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Emerging Startup Stories

Zivame: Founding Story

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Back in the day, talking about lingerie was a taboo in India. However, times change and so do people!

An enthusiastic MBA student, Richa Kar, developed an online lingerie shopping platform in the year 2011.

The company had so far, raised $ 9 million from IDG Ventures India, Kalaari Capital and Unilazer Ventures. Alongside, Zivame counts Ratan Tata as an investor. Now that is big! Currently, Zivame is India’s leading online lingerie store which offers a variety of 5,000 styles, 50 brands and 100 sizes with a valuation of $100 million.

 

Zivame is probably the first in the online lingerie platform in India!

 

From then to now!

 

Richa Kar completed her engineering from BITS, Pilani, followed by her management studies from Narsee Monjee Institute of Management Studies in 2007.

Later, she worked for SAP Retail Consulting during which she found herself working for the famous lingerie company Victoria’s Secret.

The brilliant idea for her own lingerie business came to light when Richa tracked Victoria’s Secret’s sales, who was one of her clients at SAP. She observed the lingerie sales figures reached peaks overseas but, Indian women were not provided with the similar innerwear. While Richa was studying the Indian lingerie market, she realized the social embarrassment in India surrounding lingerie shopping. It was causing several problems for women as well as retailers.

Richa researched many lingerie stores and found out that women were uncomfortable buying inner wears as the stores had male salesperson.

 

In order to solve the issues, Richa came up with Zivame!

The name Zivame comes from a Hebrew word radiance. So, the main motive of this young lady Richa, is to help women understand their lingerie needs and purchase them without any kind of embarrassment.

 

Post the launch of the website, there were questions raised on the image of Richa’s family in the society. Her friends and family members wondered if she had to admit she was selling bras and panties on the web in the typical Indian language. Initially, Richa faced a lot of pressure but that didn’t stop her from achieving her goals!

 

There were a lot of people who also made fun of her business!

Richa couldn’t even find a place on rent because the landlords asked her what she was doing and she had to tell them she sold clothes online.

 

Richa says,

If you are strong, focused and passionate about what you want to do, everything falls in place.

Zivame also partnered with several media channels that launched Zivame bra advertisements that created awareness among women!

Alongside, the website also provided customers with the option of returning the products as well! With time, Zivame started getting positive response from its buyers!  

 

Richa’s first client was a man from Indore who bought materials worth Rs 7,000 and from then there was no stopping! Since the inception of Zivame, it grew from a small firm to a company of more than 200 employees. With her dedication toward her idea and work, Richa built Zivame which is now worth more than Rs. 681 Crore.

The online lingerie shopping platform Zivame, claims growth of 300% yearly! The company received its first funding of $ 3 million in May 2012, followed by another funding of $ 6 million in Dec 2013 and $ 40 million in 2015.

 

Zivame.com, now have more than 5 million followers and more than a million visitors per day.

According to Richa,

Worldwide, lingerie is the most exciting category in the women’s apparel segment. The Indian woman, who is more confident than ever before is indulging herself in lingerie to express her individuality. Zivame is the catalyst of this change; using technology to understand her better and providing her an unsurpassed lingerie experience.

 

So, If you have zeal like Richa Kar, you can achieve anything and everything!

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Emerging Startup Stories

Discover Kheyti, The Startup Changing The Lives of Farmers In India

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Farming has been an integral part of India’s history and culture for ages. It’s been the foundation of the Indian economy, supporting millions of people with food and jobs. Crops and agriculture hold immense importance in Indian society, not just in terms of money, but also in terms of culture, community, and spirituality.

Farming is a way of life for many people in India, but it can be a difficult and unpredictable business and farmers face a number of challenges, from erratic weather patterns to low market prices for their crops. Kheyti is a social enterprise founded in 2015 by Saumya, Kaushik Kappagantula, and Sathya Raghu. The organisation provides sustainable solutions to small farmers in India, helping them overcome challenges and improve their lives.

Kheyti’s flagship product is the “Greenhouse-in-a-Box,” a low-cost modular greenhouse that allows farmers to grow high-value crops year-round, even in unfavourable weather conditions. operates on a subscription-based model, where farmers can purchase a “Greenhouse-in-a-Box” kit or sign up for crop advisory services on a monthly or annual basis. Kheyti.com also earns revenue by connecting farmers with markets and buyers, taking a small commission on sales. They work to keep the costs low by partnering with local manufacturers to produce their products and leveraging tech to provide personalised crop advisory services at scale.

They also provide crop advisory services to farmers, offering personalised advice on crop selection, planting, and management. In total, The company has helped over 6,000 small farmers increase their incomes by an average of 300%. You call them small farmers, Kheyti calls them Smart farmers!

While there are other companies in India that offer similar solutions to small farmers, Kheyti stands out for its focus on sustainability, innovation, and community involvement. It works closely with farmers to develop tailored solutions that meet their needs while focusing on sustainable farming practices. Through its efforts, Kheyti has improved soil health, reduced water usage, and increased yields of various crops.

Looking ahead, Kheyti plans to expand its reach to more farmers in India and beyond and aims to continue developing new products and services that can help small farmers overcome the challenges they face. With its commitment to sustainability and innovation, The visionaries at Kheyti claim it has the potential to transform the agricultural sector and contribute to a more equitable future for all.

Imagine the joy and hope Kheyti brings to struggling farmers in India. With Kheyti’s help, over 6,000 small farmers have transformed their lives, becoming Smart farmers who handle challenges and succeed. With sustainable solutions, Kheyti is not only revolutionising agriculture but also spreading hope for a brighter future.

 

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Emerging Startup Stories

Suki: This Startup Wants To Transform Healthcare With Its Artificial Intelligence Tool

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Suki: This Startup Wants To Transform Healthcare With Its Artificial Intelligence Tool

We live in a rapidly transforming era where humanity is making exponential leaps in technology.  Thirty years ago, no one would have believed you could talk to an online voice assistant to create tasks and get things done.  Ten years ago, no one would have believed humanity would land robots on Mars.  Technology truly has improved the quality of living of every human who owns a smartphone and has access to an internet connection.  Voice assistants are slowly replacing manual tasks and making lives easier and efficient.  Siri, Alexa, Google Voice Assistant are just some of the widely used artificial intelligence based tools which are employed on a daily basis.  Artificial intelligence, which is hailed as the technology of the future is now slowly making its way into much more complex domains like self driving vehicles, quantum computing and also health care.

Suki, a United States of America based startup founded by Punit Soni, developed their own voice assistant which runs on artificial intelligence to simplify healthcare for doctors and other healthcare professionals.  In simple terms, Suki is akin to Siri for doctors.  While you could order a pizza or schedule an appointment on Siri, doctors could modify, edit and add health records of their patients.  Suki is a powerful tool to help doctors with documentation of health records which often take hours of their (doctors) time.  

Suki currently focuses on documentation but has the potential to expand its usage to data queries, ordering, prescribing and billing.  According to a white paper published by Suki, using its technology increases the time a doctor spends with a patient by 12% by cutting note taking time by 76%.  The time which is saved also brings in a financial benefit of $30,000 more in revenue a year on average for doctors.  

Suki raised a $ 20 million Series B round from Flare Capital Partners, First Round Capital, and Venrock, doubling its total funding to $ 40 million since its 2017 launch.  Suki is also looking to expand its reach in India and has decided to establish Bangalore as their base of operations.  India holds a lot of potential for Suki considering the amount of manual work which goes into almost any sector.  

It would be interesting to watch how Suki and other similar AI based startups would transform healthcare across the world.

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Emerging Startup Stories

The Story of Mens Grooming Startup Bombay Shaving Company

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In the past grooming products were traditionally targeted at the female gender.  However, with changing times and perceptions grooming is now a gender neutral term.  Grooming is now essential for looking great and making a good impression.  However, in a market which is traditionally saturated with products from FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) for women, a startup saw potential in men’s grooming products.  Bombay Shaving Company, found the men’s grooming market in India was largely unorganised and was largely limited to just shaving products.  Today there are products like body wash, soaps, oils, shampoos, creams and perfumes for men’s grooming and the popularity of grooming products is due to brands like Bombay Shaving Company, Beardo and Ustraa.

Beginnings

Bombay Shaving Company was founded in 2015 by Deepu Panicker, Rohit Jaiswal, Shantanu Deshpande and Raunak Munot who are all friends.  It all began with Shantanu, who was a software engineer working for McKinsey in the United States of America.  A chance discussion with a friend who was interning at Harry’s, a New York based shaving brand piqued Shantanu’s interest.  The friend spoke about how shaving brands in America are challenging the likes of Gillette and PRO, which led Shantanu to the realisation that India could also use a disruption in the grooming space.  

Shantanu then spoke to his friends, family and  general consumers about shaving habits and came to the conclusion no one likes to shave because men hated the daily ritual of shaving.  This led to the birth of Bombay Shaving Company.  Shantanu soon roped in his school friend, Raunak Munot, who was the Director of Social Strategy, GroupM New York, and college friends, Rohit Jaiswal, the Head of Channel at Emel and Crompton Greaves, and Deepu Panicker, a senior analyst at McKinsey.

ALSO READ: Social Media Paves The Way For Cosmetic Entrepreneurs

Growth

The team worked with world class experts and manufacturers about fragrances, raw materials and worked with chemical engineers as well as packaging innovators.  The first five hundred customers were acquired purely through word of mouth.  Most of their products are constantly innovated depending on customer insights.  One example would be when a sizable amount of customers wanted the shave to be closer and aggressive, the team designed a new razor part and shipped it to their customers free of cost.  

Secondly, the Bombay Shaving Company team wanted to give their customers a great unboxing experience and it worked.  Customers began to share unboxing videos and pictures on social media and it worked wonders for their branding which led to an increase in sales.  The team also gave users the option to get their names engraved on the shaving razors to add a personal touch for free of cost.  Bombay Shaving Company raised $ 9 million in funding since its inception and now sells more than 40 products across four categories (shaving, bath, beard and skincare.)

Today Bombay Shaving Company has redefined the shaving experience and continues to grow.  In January 2021, Bombay Shaving Company raised $6.1 Mn (INR 45 Cr) in a funding round led by a UK based consumer goods giant Reckitt Benckiser.  This funding will be used to launch three new consumer brands in the market, invest in marketing and branding and penetrate deeper into the market, beyond the metros.

Let us know in the comments below if you have ever used any of the products of Bombay Shaving Company or plan to use in the future.

 

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