The following about start-ups’: - Unique strengths - Business models You must have heard that so many start-ups are coming and getting billions of dollar funding. You must be thinking why these startups are getting so much funds, what they are doing, and what business models they are using. 7 startups who have received billions of dollars funding are discussed. ## **#1 UDAAN** - It is a Bangalore-based company also called Alibaba of India. - They have raised the funding of more than $500 billion. - They are called as India’s Fastest Growing Unicorn. Unicorns are the companies whose valuation is more than 1 Billion. - It is a technology platform where wholesalers or distributors can directly sell their material or product to retailers. - The wholesaler and retailer directly list their product on this technology platform and their voice reaches directly to the customers. This is incredible because the entire ecosystem has become seamless. It is technology-driven so you need not hire much manpower. - Alibaba in China made a platform for small retailers. Everyone knows that there are many small wholesalers, retailers, and distributors. Digitalising them is a big opportunity because if you digitalise all of them, you will get their business data and their customers’ data. Like recently, Facebook has invested 45k crores of rupees in Reliance Jio for customers’ data. ## **#2 OPEN BANKS** The biggest problem people face while going to a bank are: - Difficulty in getting loans - Slow processing - Writing many cheques Open Bank is a Bangalore-based company that has raised a fund of $30 million. It has a mobile app wherein you can map and integrate all your accounts on their app and automatically, the entire bank gets digitalised through this technology platform. You are not required to go to the bank. You can transact from an Open Bank for any of your bank transactions and they will charge fees for this. Around more than 1 Lakh users are using Open Bank. The unique point of Open Bank is that they have value-added services, which they have created over the existing layer. ## **#3 CRED** Kunal Shah started this company. He sold off his previous company Freechart to Axis Bank. After that, he founded CRED with huge funding. This is an amazing application. Many people are using credit cards and have more than one credit card but the problem with credit cards is that many times you are not able to read statements of the credit card; you don’t have time and forget to pay the bill. Now, if you forget to pay to the Credit Card Company, they will impose heavy charges on you. You don’t want to pay those expenses and call them to argue on levy charges and this process never ends. Due to this, your CIBIL score also reduces. CRED is an application wherein you can link all your credit cards and automatically this app will tell and remind you on due dates of your credit card. If you make payment of your credit cards through CRED, then it also gives you cred points. This cred point is gamification. CRED automised all types of information on credit cards like bank statement mails that get into spam or statement of credit cards that you receive at your home which got late many times and sometimes you don’t even receive them. For customers, it benefitted because they pay bills on time and they also get CRED points on it. And, all these points can be redeemed at restaurants, hotels, and places where a credit card company has been in partnership. So, credit card company get their payment on time. The customer gets good CIBIL Score and CRED points. CRED got credibility and revenue. ## **#4 MOGLIX** This is the biggest Indian procurement service company. **Example:** - Suppose, I am sitting in Delhi and running a construction company. Now, I want the cement and I don’t know where I will get a good quality of cement in huge quantity and at a reasonable price. - So, I will call nearby people and ask them and there is a middleman who also earns money in-between. This entire process is lengthy and time-consuming. Moglix automised this process via an app wherein you can find nearby cement providers and the cost of cement. - Then, I transact from their app only and finally, get cement at my place with a guarantee of Moglix. Every company especially internet-driven company is creating value-added services through mobile apps. ## **#5 ZERODHA** This is a stock broking company. It’s a zero brokerage company. Download the Zerodha app and invest in any stock that you want. They will not charge a single penny from you for any transaction. They will not take brokerage from you. They charge fix fee from you per trade. This is a tech-first company. They have a product called: - Kite – It is a trading platform based on HTML Five Technology and it is very fast. - Quant – It’s a behavioural analytical product. **Example:** Suppose you are a trader, then: - What type of trader you are? - How will you do the risk analysis? - How much trade will you do per day? - Are you the long-term or short term investor? - Where do you incur losses? - Where will you win? - When did you took the decision at the right time? Zerodha analyses all the above traits and gives a clear analytical picture of your transactions and trading. By this, the trader comes to know about himself and his past trends. ## **#6 DUNZO** Dunzo does the hyper-local delivery. What is a hyper-local delivery? Suppose, I am in Okhla phase 2 area of Delhi. Now, if I want anything on that location at a specific time say, “I want aata and then, give it to someone.” Now, I can either go to Amazon and book the aata online, which will be delivered in a day or two. But, for the delivery at that point in time, you go on the Dunzo app. Dunzo has more than 4500 riders, who do some other job in day or night, and to earn extra money, they work with Dunzo. They have their own bikes and move around the whole city. So, as soon as you go on the app of Dunzo, it will map you to the nearest rider. The nearest rider will search for the shops around him. Dunzo doesn’t have features of calling; so, the rider will message you and share the pictures of the material available, as soon as you say ok, he will purchase and drop the aata at your location for which you will pay money to him. In cities like Bangalore where people are working day and night and they don’t have time to go and purchase, Dunzo facilitates all the requirements at a fixed time. Hyper-local demand has great demand in India. ## **#7 YULU** It’s a mobility company. They have made a small portable scooter. It doesn’t mean that I will reach from Delhi to Gurgaon by using their scooter. It’s a very small electricity-driven portable scooter and can ride for shorter distance like if I dropped at some metro station and from the metro station, I have to reach the destination at a distance within 2-3kms, then we have to open Yulu app, do the payment and automatically a Yulu bike will be assigned, which will be standing at the metro station. As I will reach to bike, I will scan the code on the bike and the bike will get unlock. I will ride that bike to my destination. and there I will get a Yulu bike station where I have to leave that bike. This micro-mobility is a very big opportunity in India because we have huge traffic with no last-mile connectivity. Many people get down at the metro station, then take a rickshaw or shared auto from there. So, after corona, valuation for Yulu will increase. What is so unique about these startups and what they have done that: - The valuation of these startups has increased suddenly. - These startups get so many investors and customers. - They have become a big startup from a small startup. All these learnings are very important for you. ## **#8 PAYTM MONEY** - Paytm Money is not the regular Paytm that we use. It is a startup. - Paytm is no more a payment company; it is evolving as a financial services company. This is a unique strength that you need to understand. - For the businessmen who want to enter in the Fintech industry, it is a very big signal that how a company like Paytm has launched the Paytm Money. - Paytm Money is an app wherein you can invest in mutual funds and soon stockbroking services will be added in it. - Using this App, you can make direct payment to your mutual funds through Paytm wallet and when you want to take out money from your mutual funds, it can be directly transferred to your Paytm bank. - Paytm has started as a payment company, then they bring Paytm Money, and then Paytm Bank. All these are interlinked. First, they on-board customers through Paytm, then they provided value-added services, and behind it, they form a bank. In this way, Paytm wants to open a complete financial services company. - You need to understand this strategy and unique approach because today, financial services have a very big market in India that if even 20 companies like Paytm Money came in India, they will have a lot of business. So, the pie is much bigger. - The more the competition, the more value will be created for the customer and the bigger the market will become. ## **#9 MYGATE** MyGate is an incredible App. They have ensured with the help of technology that any guard need not to do an entry in the register. Making an entry in the register is a useless work because: - The register may get damaged or spoiled by water, rains, or any fire accident. - Also, you cannot check the entries again and again by flipping the pages. But, with the help of a digital medium, you can quickly check how many vehicles come inside and go outside, who enters the building and who exists out of it, etc. Especially in the lockdown, when all the societies are closed and gated, MyGate App is growing faster. The most unique feature of this app is that the complete record of entry and exit records is digitised. They are also providing value-added services to their customers. **For example:** - If a person delivers some e-commerce product at your society’s gate, then: - Your guard checks the house number on the delivery packet - He opens the MyGate App and taps on your house number. - You will get a notification about the delivery immediately on the MyGate App and you need to select allow or disallow on it. - If you select allow, it means you have called that e-commerce delivery boy. On the other hand, if you select disallow, it means you have not ordered anything. So, the digital record of all this is kept by the MyGate App. ## **#10 1MG** 1mg has started their business with the delivery of medicines. In the starting, they have a website that you can visit and order medicines as happens in various other websites. When 1mg started evolving and growing bigger, they entered the health nutrients space. Health nutrients mean the specific vitamins and proteins that are used by body builders, weight trainers, etc. Further 1mg grows and enters a new space, alternate medicines, which are becoming important and popular. Alternate medicine includes homeopathy and ayurvedic medicines while mainstream medicines include allopathy. So, while doing inorganic growth, 1mg acquires a startup, which deals in homeopathy. In this way, they enter homeopathy space. They have not stopped there. Now, they are saying that with the help of artificial intelligence and machine learning, they understand the customers’ health records, health patterns, and living patterns quickly and they will predict and tell the customers that what type of health benefits they require. Thus, 1mg has started as an e-commerce company and now, they are building an ecosystem around the health of the people. This is a unique factor about the company. ## **#11 POSIST** The founders of POSist are Ashish Tulsian and Sakshi Tulsian. They are incredible founders in India’s SaaS space. SaaS means Software as a Service, which means: - You are not taking upfront cost of software from the customers - Provide software as a service to your customers - Take monthly charges from the customers POSist is a POS system that you can understand from the brand name. >Your brand name should be such that by just looking at the name, your customer understands the type of business you are doing. POSist has made a full-fledged, automated POS system with CRM and ERP behind it. They provided all the value-added services in this big software for the restaurant and hospitality industry. Now, you can say that all the restaurants and the hospitality industry are closed due to corona. But, this is not an issue because when the restaurant and hospitality industry opens again, then POSist will have a monopoly not only in India but outside it because they have huge customer data and artificial intelligence that they can easily predict customers. **For example:** You are running a restaurant and have a sale of Rs. 10 lakhs on a good weekend. With the help of its software, POSist can tell you: - How much sales you have done in the last 3 months? - Which product was sold more? - Which waiter has served the customers most? - What should you pitch to your customers in the coming times? For example, you can train your waiters on the dish they should pitch in the next week. ·        How much growth will you get in your topline in a weekend if you pitch a particular dish? This is the advantage of the POSist software and being a data-driven company. You also need to understand how you can become a data-driven company and create more value for your customers. ## **#12 MEESHO** Meesho has disrupted the e-commerce industry. Every person cannot open an e-commerce company, build a brand like a clothing brand, food brand, etc., or have the huge financial capability and financial byte. In such a case, what should be done? Every person has some network, which may include 100, 200, or 500 friends. If you can provide something to these 100, 200, or 500 friends and get money from them, then what will happen? Meesho has done the same thing. It made entire India a reseller. For becoming a reseller: - You need to visit the Meesho website and download its app, and you can open your store in it. - You don’t need to do anything, you are just a reseller. - Meesho has a complete store behind whose products you can display in your own store. - When products start selling from your store, you will get margins. So, you are just doing reselling and by reselling, people have earned lakhs of rupees on it. ## **#13 KHATABOOK** In India, there are several Kirana stores and small stores that maintain “khata”. In such a case, if “khata” get misplaced, any page gets torn-off from it, or get damaged anyhow, this lead to huge losses. **For example:** - A customer has to pay Rs. 3000 but as the record of only Rs. 1,500 is maintained, so, only Rs. 1,500 is taken from him. This leads to a loss of Rs. 1,500. - Similarly, if a customer, as well as the shopkeeper, did not know the amount needs to be paid, then there will be no transparency. So, several problems like this are faced by shopkeepers. All these problems are solved by the Khatabook app. Khatabook has received huge funding and get fast growth. They got so much funding because: - They tell the investors that there are several Kirana stores in India and they have huge customer data. - These Kirana stores have several ways to capture data. - They tell the investors that they will digitise these Kirana stores free of cost by giving them a software. - The Kirana stores need to fill their customers’ details in the software so that it enables them to send free SMS, WhatsApp msgs, e-mails, and give them new offers. - It is easy for Big Bazaar and Amazon to bring new offers as they have power and capacity. But, how a small Kirana shopkeeper will bring new offers? - A Kirana store can also bring new offers with the help of Khatabook. This is the power given to Kirana stores by Khatabook. ## **#14 BULBUL** BulBul App has made a disruptive business model. It is very interactive. **For example:** - On TV, you must have seen teleshopping advertisements which go on for several hours. - In these advertisements, a person explains a product to you and a call to action keeps on displaying on your TV screens, which are the phone numbers that they request you to dial immediately to order the product they are explaining, which is mostly on offer. - You dial the number and get the product at your home at very low prices. The new version of the same thing is used by BulBul App. People show their products like clothes, jewellery, accessories, electronics, etc. live on this app. **For example:** If a person is selling mixer on the BulBul, then he will on the mixer and show you it’s working. So, you are watching and listening to that person live. This is live feedback. In the coming time, i.e. post-corona, people will not go to markets and malls for buying products. They will do all the shopping online. You will get the online shopping experience from real people and they will talk with you live, and you can interact with them live. This will increase trust and loyalty and you will buy products on the recommendation of one person. So, these are the 7 startups that are using technology to build customer relevance and customer experience. You also have to do this. If you don’t do so, then you will not be able to stand in the coming years because the upcoming time is the time of technology. To understand the strengths and USPs of start-ups, 7 start-ups are discussed to understand: - How these start-ups were founded? - How are they growing? - Which burning problem of customers are they solving? - How are they solving the customer’s burning problem? ## **#15 CLEVERTAP** - This company was started by Mr. Anand Jain. - Mr. Anand Jain realised that mobile is the science and the entire world will be on it in the future. It will have maximum content. - Every user will be using a mobile, even those who have never used a laptop, old people, etc. All of them will be on mobile. - Companies will make apps and bring their customers on mobile. So, Mr. Anand Jain created an engine for mobile marketing, i.e. Clever Tap. - If you have a mobile app or a mobile-friendly app and you want to market your app, then “Clever Tap” is one single platform that you should contact. In your app, if you want to - - end push notifications to your users - Make funnel of users and send them automatic notifications - Define users in different buckets and send different notifications to different user buckets - Send specific notification to specific users - Make your app interactive and add new features For all the above things, you can use one platform, i.e. “Clever Tap.” They have created such a unique platform that once you enter into it, you get the entire ecosystem of mobile marketing. They understood that merely creating a platform is not only sufficient. They need to provide value-added services on this platform. You are only a technology until you create a platform but when you create utility on this platform, then customers become happy. The utility is when a customer finds benefit from your platform. Clever Tap, a US-based company, has created a great value by providing services to several mobile app companies. Many big companies are engaging their users on mobile through Clever Tap. **Lesson** **_Create value-added services for your customers and not technology._** For technology, they can go to Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Salesforce. They will come to you for value-added services only. **Example:** - Paytm has an entire bank’s infrastructure at the backend of the website that has been provided to them by the government. - Customer pays to the Paytm not for the backend bank infrastructure but for their featured services. So, remember only value-added services will help you to move forward. ## **#16 KETTO** - There is one famous start-up in India for crowd-funding, i.e. “Ketto”. They generally invest in NGOs, personal creative work, organise an event, and raise funds. - If you’re an NGO and want support from people, you may go to [Ketto.com](http://ketto.com/) and people will themselves come to fund you. **What is Crowd-Funding?** - It means anything raising funds from the general public. - In Ketto, funds are raised by artists, NGOs, or people who are in need. People used to fund something that touches their hearts. They can give any amount of Rs. 50, 500, or 5,000 or whatever they are capable of. The ones who give funds will not get anything in return. - In some cases, creators say that we will give the product but majority crowd-funding is like donation only. - At many websites, crowd-funding is also called equity crowd-funding wherein you invest in a company and get shares of that company. - In India, equity crowd-funding is not so famous and has no specific regulations to operate. - NGOs and individual artists can raise funds from [Ketto.org](http://ketto.org/). Ketto will help you to reach lacs of people and raise funds. - Ketto’s unique value proposition is that they have lakhs of people who want to help, support, and fund people. These people give funds because they feel good by doing this. In some cases, they also get incentives through creators. ## **#17 SUMO** If you want to put a feedback form on your website, whether it is made on word press or any other platform, in less time, then you can go to [sumo.com](http://sumo.com/), pay a small amount, and within seconds, they will give you a readymade code, which you can put on your website and your form is ready. Using [sumo.com](http://sumo.com/), you can make forms for different purposes like a form for running an engagement drive or any other work. You must have seen that when you want to leave a website, suddenly a pop up appears with an offer or scheme. _How does this happen?_ [Sumo.com](http://sumo.com/) has made so easy plug-ins and APIs that they can be installed at just one click of the button at the backend of your website and you get so many functionalities on your website that your customer will never leave without giving their details. Sumo has unique value-added products, services, and advantages with user-friendly technology. This helps you to get maximum data of your customer and understand your customer more. ## **#18 WAKEFIT** - For buying mattresses, you go to a showroom, pay for a mattress, hire a rickshaw puller to take the mattress to your home, pay him, and fit the mattress at the right place. - Wakefit is a Bangalore-based company that has automated this whole process. - You just need to measure the dimensions of your bed and go to the website, [wakefit.com](http://wakefit.com/), and order the mattress. Within 7-8 days, the mattress is delivered at your place. - Wakefit has automated the entire process through innovative packaging while reducing the cost. They have unique product packaging. Once you open the packaging, the mattress within 24 hours retains its original shape and size. - They call, email, and take customer feedback on the performance of the product. By doing this they earn a good customer experience. They also give 6 months warranty for replacement. - They have uniqueness and created value for customers in two ways: - Innovative Packaging - Automation of the process ## **#19 DOCUSIGN** - Suppose you want to take a car loan. For this, you need to go to the bank, sign on several papers, go to the car showroom, select the car, check the financing schemes, etc. - In case, the bank executive or car showroom executive forgets to get the sign on 2-3 papers, then you will have to go to the bank again. For this, you will have to take leave from office or work. - DocuSign has created a platform and solved this problem. - You have to go to the [docusign.com](http://docusign.com/) website and upload all the required documents on it. You will receive an email to sign the papers digitally and resend them via email. - Thus, the entire process of going to the bank or showroom has been eliminated. This has minimised the time and the printing cost of papers. - DocuSign is purely legal and is available digitally. Many big companies use DocuSign. - This is highly critical, as post corona people will travel least for such documentation purposes. ## **#20 PINE LABS** - If you go to any restaurant, petrol pump, etc., the card swiping machine used is of Pine Labs. - Pine Labs have started with credit card swipe machines and now, they have made full pause systems. Go to any food court, you will find Pine Labs pause systems. - Imagine how this small company started and today lacs and crores of businessmen are largely using Pine Labs. - The entire process of Pine Labs is digitally automated. Payment is received and automatically credited to the bank. They automatically calculate per merchant cost. - Pine Labs has digitalised today’s business world and especially the payment process. Their unique selling point is their technology and the hardware they use is very strong and user-friendly. This is the reason that even if the cost is high, the business owner is ready to purchase their products. - It has created a big distribution network wherein their team is spread across the country. The team of Pine Labs is highly supportive and cooperative to customers. They have a great advantage of language which even master card and visa card don’t have. They are spread in all parts of India and talk in the local language of people and merchants and provide them full support. This helps them earn the trust of merchants. **Lesson** There is a huge market in the Fintech industry of India. If you want to open a venture in Fintech or partner with Pine Labs, then please connect to [pinelabs.com](http://pinelabs.com/). ## **#21 ATHER ENERGY** Sachin Bansal who has started [Flipkart.com](http://flipkart.com/) is the investor of “Ather Energy”. He sold Flipkart to Walmart in 16 billion dollars. Sachin Bansal has invested money in “Ather Energy” along with other investors. Ather Energy is the first Indian company to launch electrical scooters. They are not small scooties, fun rides, or scooters but they will run fast and purely on electricity with a fantastic look. Very soon, Ather Energy is going to launch these fantastic looking electrical scooters. They are bringing an Electric Revolution with a notable point that entire production is done in India. A very important point to be considered is that the innovation they are bringing is not yet done anywhere in energy mobility space. Ather Energy uniqueness is that they converted energy into mobility. There are a lot of applications of energy and people make many apps on it but Ather Energy said that they will take energy to mobility because the coming world is not the world of fossil fuels, petrol, or diesel. It is the world of electricity. Like Tesla’s Elon Musk who has made electrical cars, Ather Energy is making electrical scooters in India. **Lesson** You should be: - Futuristic about innovation - Identify how can you mobilise energy The above start-ups have already done all this that we explained to you. Now to disrupt them, you have to do something better, more innovative at low cost and big scale.