep

Founded in 2022 by Utkarsh Vatsa, Shreeya Vatsa and GV Himanshu, Jvapa is a D2C ready-to-cook and eat brand specialising in rice-based Asian products. The founders decided to set up Jvapa after witnessing the market gap in the Made in India rice-based products.

The D2C brand offers rice noodles, vermicelli, and paper sheets, among other products, in several packs. For instance, the brand sells starter packs with all its products and combo packs for individual products. Jvapa manufactures in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh, in what it claims to be India’s first rice noodles manufacturing unit. Jvapa has recently expanded its manufacturing capacity from 500 kg to one tonne, allowing it to launch a new product, flat rice noodles. 

The startup is looking to enter the quick commerce space with Blinkit and Instamart and launch a new range of rice-based instant noodles this year. Jvapa is clocking INR 7 Lakh in average monthly revenue and is profitable.

K9 Vitality

Supplements For Your Furry Friends

Founded in 2023 by Aman Patial, K9 Vitality is a D2C dog supplement brand offering probiotics and hip and joint supplements for dogs. Patial, fond of dogs and passionate about their health and wellness, started K9 Vitality, a brand that cares for dogs like family.

K9 Vitality has partnered with Innomalous, a Noida-based pet food manufacturer, for its products. The D2C brand recently achieved a 4.3+ rating on Trustpilot and a Judge.me Diamond Transparency Badge (100%). K9 Vitality also supports street dogs by donating a share of its profits with each purchase. 

This year, the startup aims to hit INR 30 Lakh in monthly sales, with the target of reaching INR 60-90 Lakh in monthly sales by the end of the year. Currently, K9 Vitality is clocking in around INR 6.4 Lakh in monthly sales and is profitable.

Lazo

Fashion For Women, By Women

Founded in 2021 by Chanaya Gupta, Lazo is a D2C fashion brand for women. Born out of the desire to have something of her own, Lazo quickly became a platform where the founder could experiment with women’s clothes and implement her vision.

The D2C startup offers dresses, tops, bottoms, shirts, co-ords and accessories for women, including chains, earrings, hoops, drops, and bracelets. Lazo works on a hybrid model where it manufactures 70% in-house and 30% by contract manufacturing. The startup recently achieved a monthly revenue rate of INR 35 Lakh while also hitting 78K followers on Instagram.

Lazo, a profitable venture, is looking to increase SKU depth from 80 to 150-200 SKUs across categories.

Mamamor

Safe Silicone Toys For Kids

Founded in 2024 by Snehal Bansal, a mother seeking safe-to-use toys for her child, D2C toys startup Mamamor offers toys made from food-grade silicone. The startup claims that these pediatrician-approved toys will be easy to clean and free of BPA, phthalates, or PVC (often found in plastic toys) and have an ease of use over wooden toys (that dent or splinter when chewed on). 

Mamamor is currently in its pre-launch phase, finalising branding, packaging, and building its website after completing the test production of prototypes. The startup plans to launch seven products in the toy range, such as sensory balls, shape sorters, pull toys and more, in July 2024. 

It aims to achieve a product-market fit within six months of launch. With customer feedback, Mamamor plans to expand its offerings to 17 by 2025 and achieve a monthly revenue rate of INR 30 Lakh.

Ningen

Curcumin & Turmeric-Based Personal Care 

A part of the pharmaceutical manufacturing company Arbro, the D2C personal care brand Ningen (Japanese for ‘Human’) offers a wide range of hair, skin and body care products. It was launched in 2022 by Dr Neha and Dr Saurabh Arora.

Besides the 30+ plant-based products, the startup’s USP lies in its SNECC-30 range. The products use SNEDDS (self-nanoemulsifying drug delivery system) to manufacture capsules, drops, soaps, and other personal care items based on curcumin (an active component of the turmeric spice). The SNEDDS tech enables faster and even absorption of the spice in the body, which, in turn, helps reduce pain and inflammation, bringing quicker results on the surface, the startup claims.

The startup is still heavily focused on offline sales (90%) and has generated INR 4 Cr in sales in 2023. In 2024, it plans to ramp up its D2C efforts by optimising its website and ecommerce channels to double the sales figure. 

Noor Skincare

Natural Skincare Regime

Founded in 2023, Noor Skincare is the outcome of Charu and Shubham Jani’s frustration with factory-made, chemical-heavy skincare products. For this, they turned to recipes passed down from generations. 

The D2C skincare brand has 16 products, including oils and balms. The products are handmade in small batches at a facility in Meerut. 

Noor Skincare plans to expand its catalogue to face and hair care range and launch on multiple other online marketplaces. The profitable startup has an average monthly revenue of INR 40 Lakh. It aims to reach a revenue of INR 25 Cr by the year-end. 

Noya Fashion Jewellery

An Instagram Shop For Statement Pieces

Founded in June 2021 by Srikanth Vaddi, Noya Fashion was launched as an Instagram page to eliminate the middlemen in the fashion jewellery space. The D2C startup designs and manufactures artificial jewellery pieces by blending traditional artworks from South India with contemporary styles and vibrant colours. 

As much as 25% of its sales come from offline channels and 75% through the Instagram page. Noya generates an average monthly revenue of INR 50 Lakh from its range of 50+ products, such as earrings, bangles, choker sets, necklaces, bracelets, nose pins, hair accessories and more. 

The startup is profitable and aims to maintain monthly sales by expanding its D2C channels.

Origins Nutra

Preventative Healthcare For Chronic Diseases 

Founded in September 2020, Origins Nutra provides health supplements, consultations with health experts, and informative content to guide health-conscious individuals in their efforts to prevent chronic illnesses such as cholesterol and diabetes.

Founders Rajani Chinni and Surya Tej Chinni come from a family business of pharma and neutraceuticals and saw a gap between evidence-based approaches to health and preventative healthcare. Origins Nutra bridges this gap by providing one-a-day tablets, capsules, and soft gels to fill dietary nutrient gaps, support energy and recovery in athletes. One can take the product recommendation quiz or speak to one of the 200+ health experts available with Origins Nutra.

The startup uses ingredients such as ashwagandha, lichen extracts, algal calcium and more, sourced from clinical companies while the tablets are manufactured in-house. Origins Nutra rebranded and launched several new products in December 2023 and is growing 20% month-over-month with an average monthly revenue of INR 11 Lakh and a 35% repeat customer rate. The focus for 2024 is to expand the community to 500+ health experts and serve over 30K customers. 

Popstation

Incubating Seeds Of Creativity

Launched in September 2022 by Niket Lulla, Popstation offers aspiring fashion brands and creators a platform to aid their D2C journey. Popstation leverages a four-step approach — discover (ideation and market analysis), design (prototyping), develop (manufacturing and quality control), and deliver (logistics and financing). 

Combined with AI integration in the technological aspects, this improves efficiency, minimises inventory needs and helps brands and creators achieve a rapid concept-to-completion timeframe (20 days).

Currently focussed on brand discovery, Popstation is working on new product launches and exploration of ecommerce and quick commerce platforms. It has worked with 40+ brands since its inception and helped launch 50+ product types from infant wear to undergarments. 

The startup is profitable with an average monthly revenue of INR 80 Lakh.

Posh Pants Club

Workwear For Women 

Founded in May 2023, Posh Pants Club is a D2C fashionwear startup offering sustainable workwear to women. Tired of mass-produced, impersonal options and a lack of environmental consciousness, founder Neeharika Kapoor envisioned a brand that could offer timeless pieces made with natural fabrics and designed for Indian silhouettes. 

Posh Pants Club sources its materials from across India and manufactures them in small batches to minimise waste and promote environment-friendly dressing. The company prioritises customer feedback for future designs and collections, which has helped build a community of 13K+ within a year of launch and a revenue of over INR 90 Lakh. 

From dresses to pants and co-ord sets to blouses, the startup has over 50 SKUs and a monthly revenue of INR 15 Lakh. It plans to expand its product range in 2024 by adding over 80 more SKUs and focusing on remarketing campaigns.

Renue Minerals

Essential Health Supplements For Women

Launched in February 2024, Renue Minerals is a D2C wellness startup that offers flavoured, sugar-free health supplements. Founded by Rahul Jawahrani and Sanjana Kavathalkar, the startup is focused on supplements to cater to women’s health needs, including what it claims to be a PCOS/PCOD reversal bundle, along with a PCOS care tea and a PMS comfort blend. 

Less than six months into launch, the wellness startup has garnered significant traction by crossing the 500-customer mark. Currently operating through its website, Renue Minerals is poised for further growth. 

In 2024, the D2C brand plans to expand its reach by entering online marketplaces. While Renue Minerals is at the breakeven stage, it is generating a monthly average revenue of INR 2 Lakh.

Rizzzed

Streetwear For Gamers

Founded in 2024 by Hrishav Bhattacharjee, Meet Khira, Virasat Swami and Abhijeet Andhare, Rizzzed is a D2C clothing brand, which designs streetwear inspired by gaming aesthetics. The startup, founded to popularise gaming culture in India and contribute to the gaming industry, sources and sells t-shirts for all genders on its website.

Rizzzed mostly sells its products online, with around 30% of its t-shirts selling through offline channels. The D2C startup sources its products from several popular t-shirt manufacturing hubs, including Ludhiana, Kolkata, Tripura, and Bangladesh.

The D2C clothing brand claims to be clocking around INR 2 Lakh in average monthly revenue and plans to boost its product offerings in the short term.

SEREKO

Psychodermatology Skincare Brand

Founded in 2023 by Malvika Jain, SEREKO is a D2C skincare startup that uses the linkage of mind and skin – psychodermatology – to mitigate stress and improve skin health. 

According to the startup, a third of dermatology patients in India are reported to have underlying mental health issues. The founder, having witnessed firsthand the effects of mental health on skin health, spent two years on brand research and launched SEREKO.

The D2C brand sells clarifying cleansers, toners, serums, hydration sunscreens, and night creams. On the mental health care side, along with calming candy tabs and anti-anxiety fizzy blend sachets. The startup ties up with third-party manufacturers for its products. Online marketplaces are SEREKO’s primary sales channel, with its website bringing in the rest. 

While SEREKO is not profitable yet, the D2C brand is clocking in INR 30 Lakh in average monthly revenue. In the short term, SEREKO plans to launch new products, start its retail operations and jump on the quick commerce bandwagon.

Space Coffee

Specialty Coffee On The Go

Founded in 2024 by Kartik Dhingra and Srijan Bhatia, Space Coffee is a D2C coffee brand born from the founders’ shared love for coffee. Having met rejection from friends because of the high costs of specialty coffee, the founders set up Space Coffee to bring easy access to the world of Indian specialty coffee.

The D2C brand sources its coffee from Chikkamagaluru, a hill station in Karnataka, often referred to as the coffee land of Karnataka. Space Coffee makes dip bags and Nespresso pods in cross four flavours. The brand also offers adaptogenic coffee with a blend of Reishi, Cordyceps, Lions Mane, and Chaga mushrooms.

Space Coffee is currently at breakeven and clocks around INR 3 Lakh in average monthly revenue. The startup now plans to boost its omnichannel presence across the country.

Svaraa Jewels

Lab-Grown Diamond Jewellery 

Founded in 2021 by Chahat Shah, Svaraa Jewels is a D2C jewellery brand part of the larger Kalamandir Jewellers brand. The founder, frustrated by the generic diamond jewellery and the sky-high prices, launched Svaraa with more budget-friendly lab-grown diamonds.

The D2C brand offers rings, earrings, solitaire jewellery, bracelets, bangles, pendants, necklaces and charms across several styles made with lab-grown diamonds and set in gold. Svaraa is a direct grower of lab-grown diamonds and has ties with third-party jewellery manufacturers for its pieces. The D2C brand recently received an online order worth INR 60 Lakh from a Saudi customer, who now makes monthly purchases. 

While the startup is not profitable, it is still clocking in INR 70 Lakh in average monthly revenue. Most of the startup’s business comes via its offline presence. In the short term, it plans to launch three more stores and boost its ecommerce sales channel. 

The Indian Puja Company

Equip With Spiritual Essentials

Founded in 2021 by Maithili and Giresh Vasudev Kulkarni, The Indian Puja Company (erstwhile The Indian Puja Box) is a Pune-based D2C brand that offers products required for spiritual and devotional activities.

The D2C brand offers two box sets currently with products such as oil and ghee wicks, incense sticks, turmeric, red vermillion, honey, stickers, etc. The Indian Puja Company has tied up with third-party manufacturers for its products. The D2C brand has recently forayed into corporate gifting as well.

The Indian Puja Company is profitable right now and clocks INR 5.5 Lakh in average monthly revenue. In the short term, the D2C brand aims to expand its footprint by launching kiosks at airports and malls, along with a sharper focus on its D2C channel.

The Manduva Project

Traditional Indian Savouries 

Founded in 2021 by Neha Alluri and Usha Sarvarayalu, The Manduva Project is a Hyderabad-based D2C gourmet pickle, podi masala and fryums brand. The founders, having sensed a disappearing connection to rural India and the ongoing rural-to-urban migration, founded the startup to revitalise that connection.

The startup manufactures condiments, crisps, spices, pickles, sprinkles and fryums, among others, in Annadeverapeta, East Godavari. The Manduva Project has built a network of regional farmers and artisans to make sourcing and producing easier.

The startup is profitable, and in the short term, aims to scale the business through ecommerce and enter foreign markets.

The ReLove Closet

Thrifting Made Easy

Founded by Sruti Ashok in 2020, The ReLove Closet is a D2C clothing brand promoting a circular economy by selling and buying pre-loved women’s clothing, shoes, accessories and so on across dozens of brands. The founder, inspired by the Fashion Revolution, launched ReLove Closet to introduce consumers to Thrifting. Ashok also beta-tested her ideas during the Covid-19 pandemic, when she worked with an NGO to sell pre-loved clothing.

The ReLove Closet sources products from individuals across India, buying or accepting donations via social media or its website. The D2C brand vets all of the products it receives before listing them on its website. 

Recently, The ReLove Closet launched a small offline store space in Chennai while also organising offline events to raise awareness. The startup is not profitable but is clocking in around INR 3 Lakh in average monthly revenue.

The Theatre Project

Get Ready For A Blockbuster Snacking 

Founded in 2021 by Vishakha and Sumeet Surana, The Theatre Project is a D2C snacking brand manufacturing popcorn and potato chips. Sumeet’s family connection with the theatre business prompted the founders to set up the brand as canteens in the theatres Sumeet’s family owned. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the startup morphed into a D2C brand.

The startup contract manufactures its kettle chips and popcorn at Godavari Nutrifoods in Gwalior and the popped chips at Haldirams International in Nagpur across several flavours. Recently, the startup has started exporting its products to international markets, increased its airport presence, boosted its corporate vending machine presence, received approval from Central Railways to sell its products and increased its offline touchpoints in Mumbai to 500.

The Theatre Project is not a profitable venture yet but is clocking in INR 70 Lakh in average monthly revenue. In the short term, the D2C brand plans to launch on quick commerce platforms, expand geographically and launch new products.

Tulum Coffee

Specialty Coffee For Your Palates 

Founded in 2020 by Pallav Haria, Tulum Coffee is a Mumbai-based D2C coffee brand. Haria stumbled upon the idea while living as an exchange student in Sao Paulo over a decade ago, and the same was solidified when he moved to Merida, Mexico in 2017 and worked at a cafe there, learning the basics of coffee roasting. Haria founded Tulum Coffee in 2020, months after his move back to India.

The startup manufactures coffee after sourcing from multiple parts of the country. Currently, Tulum Coffee offers six flavours from places like Ratnagiri, Kuttinkhan, Hippla and more. Tulum also offers several ground types, including whole beans, espresso, moka pot, AeroPress, French Press, cold brew and more.

Currently at the breakeven stage, the startup clocks around INR 3 Lakh in average monthly revenue. 

The post Meet The 35 D2C Brands From Inc42’s First Cohort Of D2CX appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The concept of affordable housing got a fillip across India following the launch of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) in June 2015. Once considered a sunrise segment, such schemes aim to help lower-to-middle-income people seeking home ownership in metros and non-metros. 

But despite government initiatives, people often need help to get maximum benefits in terms of tailored schemes, eligibility criteria, competitive interest rates, and suitable loan-to-value ratio.

According to Atul Monga, founder and CEO of BASIC Home Loan, there are several reasons why people don’t get the best deal when raising a loan for affordable housing, especially in Tier II and III cities or beyond.  

For one, people may have limited options depending on the location and the loan amount as banks use a fixed-cost and branch-led model, and providing loans may not be viable if the customer acquisition cost is too high. Also, a property must have adequate market value if the lender has to redeem its investment due to non-payment.

To mitigate the home loan hurdles in underserved areas, the fintech platform matches borrowers with lenders via a digital marketplace, enables a paperless loan application process online, and ensures hassle-free loan approval.

The tech-first mortgage distributor has designed a phygital model to combine digital efficiencies with in-person assistance from a network of trained direct-selling agents. Users can raise home loan requests on BASIC’s website, through builder partners, or the DSA network. The hybrid model helps serve the diverse requirements of a broader target audience who may not be comfortable using online-only transactions. 

The fintech startup has partnered with 90 banks and LAPs (FIs offering loans against property). It claims to have serviced 2.25 Lakh customers and disbursed home loans worth INR 10,000 Cr. It currently operates in three metros (Delhi, Mumbai, and Bengaluru) and several Tier II and III locations, such as Thane, Mohali and Ayodhya, serving customers across 650+ districts.  

Its key lending partners include industry leaders such as the State Bank of India, ICICI, HDFC and Axis Bank, PNB Housing Finance, Piramal Finance, Tata Capital, Bajaj Finserv, IIFL, and more. 

It earns commissions from transactions done by partner banks, NBFCs, and other FIs via the platform. This can go up to 2.25% of the deal value, depending on the lender, the type of loan product, and other factors. It also helps the startup maintain a healthy CM1 of 35% (contribution margin 1 indicates gross profit per unit or selling price minus the cost of the item sold). However, its services are free for retail users raising home loans via the platform.

The Back Story 

Monga and Kalyan Josyula launched BASIC Home Loan in July 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when most startups were downsizing or shuttering their businesses. By then, Monga, a mechanical engineer from IIT-Delhi, had stints at leading firms such as Policybazaar and Credit Suisse and worked as an investment banker. It did not take him long to realise that apart from the general credit shortage in the affordable housing space, the sector was underserved beyond Tier I due to the lack of equitable credit distribution.

Terms and conditions are often too complex and need to be clarified, leading to inconvenience and trust issues. Things took a turn for the worse during the pandemic, as FIs nearly stopped functioning during months-long lockdowns. New-age fintechs were agile enough but focussed on small-ticket personal loans with short repayment tenures. 

Recognising the untapped opportunity, Monga and Josyula took the plunge. They conducted extensive market research and interacted with potential homebuyers through surveys and interviews. This hands-on approach, combined with their unique skills, convinced Picus Capital to invest $500K in their venture.

BASIC’s Playbook For Building Affordable Housing Loans   

BASIC aims to democratise home loans in the affordable housing sector, with a focus on Tier II cities and beyond, where such projects are swiftly gaining traction. It has also automated the entire application process and backed it up with suitable human interventions to ensure that obtaining home loans for consumers remains as hassle-free as possible. 

However, its role as a home loan enabler/mortgage distributor has its fair share of challenges. Incorporating/updating lenders’ policies, rules and regulations around the clock is onerous, and resets are not always possible. Additionally, building an in-house tech stack for fast and error-free operations requires top-rated tech talent and unconventional thinking to stay ahead of the curve.

Running an asset-light but vast network of home loan agents to achieve desired business outcomes is also tough in unorganised, offline markets. They are not the typical sales associates but the backbone of BASIC’s district-level business and a core component of its revenue growth. 

Monga, however, thinks that regulatory compliance at all operational levels and winning user trust while digitalising its processes have been the toughest of all. It has developed a five-point programme that aligns with the mortgage market dynamics to deal with these challenges: 

Protocol at play to find suitable lenders & align with them: BASIC conducts a thorough search, analysis and assessment to identify a lender whose vision, operations, financials and other factors align with the startup’s goals.

Proprietary tech & compliance: The fintech startup has developed a proprietary product-eligibility matrix (PEM) to match loan products with borrower profiles and property details.

On the other hand, its CRM system helps speed up customer KYC and tracks each application. Besides, the dynamic document rule engine ensures that all documents have been collected and digitally checked by the compliance team.

If a loan is sanctioned after due diligence, a BASIC advisor helps with agreement signing and collects all hard copies required by the lender. The entire process hastens the turnaround time and the loan amount is disbursed within 10 working days or 76 working hours. 

To ensure compliance, BASIC has invested in advanced encryption technologies and secure data storage solutions to protect sensitive customer data. It also educates consumers about the benefits of going digital, such as better assistance, quicker loan processing and advantageous mortgage availability.

Trained agents for superior customer service: The fintech’s vast network of agents are trained local experts who ensure a steady business flow by tapping into communities and enhancing customer support by offering personalised services. BASIC selects people from sales, finance, or real estate based on their previous business performances, tech orientation and alignment with its core business values.

Is Affordable Housing Still A Distant Dream In India?

Census 2011 put the number of homeless people in India at 1.7 Mn. It is difficult to peg the current estimates for the lack of data. The number has likely gone up, as India currently has the largest population in the world. 

BASIC is aware of the ground realities, and Monga emphasises the need to make home loans more accessible and affordable if universal housing is to happen in India soon. “We plan to improve technology-based product development and risk-sharing by partnering with more lenders and thus cater to a bigger consumer base,” he added.

While Picus Capital did the initial funding to help launch BASIC Home Loan, Venture Catalysts++ (India’s first multi-stage VC) has been a crucial pillar of support, consistently backing its growth journey, says Monga. The VC firm has already invested $3.5 Mn to grow its business.

“Since its initial funding, it has participated in all our funding rounds. But there’s more to it than providing capital. Its extensive network and industry contacts have accelerated our growth. The angels and the family offices we connected with through VCats++ have provided funds and offered valuable assistance in overcoming challenges along our journey. Many of these investors are seasoned entrepreneurs, offering guidance and insights whenever we have encountered obstacles during our expansion,” the CEO added.

However, they face the challenge of navigating complex and evolving regulatory landscapes, which can be particularly daunting and costly for fintech brands, especially startups with limited resources.

Nevertheless, the demand for home loans will continue to surge in a country like India, where owning a home remains the cornerstone of financial growth and personal achievement. 

Will BASIC and its ilk emerge as innovative neobanks of the ‘affordable home’ loan sector? For now, the focus is on empowering potential homebuyers with the best possible loan terms, interest rates and associated fees so that they can make informed decisions. But that will not deter them from exploring and developing new mortgage products with built-in benefits for all stakeholders.

The post How BASIC Home Loan Is Revolutionising Affordable Housing By Helping 2.25 Lakh+ Customers appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The Indian diet may be rich in carbohydrates but when it comes to protein, we are hardly on par with our global peers. According to several medical journals available online, the country’s protein consumption is much lower than the 48 grams a day recommended by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). This deficit was also highlighted by the National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) in 2022, which found out that about 80% of India don’t meet their daily protein requirements.

Now, the bedrock of India’s protein deficit stems from the food habits engrained in its culture and fabric, which also prides itself on being ranked as the top vegetarian country in the world, with a massive 38% to 40% of its total population avoiding meat as the main source of protein.

While this may not appear concerning, protein deficit can lead to muscle loss and weakness, decreased bone development and density, stunted growth, and anaemia, and we have barely scratched the surface.

Similar was the case for Parul Sharma, head of modern trade at FMCG major Mondelez, who thought her “family’s nutrition game” was strong. However, a routine paediatric checkup for her son in 2020 revealed the ugly truth of protein deficiency in her household.

To remedy her son from the deficiency, the doctor prescribed her to include protein-rich biscuits in the young one’s diet. What came next was resistance from her son in consuming the prescribed protein supplement. It is precisely from this point started Sharma’s quest to find a healthier protein alternative for her kid within her kitchen, a quest that Sharma believed that about 93% of Indian mothers were already treading on. 

Just like most Indians, Sharma, too, had a reluctance to turn to protein supplements, given the many instances of drug tampering in such products back then. Given the situation, it was only natural for her to turn to more natural protein sources.   

In her quest to find foods that are not only rich in protein but also taste, she roped in her brother, Manu Sharma, a chartered accountant by profession. 

“With a sharp focus on sprouted lentils, legumes and grains, we started building Gladful. Initially, we created a breakfast range that was not just delicious but also a protein powerhouse,” the founder said. 

Founded in 2021, Gladful’s motto has been to create everyday vegetarian foods that are rich in protein & fibre. Since its launch, Gladful has attracted a healthy user base, selling to about 20K consumers per month and generating a revenue of INR 2.3 Cr for the financial year 2022-23 (FY23). Sharma claims that a large chunk of their sales comes from recurring customers.

Gladful’s growth aligns with the emerging trends in India’s protein-based market. According to IMARC Group, India’s protein-based product market, including protein bars, powders, supplements, drinks, ice creams, cereals, and snacks, is expected to reach $150.8 Bn by 2032, growing at a CAGR of 15.8%.

Despite the prospects, Gladful has faced significant challenges in convincing people to switch from their traditional diets to healthier options. 

Gladful Supercharges The Indian ‘Naashta’ 

Unlike others aiming to disrupt established industries, Gladful intended to supercharge the existing breakfast habits of Indians, without changing their preferences. Sharma told Inc42 that India’s breakfast culture revolves around dishes like upma, paratha, dosa, idli, and cheelas. 

She said that FMCG giants like Kellogg’s tried to introduce cereals but made little impact on India’s preference when it comes to dominating the grand Indian “naashta“.

“Ultimately, Indians will eat hot breakfast and these five favourite breakfast items will continue to be their first preference. So, what we are doing with Gladful is that we are telling Indians to eat what they are eating with a focus on protein. With the infusion of sprout-based protein, our dosa batter has around 4X more protein than any conventional batter. Similar is the case across our offering,” Sharma added. 

However, a critical limitation for Gladful to enter Indian kitchens has been its price point. According to Sharma, the brand may be premium to many but not so much in the metro cities.

“Compared to other products in the Indian market, our products are slightly expensive (about 20 to 30%, but I think our customers are ready to invest slightly more when it comes to healthier alternatives without compromising on taste. Our key USP of offering protein content with minimum palm oil, hydrogenated fats, trans fat or Maida has helped us make a name for ourselves in the breakfast market,” Sharma said.  

Currently, Gladful’s SKU count stands at 18 and includes options such as high-protein cookies, soybean-based munchies, date nut bites, and roasted munchies.

Yet, Sharma said, 70% of the company’s revenue comes from its breakfast category, with the remaining snacking categories bringing in the rest of the company’s sales.  

Gladful’s Rise To Fame

Interestingly, Gladful got a high-octane boost in its business after it appeared on Shark Tank India’s season 2 earlier this year. 

The exposure from the show, where Aman Gupta, Namita Thapar, and Amit Jain collectively invested INR 50 Lakh, led to a substantial increase in monthly sales, rising from 10,000 to 18,000-20,000 transactions per month after their appearance on the much-coveted show.

Another critical marketing boost for the Jaipur-based startup came from the social media trend “Label Padhega India,” popularised by influencer Revant Himatsingka. 

What has also helped Gladful is Sharma’s extensive experience with Mondelez as the head of modern trade. She has also been instrumental in fine-tuning Galdful’s marketing strategy, which directly targets mothers looking for healthier alternatives for their kids.

The startup also leverages a sizable community of home chefs who review its products and make content for them as well as publish independent reviews. 

Road Ahead For Gladful

Despite all the push, Gladful remains a loss-making entity. In FY23, the company registered a revenue of INR 2.29 Cr but incurred a loss of INR 90.92 Lakh, with expenses totalling INR 3.51 Cr. Notably, a significant amount (INR 1.84 Cr) was spent on packaging and marketing.

Since its inception, the company has raised a total of INR 13 Cr from investors like Antler India, Huddle, Tholons Capital’s Ankita Vashishta, Bombay Shaving Company’s Shantanu Deshpande, and the Sharks. 

In January 2024, Gladful secured INR 6 Cr in seed funding from undisclosed investors to fuel its expansion plans and shed the loss-making tag.

“Moving forward, our primary focus will be to solidify our breakfast portfolio with new SKUs and expand to new ecommerce platforms beyond Amazon, Flipkart, Jiomart, BigBasket, Blinkit, and our website,” Sharma said.

Currently, it locks horns with players like MTR, ITC and iD Fresh Food, Sharma has set her eyes on offline expansion. She aims to pilot offline sales in Jaipur in the next 12 months.  

However, to sustain its offline play, the company, which is already burning a lot on marketing and packaging, may end up coughing up a fortune. But then, it will be interesting to see how Sharma’s offline ambitions pan out in the near future. 

The post How D2C Brand Gladful Is Reinventing Indian Breakfast With High Protein Foods appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Talk about Siachen, and everyone can tell you about the hardships people face across the terrains at 5K metres and above. However, few realise that one cannot even use typical personal care products like shampoos and shower gels at that altitude due to extreme water scarcity. Getting a shampoo or a bath requires digging out ice and melting it, a challenging task in sub-zero temperatures.

Puneet Gupta, an engineer by training who honed his technology and innovation skills at IIM-Calcutta, was deeply affected by these harsh realities during an interaction with an army general. Gupta always wanted to join the armed forces but ended up working on product development, which culminated in a role at Honeywell. But after that interaction, he felt a strong nudge towards doing something more in a different capacity. (My boys can’t take a bath – that simple statement has never left his mind.)   

To transform personal hygiene practices for special requirements, Gupta entered into a strategic collaboration with IIT-Delhi’s biotechnology centre and reached a breakthrough in waterless and STAR technologies after three years of rigorous R&D. He launched Clensta in 2016 and commercialised in 2019 – currently offering haircare, body care, skincare categories, including two flagships – a waterless shampoo and a waterless body bath.

For context, waterless technology helps eliminate water usage for personal care needs. One can use a 100 ml bottle of rinse-free body wash and easily wipe it off as it does not leave much residue instead of taking a standard bucket bath. This spells convenience and guarantees significant water conservation, a vital step towards a sustainable future. The Indian government has granted Clensta a patent for its waterless invention. 

The brand has also worked on STAR technology (safe transdermal absorption of reactive ingredients), which helps improve the efficacy of personal care and wellness products. Simply put, it works like a medical patch, allowing nano-sized nutrients like iron, iodine and vitamins to reach the bloodstream through skin pores for long-lasting benefits. Clensta is reportedly working on such ‘healthy’ lip colours and bindis that may soon take the Bharat market by storm as nutritional and wellness disparities plague Indian women.

Its formulations contain active ingredients like niacinamide, glutathione, hyaluronic acid etc and the effective market-first ingredients, including red aloe vera, rosemary, egg extracts to maximise their personal care benefits. 

The brand currently offers 70+ products and more than 80 SKUs. All Clensta products are FDA-certified and undergo rigorous quality checks at pre- and post-production stages (more on that later).

Clensta raised $12 Mn in debt & equity funding. It serves nearly 15K pin codes through its dedicated website and online marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart and Nykaa. It is expanding its global footprint across Saudi Arabia, Maldives, Singapore, Malaysia, Nepal, Dubai, African markets  and more.

According to Gupta, the brand clocked INR 78 Cr in FY24, a YoY growth of 129% from INR 34 Cr in FY23, and eyes an exit ARR of INR 300 Cr (a monthly recurring revenue of INR 25 Cr) in the current financial year. 

Clensta’s USP: Natural Ingredients And Tech Power Packaged In Personal Care 

Waterless product design has immense growth opportunities, given its eco-friendly approach and firm alignment with water sustainability. 

For instance, the global waterless cosmetics market is projected to reach $24.2 Bn by 2030, growing at a CAGR of 13.4% from 2024. Additionally, research reports predict the rise of dry and green brands in personal care.    

Such market trends sound encouraging, but spotting a niche and knowing how to fill it require varied expertise. So, in 2023, Clensta roped in Mamaearth’s Ashish Mishra (then senior vice-president at the personal care brand and looking after offline and international business) as its’ cofounder and CBO. With more than two decades of retail experience, Mishra currently leads distribution, while Gupta is in charge of product development.

Building the core pillars of the business was not easy. In the early days, customers tended to define what a company should focus on. For Clensta, focusing on the following three core areas helped it navigate its journey.

Deep collaborations to leverage expertise and stay agile: Instead of setting up an asset-heavy independent unit, Clensta’s initial R&D started at IIT-Delhi. As of now, Clensta products are developed in 10 facilities.

“IIT-Delhi recognised our potential early on, providing funding and research support to Clensta. This partnership was pivotal, helping us transition from an innovative concept to a tangible prototype. After finding the product-market fit, we saw a significant uptick in interest and initial adoption due to IIT-D’s endorsement. It also helped us achieve nearly 100% growth every year,” said Gupta.  

Precision product development: Unlike many of its peers, Clensta uses AI tools (one is still in beta) to analyse customer requirements, review product feedback and measure post-purchase customer satisfaction. 

An automated data processing system and a comprehensive data analysis enable the new product development (NPD) team to identify consumer requirements, opt for precision development and enhance customer experience.       

Meticulous testing for quality control: From raw material testing to production and packaging, Clensta follows a series of rigorous quality checks to ascertain that its products meet required industry standards.

All ingredients and packaging materials undergo thorough testing to ensure compliance with quality, safety and durability norms. A quality assurance (QA) team also conducts in-process quality checks to monitor ongoing production.

The brand now caters to major hospitals such as AIIMS   and sells its products to the Indian Armed Forces, in Siachen and the broader B2C personal care and home care markets. 

Funding, Repeat Sales & Omnichannel Expansion: How Clensta Is Navigating Key Growth Hurdles

Despite Clensta’s product innovations and initial funding from IIT-Delhi, raising capital became a massive challenge when the brand went into full commercial mode. Also, a worldwide pandemic, followed by a harsh funding winter, did not work out well for young ventures.

Clensta has raised multiple investments from Venture Catalysts++ (VCats++), but beyond the capital, the VC firm provided significant value and support in terms of strategic vision and operational efficiency.

“We have greatly benefited from its vast networks, striking industry insights and guidance on course correction and big-picture thinking,” said Gupta.

He claimed that the startup’s monthly recurring revenue grew by 300% since the last funding infusion by VCats in July 2023 and the number of SKUs increased by 250%. 

Omnichannel is the way to go: Another key challenge is building an omnichannel (online+offline) business for maximum reach and customer convenience. As a keen observer of industry trends, Mishra, CBO and cofounder of Clensta feels certain that 60% of Clensta’s India revenue will be generated offline for the next three years. 

Clensta has already built a strong presence offline (across 57 cities, including major Tier II locations). Now, it is consolidating its position in these existing markets by ensuring ready access to all its products and impeccable customer service. Although 80% of its revenue comes from Tier I cities (Tier II and III account for 15% and 5%, respectively), the brand is making strides to address the personal hygiene needs of Bharat, where water scarcity is a red-hot reality. 

Its products are also sold on its website and leading ecommerce platforms like Nykaa, Flipkart and Amazon to enhance their reach.

The Road Ahead For Clensta

In a fast-evolving personal care space, innovation-first outliers like Clensta need to stay ahead of the competition by focussing on two major areas: New technologies for better products and new markets for revenue growth.   

Although the concept of anhydrous (waterless) products in the beauty and personal care (BPC) space originated in South Korea nearly a decade ago, its worldwide popularity has only grown recently. However, competition is already heating up in the global arena, with the likes of Unilever and L’Oréal gunning for more patents to enter the ‘waterless’ BPC segment and reduce their water usage for manufacturing in sync with the global sentiment. 

Overseas brands like DryBath, Loli, Pinch of Colour and Vapour also dominate this space, even though some are not pure-play personal care brands. Closer home, companies like Aadhunik Ayurveda and Soap Square may give Clensta a run for its money. 

Additionally, issues related to waterless formulations, such as product stability and shorter shelf life, can lead to innovation challenges. Essentially, ventures like Clensta need to be at the top of their technology game to ensure the adoption of comparatively expensive product lines at scale.

The exponential growth of the BPC market in India will be a growth driver. According to Inc42 data, the beauty and personal care market is expected to grow from $5 Bn in 2023 to $28 Bn in 2030, at a CAGR of 28%

Will the rapidly expanding local and global demand strengthen the startup’s plan to grow globally, bet more on sustainable hygiene tech and emerge as a big brand, rolling out different categories and product lines to meet unique needs? As Clensta continues to make affordable and effective personal care formulations in India for the world, it may soon lead to a new chapter and help script a new growth narrative.

The post How D2C Brand Clensta Clocked INR 78 Cr In FY24 Revenue By Doubling Down On Customer Retention & Omnichannel appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The rise of the Indian D2C wave, triggered by the influx of uncountable new brands, has started to push legacy brands into a tight corner. A case in point is VIP Industries, which despite its 50-year-old legacy in the Indian luggage & bags market appears to be losing its share in the market expected to generate a revenue of $3.32 Bn by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 11% from 2024.

Per a Forbes report published earlier this year, the country’s largest luggage and travel accessories manufacturer, VIP Industries, has been losing its market to smaller players for nearly five straight financial years.

The report adds that while Safari Industries bloated its market to 24% in April-December 2022 from 16.7% in the year ended March 2019, VIP Industries took a 7.5% hit during the same time to settle around 44%.

Now, there is no denying that players like VIP Industries, Safari Industries, American Tourister, Aristocrat, and Samsonite have captured most of the Indian luggage and bags space. However, their dominance is now being challenged by the growing D2C wave in India.

What would substantiate the statement is that new-age brands like Mokobara, Acefour Accessories, Nasher Miles, EUME, and Assembly — flush with investor capital — are becoming the new travel companions for Indians. These brands are riding on innovation and winning Indian hearts with unique designs, global styles and new-age customer preferences.

Eyeing a juicy chunk of this growing market is ICON, a D2C luggage and bags brand launched in 2023, which claims to be plugging the innovation gaps of the industry.

Incorporated by the founders of MyFitness (now acquired by Mensa Brands) Mohammad Patel, Poojan Shah, Fazal Lakhani and CA Aakash Mehta, ICON is an internet-first D2C brand catering to the mass premium segment in the luggage and travel accessories category through its product portfolio of hard luggage, backpacks, and handbags.

Having explored nearly 30 countries, the cofounders found that the Indian luggage market lacked innovation on multiple fronts, ultimately nudging them to take the reins of innovation in this segment in their hands.

“We saw a lot of white space in the luggage category with incumbents like VIP and Safari sleeping in terms of innovation for decades. Our goal was to go beyond the traditional black and blue designs, transforming luggage into a lifestyle essential,” said Shah.

“With global trends favouring hard case luggage at 70%, contrasting with India’s preference for soft cases, we entered the Indian market with innovations like wide handles and PC shells,” he added.

Speaking with Inc42, the cofounders said that the 2023 incorporation of the startup was strategically in line with their vision of capitalising on the post-pandemic surge in travel.

Recently, the startup raised $1.2 Mn (INR 10 Cr) in a seed funding round led by DSG Consumer Partners and a clutch of angel investors.

ICON’s Iconic Product Play

ICON’s diverse product portfolio includes hard luggage, backpacks and handbags, with a unique selling point of a wide-handle design that distinguishes it from traditional narrow-handle options.

“The wide-handle design, inspired by global brands like Louis Vuitton, offers a distinctive aesthetic appeal and improved functionality,” Mehta said.

Apart from this feature, the cofounders use 100% PC material, which is renowned for its durability compared to ABS.

Currently, the startup offers 10 SKUs in three colour variants. Initially launching with three primary categories — suitcases, backpacks, and handbags — the startup is now focussing on expanding its suitcase range and diversifying into accessories.

“Our products are priced in the range of INR 4,000 to INR INR 10,000 and place us competitively in the mass premium segment, next only to American Tourister and somewhere between Nasher Miles and Mokobara within the startup landscape,” Shah said.

According to the cofounders, they have surpassed their investors’ expectations in the last five months. They are currently facing stockouts on two SKUs, which they view as a positive challenge.

ICON’s Near-Term Ambitions

Currently running the show via its website and marketplaces like Amazon, Flipkart, Myntra, and AJIO, the startup’s primary focus is on establishing a robust online presence.

With 40% of sales from its website and 60% from ecommerce platforms, the startup has shown significant growth since February, boasting a fivefold monthly surge in website traffic. Since its inception, the website has recorded traffic from 9 Lakh users.

However, according to Shah, the brand had to face several challenges at the outset, be it securing resources, manpower or capital, or establishing trust.

Shah said that despite every possible pitfall, they were able to stay ahead of the learning and opportunity curve.

Talking about learning, the cofounder said that the startup continuously gathers customer feedback to refine its products. It also engages with its non-repeat customers to understand the gap.

Additionally, the cofounders closely engage with influencers and leverage performance marketing and educational campaigns to raise awareness about the quality of products.

“Initially, for the first one to one and a half years, we aim to dominate the online market using the playbook and experience we gained from our previous venture, MyFitness,” Shah said.

“Out of the INR 20,000-25,000 Cr market, even if we can capture just 1%, we will still be scratching the surface,” he added.

Shah emphasised the rapid evolution of India’s luggage and travel accessories market, shifting from unorganised to organised sectors driven by rising leisure travel.

With the organised segment now holding a significant 60% share, brands like Mokobara, Nasher Miles, and ICON are poised to capitalise on this trend.

Despite the dominance of legacy players in this space, ICON sees substantial opportunities in Tier II and Tier III regions and aims to establish itself as a leading brand for Bharat in the next five years. While still in its pre-revenue stages, the startup is optimistic about establishing its foothold in the country’s luggage and bags industry, outdoing the competition with its unique product range.

[Edited by Shishir Parasher]

The post ICON Wants To Make A Dent In India’s Luggage And Bags Industry appeared first on Inc42 Media.

The home decor industry in India is undergoing a major transformation on the back of the growing D2C wave in the country. Ten years ago, when D2C wasn’t the norm, home furnishing meant buying local products or visiting premium offline stores. 

Then came the online shopping spurt and brands like Pepperfry and Urban Ladder entered the fray, serving customers at the comfort of their doorsteps. But this was not enough, as these brands had an unquenchable thirst to grow, so they invested heavily in moving offline, too. 

From 2018-2019 onwards, D2C brands like Trampoline, Chumbak and The Decor Kart emerged, meeting evolving consumer demands with diverse home decor solutions such as eco-friendly products, garden decor, bath essentials, kitchen utilities. 

In the same league emerged Nestasia, aiming to bridge the gap between low-quality local stores and high-end boutiques by offering a fresh perspective on home adornment.

Founded in 2019 by Aditi Murarka and Anurag Agarwal, Nestasia is a home decor brand, which offers products such as decor, bath, crockery, garden accessories, and kitchen utilities. 

Unlike other marketplaces, the Kolkata-based startup operates a full-fledged D2C business, buying products from Indian artisans and selling them directly to customers. It primarily sells on Amazon and Myntra and is also present on TataCliq, Pepperfry, and Nykaa.

The D2C brand generates revenue through shop-in-shops in modern trade and its own app, live on both the App Store and Play Store. It achieves 98% of its sales from digital channels and 2% from five offline stores. Its revenue is evenly split between Tier II cities and metros, with key markets in Maharashtra, Delhi NCR, and Karnataka.

Starting with 100-200 products, the D2C brand now offers about 4,500 items across six categories, fulfiling over 3 Lakh orders. According to Tofler, the company’s operating revenue increased by 63.8% from INR 21.90 Cr in FY22 to INR 35.88 Cr in FY23.  

The startup has raised $4 Mn from Stellaris Venture Partners, Varun Alagh of Mamaearth, Sahil Barua of Delhivery, and Anuj Srivastava and Ramakant Sharma of Livspace.

From Changing Homes To Nestling Nestasia

Before founding Nestasia, Aditi Murarka, an XLRI Jamshedpur alumna, worked as an associate manager at ZALORA Group in Singapore, where she handled strategy and planning for the company. 

Her job demanded frequent movement between Hong Kong and Singapore. And in a span of four years living outside India, she had already changed her house more times than she can remember.

However, she had always enjoyed setting up and decorating her abode. Slowly and gradually Murarka developed a deep passion for home decor products, so much so that the husband and wife duo then decided to pick this full time. 

They envisioned to build a brand that offered unique, contemporary, and premium quality home decor products. 

After a year of research, Murarka returned to India in 2019 to pursue her vision. In the same year, she launched Nestasia, seizing the opportunity presented by the rise of ecommerce and increasing interest in home decor.

Agarwal, who previously worked in equities trading at Goldman Sachs, joined her shortly before the Covid-19 pandemic began in early 2020. 

Initially, they started with a lean team, and the husband-wife duo relied on their savings to bootstrap the venture.  

Also, at the outset, the startup aimed to fill the gap in the homeware market by offering a wide variety of products. “We added a lot of SKUs because we aimed for variety. However, we realised that it wasn’t the width or variety that attracted customers but rather the quality and design of the products,” Murarka added. 

So, the cofounders decided to fine-tune their assortment, reducing it from 10,000-12,000 SKUs in 2023 to around 4,500 SKUs in 2024, ensuring each product was design-driven and of high quality.

The cofounders then banked on launching home decor products for seasonal and special occasion launches. The combination of a seasonal, design-driven approach became the brand’s USP.

The Pandemic Shot In The Arm

Just four to five months after its launch, the Covid-19 pandemic struck the world. During this time, Nestasia’s supply chain took a severe hit, making it almost impossible for the cofounders to fulfil customer orders (even though few). 

Now, with imports stuck and delivery services halted, the team often had to pack and ship products themselves. The gap between running out of stock and receiving replenishments was another significant challenge faced by the brand.

“To maintain customer trust, Anurag and I personally called every customer who placed an order, explaining the delays and reassuring them of eventual delivery,” Murarka said.

But, the cofounders were clever to read the market and amidst a series of challenges, they shifted their focus on crafting engaging content on social media. They started DIY projects to engage with their audience, which resulted in them building a strong social media presence. 

This content-first approach led to the creation of an in-house content team that still produces high-quality content, driving about 15% of referrals and conversions from social media.

This was also the time when Nestasia achieved its first 100 orders.  

Nestasia’s Product Folio

According to the cofounders, the startup today has been successful in positioning itself as a premier home and lifestyle product destination. 

Offering a wide array of products, from dining ware and kitchen essentials to decor items like candles and mirrors, bath accessories, soft furnishings, and now bags and accessories, the startup aims to establish itself as the go-to destination for all things home-related.

Murarka mentioned that previously, dining and kitchen formed a single category, representing 100% of their business. However, in April 2022, with the addition of new categories, the kitchen segment swiftly transitioned to constituting 25% of their business. It currently contributes to 45% of their revenue.

Transitioning to a design-driven focus, the startup launched visually appealing lunchboxes in 2023, meeting demands for quality and aesthetics. This success prompted an expansion into other offerings like shopping bags, organisers, and vanity boxes.

Currently, the cofounders have an in-house production unit for bags and accessories in Kolkata. The startup’s bags and accessories segment accounts for approximately 18% of its total revenue.

The Road Ahead

Notably, the home decor industry is experiencing a notable shift, with the online market projected to grow to $5.4 Bn by 2025.  To capitalise on this opportunity, the startup is focussing on growth strategies, including optimising product distribution, reducing logistics costs, expanding its presence across all channels, and significantly increasing offline expansion. 

The startup, currently operating five stores, aims to open five more this year and reach approximately 40 stores by next year. The cofounders have already finalised deals for upcoming locations, targeting Airia Mall in Gurgaon, DLF Mall of India in Noida, and potential sites in Pune and Mumbai. To facilitate this expansion, the cofounders are experimenting with store size, assortments, and locations to enhance the customer experience.

In the home decor segment, the startup competes with companies such as Trampoline, The Purple Turtles, Chumbak, Vaaree, Pepperfry, Furlenco, and Urban Ladder.

Additionally, the startup aims to offer a seamless online-offline shopping experience by allowing customers to pick up online purchases in-store and vice versa. 

The startup is also working on implementing loyalty programmes and enabling customers to place orders through their app for home delivery, enhancing convenience and flexibility for shoppers.

By increasing scale and efficiency, the startup plans to become EBITDA positive by 2025.

Looking ahead to FY25, Nestasia aims to prioritise expanding offline stores and enhancing branding efforts.

[Edited by Shishir Parasher]

The post How Nestasia Aims To Become The Go-To Brand For All Home Decor Needs appeared first on Inc42 Media.

Even as North India seethed under the sweltering sun, the capital-starved Indian startup ecosystem witnessed a pleasant June 2024 as funding levels recovered to some extent on the back of Zepto’s $665 Mn funding round. 

While the shoots of funding revival brought some respite, the road to recovery, in terms of funding numbers, still seems far. 

Notwithstanding the freefall in funding raised by Indian startups in the past one year, the world’s third-largest startup landscape is slowly climbing its way up, as investor confidence is coming back stronger than a ’90s trend.

Leading the charge of this turnaround from the front is the GenAI boom in the country, which has enticed both global and domestic VC and PE firms. Coupled with the emerging arena of cleantech and ever-growing direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands in the country, the Indian startup landscape appears well-poised to fuel the next stage of growth. 

However, profitability and sustainability still seem to be high on the agenda of investors. The 48th batch of ‘30 Startups To Watch’ is suggestive of the trend – nine bootstrapped startups, yet the whole cohort has raised around $30 Mn between them. What’s more, half of this month’s batch has raised more than $1 Mn in funding.

The June 2024 edition of ‘30 Startups To Watch’ is more mainstream than recent cohorts, with over 75% of the startups coming from India’s three major startup hubs: Bengaluru (13), Mumbai (6), and Delhi NCR (5). 

However, Pune and Ahmedabad also left their mark and incubated a clutch of new-age tech companies featured on the list. 

As we close the first half of 2024, we continue to keep an eye on some of the most interesting ventures nestling in India’s startup ecosystem. Without further ado, here is the 48th edition of Inc42’s ‘30 Startups To Watch’.

Editor’s Note: The list below is not a ranking of any kind. We have listed the startups alphabetically.

AbleCredit

AI To Write Custom Credit Reports

To address the credit gap in India and similar challenges in emerging economies, Utkarsh Apoorva, Harshad Saykhedkar, Ashwini Prabhu, and Anubhab Bandyopadhyay launched AbleCredit in 2023.

The startup is developing GenAI models to transform the underwriting process by generating detailed and tailored credit reports on a case-by-case basis.

The uniqueness of AbleCredit’s approach lies in its ability to assess creditworthiness within the informal sector. By analysing alternative data and adhering to stringent credit policies and guidelines, AbleCredit expands access to credit assessment for sectors typically overlooked by conventional methods.

By enhancing the speed of underwriting by over 20X and reducing operational costs, the platform enables credit teams to significantly increase their throughput.

A team that previously handled 10 loan cases per day can now manage over 120 cases efficiently. This efficiency accelerates the credit approval process and reduces the high underwriting costs that have historically hindered credit access in emerging markets.

In essence, AbleCredit’s innovative AI-driven approach is poised to bridge the credit gap in emerging nations, particularly in sectors like MSMEs where access to credit is critical for economic growth and job creation.

Asaya

Skincare Regime For Melanin-Rich Skin

The rise of direct-to-consumer (D2C) beauty brands in India has transformed the skincare industry with innovative solutions. One of these new brands is Asaya, a premium skincare line specifically designed for melanin-rich skin.

Launched in September 2023 by Neeraj Biyani, the cofounder of Paper Boat, along with Mandeep Bhatia and Eeti Sharma, Asaya has quickly made a mark in the market.

Asaya’s journey began when cofounder Sharma, at the age of 35, woke up with adult acne. Despite seeking expert advice and trying European products, Sharma found no relief. She realised that her dusky skin’s specific needs were missing from the skincare conversation and product formulations.

This insight led to the creation of Asaya, which focusses on deep hydration for hyperpigmentation, acne, lower moisture retention, oily skin care, and other specific needs of melanin-rich skin.

Asaya has rapidly expanded its sales and customer base, selling through its website and major online platforms like Nykaa, Amazon, Flipkart, and Myntra. The brand offers over 11 products and 23 SKUs, catering to the unique needs of Indian skin, which structurally differs from the lighter skin tones prevalent in Western markets.

ATICA

Streamlining Hotel Ops

Founded in 2020 by hotel industry veterans Akash Goel and Bonish Gandhi, ATICA specialises in last-mile sales and revenue management, offering innovative solutions to streamline and enhance hotel operations.

At the core of ATICA’s offerings is its proprietary lead generation and CRM tool, which modernises traditional manual sales processes.

The company works in hands-on revenue management and reactive sales, including RFP management, ensuring hotels maximise their revenue from both brand and third-party websites.

ATICA has attracted substantial investment from Titan Capital and DLF. This is the third entrepreneurial venture of its founders, who bring a wealth of industry knowledge and insight to the company.

ATICA’s diverse client portfolio includes hotel owners associated with major brands like Marriott, Hilton, IHG, Hyatt, Choice, Wyndham, Best Western, and more.

Through expert sales management, strategic digital marketing initiatives, and advanced revenue management technology, ATICA delivers measurable results to help clients thrive in a competitive hospitality landscape.

Ayna

Fashion Photography Reimagined

Founded in 2023 by Yash Bansal and Aastha Rajpal, Ayna serves direct-to-consumer fashion and ecommerce brands by offering virtual photoshoots that save time, effort, and cost.

The platform lets brands create custom-built virtual models for their apparel and merchandise using inputs like mannequins, human models wearing the clothing, or designed backdrops. Brands can customise the age, ethnicity, size, and expressions of the virtual models, select suitable backgrounds, adjust lighting and mood, and establish brand profiles.

Ayna is developing a proprietary Compound Foundational Model specifically for the ecommerce industry. They charge based on usage and currently operate in India. Recently, Ayna raised $1.5 Mn in a funding round led by Inflexor.

In the short term, Ayna plans to expand into the US and grow its customer base to over 1,000 by 2024. By 2026, they aim to help global ecommerce players adopt AI, starting with virtual photoshoots, to drive exponential growth.

Benny

Shop With Screenshots

Founded by IIT Roorkee alumni Sanjil Jain and Nikhil Kumar, Benny is an AI-driven shopping platform that allows users to upload any image and instantly find matching apparel from over 160 leading online stores.

This AI-powered platform enables shoppers to compare prices, view delivery and return information, and access ratings and reviews for a wide range of products and brands. By simplifying the search process, Benny ensures users can find the perfect outfit without the hassle of typing descriptions.

Whether users come across an outfit on Instagram, Pinterest, or Netflix, Benny can display matching apparel from a vast array of online stores, including Amazon, Myntra, Ajio, Urbanic, and Newme. The platform’s search capabilities encompass over 11K fashion brands and millions of products.

The core of Benny’s model is its image-based search functionality. Users upload an image of the desired outfit and Benny’s AI technology scans its extensive database to find matching items from various online stores.

This allows users to compare different options and make informed purchasing decisions based on price, delivery options, return policies, and customer reviews.

Benny has already achieved significant milestones, crossing $20,000 in gross merchandise value (GMV) and earning a place in the prestigious Google for AI Startups programme.

By the end of 2024, Benny aims to reach 200K users and achieve $400K in total GMV. By 2026, the platform has ambitious goals of expanding to 2 Mn users, generating $20 Mn in total GMV and achieving $1 Mn in total revenue.

Blip

Blinkit For Fashion

Blip finds its genesis from Ansh Agarwal and Sarvesh Kedia’s fascination of creating a quick-commerce platform for fashion, similar to Zepto or Blinkit.

Founded in 2024, Blip is a hyperlocal quick-commerce platform that delivers clothes in 30 minutes. It partners with various brands specific to localities and operates a series of strategically placed dark stores to ensure quick deliveries.

In the near future, it plans to open retail stores that feature mid-level D2C brands, helping them enter the retail market more easily.

Blip also aims to strengthen its foundation and expand its reach by onboarding more retail brands. In the short term, it plans to cover all pin codes in Mumbai for rapid delivery and expand to other major cities like Bengaluru and Delhi.

By 2026, Blip has ambitious plans to diversify and grow. It intends to open offline showrooms for mid to large-scale apparel D2C brands, positioning itself as the “Shopify for offline retail”.

Blip also aims to become a logistics provider for D2C brands, enabling same-day delivery and streamlining the supply chain. Additionally, Blip plans to expand its marketplace and integrate with ONDC as a buyer app, enhancing the shopping experience and solidifying its market position.

CirclePe

Smart Rental Solutions

CirclePe, founded by Navan Jaiswal and Ankur Yadav, addresses the longstanding challenges tenants face with security deposits when renting properties.

Traditionally, tenants have struggled with hefty security deposits, arbitrary deductions, and delayed refunds upon moving out. CirclePe disrupts this norm with its innovative fintech solution, Smart Renting.

Through CirclePe, creditworthy tenants can move into rental properties without paying any security deposit. Unlike existing models like bonds and insurance, which face significant friction in cash-centric markets like India, CirclePe offers a seamless experience by providing landlords with advance rent for the entire lease term along with damage insurance coverage.

At the heart of CirclePe’s solution is its proprietary in-house credit assessment framework. This technology enables smooth checkouts, allowing tenants to move in without upfront deposits and pay their monthly rent using a no-cost EMI model.

In the next 12 months, CirclePe aims to assist over 10,000 tenants in securing rental accommodations without traditional security deposits.

Clientell

Your RevOps & CRM Dream Team

In 2021, Neil Sarkar and Saahil Dhaka noticed the fast growth of Revenue Operations (RevOps) in the US. They saw that sales and marketing systems were often separate and not integrated. While AI was making software more accessible, the user experience with Salesforce remained unchanged, making SaaS sales harder. This observation led them to create Clientell.

Clientell creates AI tools for RevOps that work with existing Salesforce systems. These tools simplify administration, improve go-to-market (GTM) efficiency, and reduce the workload of RevOps teams. Available on Clientell’s SaaS platform and in Teams/Slack, these tools are offered through a fixed monthly subscription with annual licences.

Clientell’s main products include AI-powered data capture,
on-demand analytics and Salesforce administration. Its revenue model is based on a monthly subscription fee. The startup has already launched its AI agent and Chrome plugin for beta users.

By 2026, it aims to launch a fully autonomous AI Salesforce developer to handle all manual RevOps tasks, potentially reducing RevOps teams to one person and replacing multiple SaaS solutions.

Distil

Your Partner For Speciality Chemicals

Founded by Atanuu Agarrwal, Karan Hirani and Viraj Shah, Distil aims to solve key challenges in the speciality chemicals industry.

With backgrounds in private equity, trade financing, and operational expertise, the founders share a vision to innovate and improve product quality and accessibility in the market.

Distil is an R&D-led platform, which offers custom formulations and manufacturing solutions to meet specific performance and regulatory needs for global manufacturers.

The startup uses advanced technology to streamline purchasing, ensuring consistent quality, varied quantity requirements, and reduced lead times and minimum order quantities (MOQs) through a robust network of stock points in India and international markets.

Its flagship offerings focus on consistent quality, tech-enabled purchasing convenience, on-time delivery, and strong after-sales support. Though its products are not patented, Distil operates on an inventory-based revenue model, primarily focussing on direct sales of speciality chemicals.

In 2024, Distil plans to expand its sales and R&D teams, develop proprietary products and establish a strong presence in the life sciences segment, including flavours, fragrances, food ingredients, pharmaceuticals, and personal care. By 2026, Distil aims to become a global leader in speciality chemicals.

Fourie

Democratising Engaging Content Creation

Fourie Studio, created by SyncSense, is a generative AI platform designed to change how content is localised globally. Named after mathematician Joseph Fourier, it helps businesses dub, subtitle, and narrate content in multiple languages, expanding their reach and impact.

Founded by Vibhor Saran and Vishal Bhalla in 2022, Fourie Studio excels in keeping the original emotion, tone, and context of the source material, ensuring that localised content connects well with diverse audiences. The platform supports over 40+ global languages and offers more than 750 voices, making it useful for industries like education, media, entertainment, sports, and commerce.

The idea for Fourie Studio was inspired by the need to democratise content access. During the Olympic livestream events, the lack of localised content highlighted a significant gap in connecting digital content with regional audiences. This realisation led to the creation of Fourie Studio.

Using advanced AI technologies, Fourie Studio makes content transformation fast and cost-effective, delivering results in one-tenth of the time and at one-fifth of the cost compared to traditional methods.

Frammer AI

Helping Companies With Highly Discoverable, Monetisable Content

Arijit Chatterjee, Suparna Singh and Kawaljit Singh, former management team members at NDTV, have deep expertise in the news and publishing industry. Seeing the need for publishers to create high-quality short-form content to boost engagement and revenue on digital platforms, they launched Frammer.

The platform is changing the digital content game with its cutting-edge AI technology, designed to generate high-quality short-form content quickly and cost-effectively.

Frammer transforms any video into a format ready for various social media platforms, including YouTube and vertical video formats for Reels and YouTube Shorts. It works with both live stream and edited videos, ensuring high accuracy and editorial integrity in the produced short-form content.

Currently active in India, the US, and the UK, Frammer caters to the specific needs of publishers and media companies. So far, the company has secured three clients in India and is running advanced pilot programmes with major US media conglomerates.

In the upcoming year, Frammer aims to expand its client base by reaching out to more publishers and media companies. Looking ahead to 2026, Frammer has ambitious plans to serve all media content sectors.

Gravity

Hyper-Personalisation Banking Platform

Unlike consumer internet companies that provide personalised experiences, banks often fail to meet modern consumer expectations for tailored services. GRAVITY aims to help banks usher in an era of hyper-personalisation, enabling contextual curation of products and services at scale and speed.

Founded in Mumbai in 2023 by Satish Krishnaswamy and Rohit Maroo, former colleagues at HDFC Bank, GRAVITY addresses banks’ challenges in leveraging their vast amounts of data for personalised services.

The platform identifies the most relevant parameters for differentiating customer services and enables bank teams to build unique criteria tailored to each customer, enhancing personalisation and relevance.

Operating under a Platform as a Service (PaaS) revenue model, GRAVITY completed proof of concept (POC) projects with two reputed commercial banks in India.

It aims to implement its version 1.0 at 4-5 commercial banks in India this year, targeting a minimum revenue of $2 Mn in annual recurring revenue (ARR).

By 2026, the platform aims to introduce version 2.0, fully enabled with advanced AI and DeepTech capabilities, at 10-12 commercial banks in India and 4-5 overseas banks, and achieve a revenue of $10 Mn in ARR.

GreyLabs AI

AI-Powered Speech Analytics Platform

Founded in 2023 by Aman Goel and Harshita Srivastava, GreyLabs AI addresses the inefficiency and inconsistent performance of call centre agents in banks and financial institutions.

It provides a Generative AI-powered speech analytics platform that analyses every interaction between an agent and a customer.

This detailed analysis provides insights and identifies areas for improvement, boosting sales conversions, ensuring compliance in EMI collection calls, and enhancing customer service by ensuring agents follow call scripts and resolve issues effectively.

GreyLabs AI’s business model charges on a per-minute basis for processed recordings, with additional packages available on a per-agent, per-month basis.

GreyLabs AI operates in India, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia. Recent milestones include signing two of India’s top ten largest banks and one of the largest broking firms as clients. They also secured $1.6 Mn in seed funding from Matrix Partners.

In the short term, GreyLabs AI aims to achieve $1 Mn in revenue. Their long-term vision is to reach an annual revenue run rate of $12 Mn by 2026 while maintaining profitability.

InstaAstro

E-Marketplace For Astrologers

Founded by Nitin Verma in 2021, InstaAstro offers a range of services, including horoscopes, tarot readings, and numerology. The platform caters to a broad audience with content available in English, Hindi, and various regional languages.

In just three years, InstaAstro boasts over 2 Lakh monthly app downloads and facilitates more than 50,000 minutes of consultations daily. Its annual recurring revenue (ARR) stands at $5 Mn, as claimed by the startup.

With a user base exceeding 5 Mn and over 20 Mn minutes of consultations in the past year, InstaAstro works with a network of 1,500 astrologers.

Looking ahead, InstaAstro plans to expand into spiritual ecommerce, daily Pooja services, and Reiki healing. With these offerings, the startup aims to enhance user engagement and strengthen the platform’s position as a comprehensive destination for spiritual and astrological guidance.

KarbonWise

Keeping Tab Of Enterprise Emissions

KarbonWise, founded by Arjun Vijayaragavan in 2023, tackles the critical challenge faced by enterprises striving for a ‘Net Zero’ future.

The platform combines advanced technology, climate science, and industry-specific expertise to help businesses achieve substantial carbon reductions and sustainable growth.

At its core, KarbonWise acts as a ‘sustainability co-pilot’, providing enterprises with a comprehensive view of their carbon and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) data.

This enables informed decision-making, strategic action planning, and streamlined compliance processes. By resolving data challenges and accelerating insights generation, KarbonWise guides businesses towards impactful sustainability outcomes.

Vijayaragavan’s vision is to help businesses overcome hurdles such as competing priorities, metric comprehension, and internal capability maturity in environmental action.

The startup aims to create ‘Net Zero champions’ whose sustainability efforts align closely with the overall business strategy.

With a track record of collaborating closely with over 70 enterprises, KarbonWise understands the complexities and constraints of the sustainability journey. By leveraging technology and providing personalised support, KarbonWise not only helps businesses survive but thrive in their pursuit of sustainable practices and environmental stewardship.

Krishigati

Electrifying The Future Of Indian Agriculture

Founded in 2021 by Sonali Weljali and Tukaaram Sonawane, Krishigati is an agritech startup that offers innovative solutions for modern precision farming. The company is dedicated to improving the lives of marginal farmers by providing sustainable and value-added products and services, aiming to reduce farming expenditures by 20-60%.

Krishigati’s flagship product, the self-propelled electric agricultural toolbars, is designed for versatile agricultural tasks in food-grain crops and specific vegetables. These toolbars can operate in fields with crop heights up to 2.5 feet and support various inter-cultivation activities such as precision seed sowing, weeding, pesticide spraying, and soil hilling.

The toolbars’ multi-utility architecture makes them suitable for a wide range of crops, including fruit farms, sugarcane, selective vegetables, and food grains, making them essential in key agricultural regions. By integrating cutting-edge technology and innovative design, Krishigati empowers small-scale farmers to achieve greater efficiency and productivity.

Maino.AI

Now, Accelerate Your ROI With AI-Led Marketing

Founded in 2022 by Abhijeet Kunwar, Rishabh Kumar and Vikas Kersi, Maino.ai addresses key challenges in digital marketing, such as the heavy reliance on manual processes and poor coordination among various marketing channels. These issues often result in inefficient ROI and missed opportunities for optimising campaigns.

To solve these problems, Maino.ai uses AI and ML to provide an automated, smart, and ROI-driven marketing technology platform.

This platform simplifies campaign management across multiple advertising platforms and continuously generates new creatives, ensuring efficiency and scalability for clients.

Maino.ai’s technology has been widely adopted by brands in various sectors, including media tech, direct-to-consumer brands, hospitality, and edtech. By offering a comprehensive solution for all marketing needs, Maino.ai aims to democratise marketing and help businesses of all sizes succeed in the digital age.

Mem0

Sharpening AI Interactions

Founded by Taranjeet Singh and Deshraj Yadav, Mem0 aims to revolutionise AI interactions by creating a sophisticated long-term memory system for Language Model (LLM) applications.

Taranjeet Singh, the CEO, brings extensive experience in software engineering and product management. He has played key roles at Khatabook and Paytm, witnessing the rapid growth of digital payment systems in India. His entrepreneurial journey includes co-founding EvalAI, an open-source platform for machine learning competitions.

Deshraj Yadav, the CTO, has extensive expertise in AI and ML. He has also led the AI Platform at Tesla Autopilot, developing scalable solutions for autonomous driving technology.

Mem0’s core innovation is its smart memory technology, which enhances LLMs with personalised user interactions. This memory system allows LLMs to remember past interactions across different applications and platforms, ensuring a seamless and personalised experience for users.

By offering APIs that enable developers to integrate this memory service into their products, Mem0 empowers AI applications to learn and adapt based on individual user preferences.

As AI evolves, Mem0 positions itself at the forefront of enabling advanced personalisation capabilities, making AI interactions more intuitive and effective across various domains and applications.

Metis

Intelligent Decision-Making For Financial Institutions

Founded in 2021, Metis Intellisystems specialises in intelligent decision-making using AI and ML for the BFSI sector.

Founded by Khushru F. Doctor and Amit Saraswat, the startup’s expertise in AI and ML enables it to create a comprehensive understanding of customers by cross-referencing diverse data sources, enhancing the precision of financial technology solutions.

Metis’ flagship platform, QANAT, uses AI and ML to analyse bank statements and GST data, cross-referencing information from sources like SMS, Bureau, ITR, and financial statements. It detects fraudulent transactions and processes statements from multiple banks, focussing on lending portfolio management — onboarding, risk assessment, early warning systems, and cross-selling.

The startup claims to have secured partnerships with domestic and international financial institutions. Metis has formalised arrangements with multiple companies to implement solutions for risk identification, early warning systems, and automated business rule engines (BRE) for lending.

Neo San

Waste Management Decentralised

Founded by Dhwaj Bagrecha and Alistair Sean D’Rozario in 2022, Neo San addresses hazardous waste management with innovative solutions using proprietary technology.

The startup’s flagship product, Neo-X, is a decentralised waste incinerator that treats waste at the source using clean energy.

Neo-X achieves efficient combustion, reaching 1200°C in under two minutes while consuming only 0.2 units of electricity per burn cycle. This significantly reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 300 times compared to traditional methods like landfill fires or centralised incineration.

Neo San’s approach minimises CO2 emissions by reducing waste transport, which accounts for 60% of waste management costs, and promotes efficient burning processes.

The company is building decentralised networks of people and machines to manage waste locally and efficiently, cutting overall emissions by over 90% compared to current methods.

Nuuk

Bridging Modern Vibe To Appliances

Founded in 2023 by Gazal Kalra and Shalabh Gupta, Nuuk is a Gurugram-based D2C electronics brand. Largely focussed on consumer electronics, the startup sells table fans, circulation fans, personal fans and car vacuum cleaners.

Nuuk claims to draw inspiration from the Nordic countries, including Greenland (whose capital Nuuk is the inspiration for the startup’s name) in its product design and design language. The startup’s fans range between INR 2,599 and INR 10,999, while vacuums are available at INR 3,299.

Currently, the startup seems to be in the building mode, with only 11 people in its team, including the cofounders.

POP

UPI Payments Made Rewarding

Founded in 2023 by Bhargav Errangi, POP aims to establish itself as a premier destination for payments and shopping tailored for today’s discerning users. The cornerstone of POP’s offerings is the POPclub app, a comprehensive UPI payments and shopping platform.

On the POPclub app, users earn 2% cashback on every UPI transaction in POPcoins, which can be redeemed for a diverse array of products across categories like beauty, personal care, electronics, fashion, and home goods—all conveniently accessible within the app.

POPcoins are already utilised by over 200 online merchants as a loyalty currency on their respective ecommerce platforms, according to the startup.

Looking ahead, POP plans to introduce the POPclub credit card in collaboration with Yes Bank. This card will offer enhanced POPcoin rewards for all online expenditures. Cardholders can redeem their accumulated POPcoins for vouchers from prominent lifestyle platforms such as Zomato, Blinkit, and Cleartrip.

Quinn

Transforming Ecommerce With Videos

Founded by Mohit Kinra and Arvind Sasikumar in 2021, Quinn leverages video assets, such as Instagram Reels, to boost Shopify store revenue.

Currently live with over 100 leading brands, including Juicy Chemistry, Faces Canada, Arata, and The Face Shop, Quinn is backed by the founders of Purplle, Snapdeal, Kwench, and Mamaearth.

Quinn’s mission is to transform ecommerce by harnessing the power of video. The company believes that video can create more engaging, personalised, and interactive shopping experiences for customers.

By integrating shoppable videos into online stores, Quinn empowers businesses to showcase their products more effectively, connect with their audience, and drive sales. Its innovative solutions seamlessly merge video and commerce, enhancing the shopping experience and elevating online retail.

rampp.ai

Navigating Digital Transformation Of Enterprises

Founded by Ajay Agrawal and Huzefa Saifee in 2023, rampp.ai leverages the power of GenAI to automate processes, enhance operational efficiency and drive innovation, making it an indispensable partner in the digital transformation journey.

The startup’s flagship product, RADI AI Navigator, is a real-time solution designed to create digital journeys for enterprises. RADI AI synthesises deep industry insights, specific use cases, and technological expertise embedded within the rampp.ai platform, aligning them with stakeholder inputs to bring their digital visions to life. This enables enterprises to streamline their transformation efforts with precision and agility.

Additionally, the rampp.ai Digital Asset Library (DAL) provides customers with essential assets to accelerate their transformation journey, while rampp.ai Academy crafts hyper-personalised talent development programmes using digital journey data and enterprise information. This holistic approach ensures that enterprises have the necessary tools and skilled workforce to leverage these tools effectively.

Currently operating in North America and India, rampp.ai engages in a B2B model, offering the RADI Navigator platform as a SaaS solution. Going forward, the startup aims to position itself as the default transformation partner for enterprises.

Rizzzed

Gaming-Inspired Streetwear Brand

Rizzzed aims to merge the vibrant world of video games with the edgy nature of street fashion. Founded by Hrishav Bhattacharjee in 2023, Rizzzed was born from his desire to fuse the immersive experience of video games with the bold expression of street fashion.

As a gamer and street fashion enthusiast, he saw an opportunity to fill a gap in the fashion industry by creating apparel that resonates with both gamers and style-conscious individuals.

Each piece in Rizzzed’s collections pays tribute to iconic gaming elements, from retro pixel art to modern esports aesthetics. The designs capture the essence of various gaming genres, characters, and cultures while maintaining the cool, understated vibe of streetwear.

Rizzzed offers a unique blend of bold graphics, ergonomic designs and a colour palette that reflects the intensity and artistry of the gaming universe. The brand claims to use premium fabrics and innovative designs to ensure comfort, durability, and style. Additionally, Rizzzed actively participates in gaming events, sponsorships, and collaborations.

Segwise.ai

AI Agents To Increase Game’s Lifetime Value

Founded by Brijesh Bharadwaj and Shobhit Gupta in 2023, Segwise.ai is the byproduct of the duo’s experience at FamPay, where they realised that many tasks aimed at increasing the lifetime value (LTV) of mobile apps and games could be automated with AI.

Notably, Segwise.ai provides AI agents to help game studios optimise their game’s LTV.

The flagship product of Segwise.ai, AI Game Analyst agent, assists game studios by identifying root causes of metric changes and uncovering causal LTV drivers.

The company’s products stand out for their ability to automate daily root cause analyses (RCAs) and uncover hidden LTV opportunities, providing game studios with powerful tools to enhance their operations and revenue generation.

Segwise.ai operates on a B2B SaaS revenue model, offering subscription-based services to game studios and developers in the US and India. In the past three months, the company has started working with over 20 game studios across India, the US, Israel, Jordan, and the UK.

By 2026, Segwise.ai aims to enable lean studios to grow revenues from multiple games, continuing to innovate and expand its AI solutions for the gaming industry.

Sprih

Action-Oriented Sustainability Platform For Enterprises

Founded in 2023 by Akash Keshav, Ravi Singhal, Rohit Toshniwal and Hemant Joshi, Sprih emerged from their volunteer work with a non-profit organisation focussed on reforestation.

Their commitment to sustainability and firsthand experience with corporate challenges inspired them to apply their tech expertise to create a solution. This initiative led to the development of an advanced AI-powered software platform for sustainability.

Sprih specialises in providing organisations with a comprehensive sustainability platform designed to support their sustainability goals. The platform offers a suite of tools, including carbon emissions analysis across all scopes, setting science-based reduction targets, and benchmarking against industry standards and peers.

It also provides actionable recommendations for emission reductions and offsets, integrating global reporting frameworks to facilitate collaboration and generate detailed sustainability reports.

Sprih’s flagship products include an enterprise sustainability platform and a supply chain sustainability platform, both widely adopted by numerous companies. The key USP of Sprih’s products lies in its holistic approach to sustainability.

Currently operating on a subscription-based revenue model, Sprih serves a global market and has recently achieved significant milestones such as securing funding and expanding operations into the US.

Superjoin

Streamlining Real-Time Data Management

Superjoin aims to revolutionise how businesses handle their SaaS data and internal databases in real time. By empowering business teams to automate workflows, streamline forecasting, and build complex reports within the familiar environment of spreadsheets, Superjoin serves a diverse clientele, from startups to publicly listed companies worldwide.

Founded in 2023 by Abhinav Das and Vinayak Jhunjhunwala, Superjoin enhances the appeal of spreadsheets by enabling users to import live data into Google Sheets automatically using AI. With Superjoin, pulling live data from various tools is effortless and code-free.

The platform allows connections to unlimited data sources, enabling users to import data into Google Sheets with just one click.

Additionally, Superjoin offers scheduling capabilities to automatically update Google Sheets with the latest data from various sources, eliminating the need for cumbersome CSV exports.

Wahter

Monetising Water With Advertising

Founded in December 2023 by Amitt Nenwani and Kashiish A Nenwani, Wahter combines packaged drinking water with a unique advertising platform.

Wahter offers high-quality drinking water at INR 1 or INR 2 per bottle, ensuring affordability and accessibility without compromising quality.

Operating in the Delhi NCR region, the startup provides a comprehensive marketing solution from production to distribution.

Each Wahter bottle dedicates 80% of its surface to brand advertisements, with the remaining 20% reserved for Wahter’s branding. This model allows advertising investments to subsidise the cost of the water, creating a win-win scenario.

Wahter bottles feature QR codes, linking offline impressions to online engagement. Each bottle averages 48 impressions before recycling, enhancing brand visibility.

Whatmore

AI-Powered Video Commerce Platform

Founded in 2022 by Shaym Srinivas and Prabhu Dayal Sahoo, Whatmore aims to revolutionise the way ecommerce stores present their products.

Specialising in short-video content, Whatmore creates videos tailored for platforms like Instagram, TikTok, marketplaces, and websites.

Whatmore’s platform transforms product images into dynamic, engaging video compilations within just 60 seconds, seamlessly synced with trending music.

Users can easily create engaging product videos that showcase their collections, turn images into captivating product videos with popular music, and enjoy platform versatility ideal for Instagram, TikTok, ecommerce marketplaces, and websites.

[Edited by Shishir Parasher]

The post 30 Startups To Watch: Startups That Caught Our Eyes In June 2024 appeared first on Inc42 Media.

In this era of social media explosion, especially with the proliferation of the internet, an increase in number of mobile users and the advent of GenAI, India was seen cradling 462 Mn social media users in January 2024. 

Just last year, LinkedIn revealed that India was its second-largest market in the world after the US. At the end of the March 2023 quarter, the networking platform saw its India user count surge 19% year-on-year (YoY) to more than 100 Mn, which increased to 120 Mn at the end of January this year.

The professional networking platform attaches this increase in demand to the entry of GenZes into the workforce and the increase in the number of student sign-ups. 

Tapping into this massive market opportunity, Bella Vita cofounder Aakash Anand, along with Sumit Jha and Palash Arneja, has launched an AI and ML-based social-professional platform Unikon.ai. 

The startup aims to help connect individuals – students, working professionals, freelancers – with professionals of their choice like teachers, mentors, counsellors, experts, et al.

For instance, if a user wants to learn a new skill like cooking or coding, the platform will help the individual get easy access to people who engage in the skill. 

However, this is just one facet of Unikon.ai. With this platform, the cofounder aims to solve the gaps that exist in the knowledge-sharing market. 

The Origin Thesis Of Unikon.ai

Although founded in November 2023, Anand launched the platform, Unikon.ai, just last week. Speaking with Inc42, Unikon.ai cofounder Anand, who is also well known for his D2C perfume brand Bella Vita, said that ‘Unikon’ stands for “You and I connect”.

Explaining the rationale behind floating the social networking platform, he said that despite the presence of multiple social networking platforms, he would often struggle to network with the right people in the ecosystem.

“At Unikon.ai, we are addressing the problem of access. The platform allows anyone to set up rates based on the value of their time. Others on the platform can then reach out to them via video calls, audio calls, or messages, all of which are chargeable, to get their queries or advisory answered,” Anand said.

Anand added that the people looking for serious mentorships always value such services. On the other hand, monetisation adds value to the service providers’ time.

Currently, the platform is leveraging machine learning to match enquirers with the right individuals. 

Moving on, Unikon.ai also offers multiple features, each solving the networking and access issues. Among them, Unishorts is seemingly a feather in its cap.

How Is Unikon.ai LinkedIn On Steroids?

While Anand derives inspiration from the world’s biggest social networking platform, the platform has much to offer beyond just connection requests, peer-to-peer messaging and applying for jobs.

Similar to Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts, the platform’s Unishorts feature allows users to post short videos showcasing their skills such as cooking, training, mentoring, and counselling.

These short videos are captured during sessions on the platform and shared publicly with the consent of both parties.

Anyone who has signed up on Unikon.ai can swipe through these short videos, reacting and commenting on them. The shorts also have a share feature, allowing them to be shared across other social media or messaging platforms.

Anand said this feature helps service providers build their own brands. Additionally, it helps Unikon.ai learn consumer behaviour and collect data, enabling the platform to seamlessly recommend the right course of action to service seekers in the future.

Alongside this, the startup offers another feature, UniSeek, which helps users post all kinds of queries and seek assistance or even hire professionals. The platform uses AI and ML-powered algorithms to match queries with the right individuals.

The platform also enables users to list their webinars where people can sign up as per requirement and price. Anand says that these features and the platform’s transparency are some of its biggest USPs, which other platforms in the market lack.

Meanwhile, Unikon.ai takes a 20% cut on all monetary transactions that take place on the platform, which is currently its only source of revenue.

The startup has already raised INR 16 Cr (around $2 Mn) in its seed funding round from Ananta Capital, and the likes of Zerodha cofounder Nikhil Kamath, Shiprocket’s Vishesh Khurana, Peyush Bansal of Lenskart, OfBusiness’ Nitin Jain and Vasant Sridhar, and Gaurav Khatri of Noise.

Its captable also includes influencers like Tanmay Bhatt, Raj Shamani, Arjun Vaidya, Sharan Hegde, and Ganeshprasad of Thinkschool.

In fact, Unikon.ai is betting heavily on influencer marketing to gain primary traction in the market.

The Road Ahead

Currently, Unikon.ai has about 2,300 registered users on its platform. As per the cofounder, this number is expected to grow to about 7,000 by the end of this week. The startup aims to grow its user base by almost 36X to 2.5 Lakh in the next 12 months. 

Within the next 12 months, the startups wants to achieve 2,000 daily conversations on the platform. Anand said that Unikon.ai will raise its next funding only after achieving this mark.

Meanwhile, the startup is also working on building GenAI models in-house. In the coming years, the platform will also leverage GenAI and build avatars, training them on the data that the platform is collecting, which would further enable users to achieve their professional goals.

As the sea of social media opportunity becomes deeper and wider, Anand believes that every professional would like to be incentivised for their time and knowledge sharing and there would be no free conversations. 

As of now, in a market ruled by tech majors like Microsoft and Meta, it would be interesting to see how Unikon.ai marks its niche in the networking solutions space.

The post How Unikon.ai Wants To Change The Professional Networking Dynamics In India appeared first on Inc42 Media.