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Silicon Valley’s South Park Commons launches Bengaluru outpost in collaboration with Binny Bansal

Economic TimesEconomic Times · 1y ago
Silicon Valley’s South Park Commons launches Bengaluru outpost in collaboration with Binny Bansal
Medial

South Park Commons (SPC), a community of founders and engineers, has opened its first international location in Bengaluru, India. In collaboration with Flipkart cofounder Binny Bansal, SPC aims to support Indian entrepreneurs with early-stage ideas. Founded in 2016 by Ruchi Sanghvi and Aditya Agarwal, SPC has raised funds to back founders and researchers. The expansion into India reflects the country's dynamic and promising technology entrepreneurship ecosystem. SPC differentiates itself from other incubators, as it welcomes individuals even before they have an idea or plan to start a company. The focus in India will be on early-stage AI researchers and founders.

Here is how Skydo addressing challenges in B2B cross-border payments

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Here is how Skydo addressing challenges in B2B cross-border payments
Medial

Bengaluru-based fintech firm Skydo aspires to make cross-border B2B payments much more hassle-free and address common challenges such as steep forex charges. Founded in 2022 by former Ola executives Movin Jain and Srivatsan Sridhar, the company aims to tap into the massive market of cross-border payments, which is dominated by global players like PayPal and Stripe. We spoke to cofounder and CEO Sridhar to learn more about Skydo, how it works, and what is the roadmap ahead. Here are the edited excerpts: How did you come up with the idea of Skydo? My co-founder Movin Jain and I used to work together at Ola. This was about six years back and we’ve been good friends since then. I’ve been mostly doing business roles throughout my career. First year at McKinsey, then for several years in startups and in between for about six years I ran my family-owned business. Movin has been an engineering and product guy and most recently before we started up he was actually at Phonepe, leading the payments platform. So given I have been a manufacturing exporter myself, somehow you know making life simple for exports, figuring out the problems that exporters have in terms of the complicated foreign exchange and other things that they have to deal with has been on my mind. But I never kind of thought about it consciously until we started brainstorming about which space we have to build in. Given Movin’s recent stint in payments, he was very excited about payments and the value of technology in improving payments. So since we were brainstorming about payments, some of my experiences studying the payments and wanting to solve for them came to our thinking and then we kind of started deeply digging into whether these problems are real, how can we solve them as a small company, what kind of actual issues do exporters face on a ground level, let’s talk to a few people and understand. And as we did the initial research, we realized that this is actually a real problem and it’s worth solving and this is a large enough market for us to solve it in. So this was largely the genesis of Skydo. What are the key challenges in payments and exports, cross-border payments that have not been addressed yet and how do you plan to address this? Up until 20-30 years ago, inter-entity payments were slow and cumbersome, often involving manual processes like cheque writing. International wire transfers were particularly sluggish and document-heavy. However, the likes of PayPal, business and international payments have transitioned to facilitate online transactions globally. Conventional banking systems have also significantly improved their infrastructure, with the inclusion of faster payment systems within domestic countries. This robust infrastructure, coupled with various payment options, enables companies like us with the right tools to address unsolved customer challenges. Moreover, consumers now expect instant payments, regardless of geography. Though things like compliance pose another hurdle, with varying regulations across countries causing confusion and complexity. Simplifying and standardizing compliance procedures can enable seamless international payments and business transactions. While companies like Skydo are lowering costs, there still remains room to tackle margins through technological solutions. While issues like Forex hedging and treasury management exist, addressing these concerns should be the next frontier in the payment landscape. Can you take us through how Skydo has performed since inception. So we started the company exactly two years back in March of 2022. It took us about seven months to launch the product after our first set of partnerships and approvals came. We launched in November 2022 with a small pilot batch and since January of 2023, we have been gradually and systematically scaling the business. Today, we have onboarded close to 2,500 businesses and currently our rate of acquiring new businesses is almost 500 to 600 businesses every month. So, this number is doubled, the customer base is doubled at the end of March from what it was at the end of December 2023. And I think at this pace of growth, it looks like it is going to sustain for quite a bit of time now. From onboarding, then if I look at the total payments processed, we are currently processing about $50 million of payments. This again is growing quite strongly and I think by the end of next year, that is the March of 2025, we hope to be processing over $750 million of payments annually. That is the kind of scale that we are looking at. What are your goals in terms of product and business expansion? So in the short term, obviously we want to really scale and hold a very large market share for Indian small businesses. I think that will keep us busy for the next couple of years at least. Although we will also follow this with multiple product features that will be required to make this happen from creating more countries where we can have local collections, enabling credit card payments, enabling two-way payments both from India to outward and along with the export payments that today exist and so on. So there’s an entire product roadmap that will support this growth in India. We also have to be looking for multiple licenses throughout the world. We have already applied and are waiting for approval for the payment aggregator license that RBI gives for cross-border companies. But in addition, we will be looking for multiple licensing in other geographies that will allow us to slowly and steadily expand to more corridors beyond India, which is slightly on the longer term plan. Apart from payments, the diversification is primarily into software to start with. Over time, when we have a very large scale, we might diversify into commerce as well as working capital. But that is very long term.

Park+ reports Rs 131 Cr revenue in FY24 with stable losses

EntrackrEntrackr · 9m ago
Park+ reports Rs 131 Cr revenue in FY24 with stable losses
Medial

Following over 2.5X revenue growth in FY22 and FY23, Gurugram-based Park+ reported a 36.5% year-on-year revenue increase for the fiscal year ending March 2024. Despite its rapid expansion, the five-year-old company maintained tight control on expenses as its losses increased only 4% in the last fiscal year. Park+ revenue from operations grew to Rs 131 crore in FY24 from Rs 96 crore in FY23, its consolidated financial statements sourced from the Registrar of Companies show. Founded by Amit Lakhotia, Park+ provides car cleaning, parking solutions for homes, malls, and offices, fine (challan) payments, insurance management, and car service. It also expanded into ancillary offerings like FASTag issuance and EV charging networks. The sale of services which includes commissions of FASTags, rental of access control, advertisement, valet service, and parking formed 80% of the total operating income which increased by 44% to Rs 104 crore in FY24. The rest of the collections came from the sale of products such as access control, FASTtag, radio frequency tag, and others. Employee benefits was the largest cost center for Park+, accounting for 41% of the overall expenditure. This cost increased 29.5% to Rs 101 crore in FY24 from Rs 78 crore in FY23. This includes Rs 27 crore as ESOP cost. The cost of materials consumed including the procurement of FASTags, radio frequency and related materials grew 65.7% to Rs 58 crore in FY24. Advertising, legal, technology, conveyance and other overheads took the overall expenditure to Rs 245 crore in FY24 from Rs 202 crore in FY23. A sharp rise in ESOP costs and material expenses resulted in a 4% increase in losses, bringing them to Rs 103 crore in FY24. Its ROCE and EBITDA margins stood at -72% and 68% respectively. On a unit level, it spent Rs 1.87 to earn a rupee in FY24. Park+’s total current assets were recorded at Rs 160 crore in FY24 including the cash and bank balances of Rs 102 crore. Park+ has secured $54 million in funding across various rounds and was valued at around $355 million during its Series C round in December 2022. According to the data intelligence platform TheKredible, Peak XV is the largest external stakeholder, followed by Matrix and Epiq Capital. Its founder and CEO Lakhotia owns 45% stake in the company. Park+ competes with Get My Parking, Park Smart, and Parky, among others. In June, the company ventured into the on-demand driver services segment with Drive+, positioning it as a potential competitor to DriveU, Drivers4Me, Driverzz, PickMyCar, Namma Driver, and Cars24. The segment, while high on activity and startups, remains in its infancy, with rules, technology and users still evolving. One feels the truly ‘killer’ use case is still not in hand, even as volumes continue to rise. However, much like fuel deregulation that allowed a huge rise in credit cards powered by discounts on fuel purchases, somehow, the idea of parking or toll charges driving the same sort of opportunity escapes this writer. Most of the aggregation also remains nowhere close to an ‘essential’ for a driver, further placing retention at risk, and driving up user acquisition costs. Could this be a case of problems that seemed big only in the rarefied world of well off VC’s? It won’t be the first time (or the last) VC’s confused a problem they face with a broader market demand. We should know soon enough over the next few quarters.

Return Prime aims to make return management seamless for brands

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Return Prime aims to make return management seamless for brands
Medial

Bengaluru-based Return Prime provides a customer return platform which includes a business dashboard for managing returns. The company aims to make it easier for brands, specially smaller ones, to use its services through a plug-and-play model. Beyond basic returns, brands can use the Return Prime platform for automating return logistics, refunds, replacements, and more. We spoke to founder and CEO Shashwat Swaroop to learn more about Return Prime, what distinguishes it from the competition and the roadmap ahead. Here are the edited excerpts: How did you come up with this idea? I have always been extremely passionate about creating something and solving problems, building my brand which helped other people solve their challenges was always something that I intended to do. Once an eCommerce brand came to me with their return management nightmare. They were doing everything manually and it was too cumbersome. It was not only time-consuming but was impacting their customer experience too. Customers were used to a certain speed, standards, and experience, and to ensure their shoppers wouldn’t leave them, they needed a solution to cater to this. But building a whole software program was just out of reach – both financially and in terms of time! I then began researching, and my study confirmed what I suspected – there was a massive gap in the market for managing returns. Existing solutions were few and far between, and mostly focused on the US. We saw a chance to empower brands worldwide to make return management extremely seamless, one that ensures their GMV losses are minimized while customer experience is maximized, that’s what led to the birth of Return Prime. Please help understand how you generate revenues. The pricing models are quite fair and simple. This was one of the most important things for us to simplify. When we started building Return Prime, we were simplifying the complicated experience of returns for both brands and their customers so keeping everything around Return Prime simple was important. The pricing model is just based on the scale of business which is how many returns they do in a given month. One can start with the Free Forever plan if they are a small brand and pay nothing forever. They only have to choose a paid plan when they start to grow. As you grow, you can choose one of our Grow plans which starts at $9.99 a month. What are the key challenges in the industry that have not been addressed yet? And how do you plan to address this? We are working to solve the way businesses see returns. The correct solution is not to focus on reducing the returns but on figuring out how you can turn your returns into a revenue-making opportunity. Returns are simply inevitable so the merit is not in reducing it by another few per cent but in converting the majority of it into additional revenue. We are constantly working on it and on average, our brands see an ROI of 183%+ with Return Prime, which is on the cost they pay for Return Prime every month. This is going up constantly with our focused effort to turn returns into revenue. How has your startup performed since its inception? Please share statistics. We have been growing from day 1, completely bootstrapped. We grew 150% YoY in the last 3 years and this is not just India, across the globe. We serve merchants in 100+ countries today and our market share across these countries continues to increase every year. In the last 3 years, we have processed over 12 million returns for brands and customers globally. What are your short-term and long-term goals in terms of product and business expansion and diversification? From a product expansion point of view, we are focused on increasing the ROI for our brands as we believe in keeping strong fundamentals. While we do this, we will continue to increase our market share across other regions as well along with India. As consumer behaviour evolves, we are also trying to help brands offer Omnichannel returns experiences to their customers making it super easy and delightful for them. This not only helps the customer but also increases the repeat purchase and LTV for brands as this customer will trust them even more. On the other hand, we are also trying to help bigger brands solve more complex operational problems and policies which now with Return Prime is just a matter of click. We will continue to simplify complexities as we grow along with brands. In terms of geographical expansion, we will go deeper into some of the regions and increase our market share while we continue to turn returns into revenue for the rest of the world.

Meet Beyoung, Udaipur-based D2C fashion brand that’s eyeing Rs 650 Cr GMV

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Meet Beyoung, Udaipur-based D2C fashion brand that’s eyeing Rs 650 Cr GMV
Medial

Independent fashion brands have come a long way in recent years. While the offline segment is still dominated by legacy players and franchises, the rise of social media and e-commerce has facilitated the growth of quite a few D2C brands. Moreover, the over $14 billion Indian e-commerce fashion market has helped brands like Bewakoof, Rare Rabbit, and The Pant Project to gain traction. One of the popular names in this space remains Beyoung. Founded in 2018, the startup claims to have delivered over 20 lakh online orders. The company recently announced accelerating its offline expansion by 300 stores across India and growing GMV two-fold to Rs 650 crore by 2027 We spoke to the company founder Shivam Soni to learn more about Beyoung, its history, growth, and lots more. Here are the edited excerpts: How did you come up with the idea of Beyoung? We always wanted to enter the essentials market, and the idea to start Beyoung was initiated with this thought. At one point, we recognized a significant gap in the market for aspirational yet affordable fashion options in tier 2, 3, and 4 cities across India, which we refer to as the ‘Real Bharat.’ While many brands were focusing on niche segments, we aimed to serve the mass market. We chose to focus on Kapda from the essentials ROTI, KAPDA, MAKAN (clothing), offering branded products to consumers in these underserved regions, providing both aspirational choices and value for money. What are the key challenges in the industry that still need to be addressed? And how do you plan to address them? Catering to diverse target audiences with varying buying power across regions is challenging. It’s crucial to adapt products and marketing to different regional preferences and cultures, as what works in North India might not work in South India. Managing an efficient supply chain and ensuring timely delivery adds to the complexity. Additionally, attracting and retaining skilled talent in a Tier 3 city like Udaipur is difficult. To solve these problems, we have leveraged technology and data-driven marketing campaigns. We analyze behavioral patterns and channel our efforts toward solving our audience’s pain points. While staying headquartered in Udaipur posed some challenges, it has also helped us address the challenges of tier 2, 3, and 4 cities in understanding their pain points and solving their problems How has your startup performed since its inception? Since its inception, Beyoung has shown significant growth and achieved notable milestones. Some key performance statistics highlight our progress: we have successfully built a robust customer base of 5 million, underscoring the strong demand and engagement with our brand. This growth reflects our ability to connect effectively with our target audience. Recognizing the potential and spending power in the men’s fashion segment, we have strategically made it our primary focus. This decision has paid off, as 90% of our revenue comes from male customers. In the last financial year of 2023, we achieved an impressive annual recurring revenue (ARR) of 200 million. This reflects our ongoing efforts to expand our market reach, enhance our product offerings, and improve customer engagement. What are your short-term and long-term product and business expansion and diversification goals? Our short-term and long-term goals for product and business expansion and diversification are driven by the evolving ways users interact with brands and the significant growth potential within the Indian fashion industry, projected to reach 289.6 million users by 2029. We aim to be the top choice for customers by offering trendy styles and great value for money. Our focus will be on efficiently engaging with and serving the mass market, both domestically and internationally, to become a part of their everyday wardrobe. Over the next three years, we plan to expand our presence by establishing physical stores in various neighborhoods across India. This will complement our existing online platform and provide a seamless shopping experience. Our long-term vision is to extend our reach beyond India and establish a global presence. We aspire to make Beyoung a recognizable and trusted brand worldwide, serving customers across different countries.

Mytek provides AI-based digital platform for infra, civil, and more

EntrackrEntrackr · 1y ago
Mytek provides AI-based digital platform for infra, civil, and more
Medial

Mumbai-based Mytek aims to provide a unified AI based digital platform for Infra & Civil, IT – ITES, telecom, architecture and other engineering services related purposes. Founded in 2020 by Shivkumar Borade and later joined by Ashwajeet Wankhede, Mytek has already scooped up over 100 projects so far. It also has more than 500 certified workforce as well as served more than 50 clients. We spoke to the founder and CMD Borade to learn more about Mytek, what distinguishes it from the competition and the roadmap ahead. Here are the edited excerpts: There are not many startups operating in the civil and engineering space. How did you come up with the idea? Me and my co-founder come with deep experience in both public and private sector projects. We identified that there are several complexities and challenges, mostly common, that lead to delays in government projects. Key issues for enterprises with government contracts included improper project planning, capital exhaustion and lack of skilled contractors. Local hurdles, permissions, and subcontractor challenges were also prevalent. To address these, we came up with Mytek, essentially a unified AI based digital platform. Here, contractors can select their expertise, regions, and project capacities. The platform notifies them of relevant opportunities and streamlines project planning for existing contracts. Vis a vis Client gets to know real-time project progress vs the planned one, for each and every activity and milestone. Clients can also assess the quality of the work sitting at one place. How does this unified digital AI based platform work? Please help simplify. The platform caters to Mytek employees (who also act as project management consultants), clients, subcontractors, suppliers, Mytek management, and business associates. For projects awarded to Mytek, details are logged, stakeholders tagged, and subcontractors selected based on skills. AI tools generate auto schedules with milestones, managing permissions to prevent delays. Notifications prompt tasks, while suppliers receive material requests. Site supervisors upload reports and real-time photos, and clients access project details including progress reports. Mytek management tracks project funding and cash flows. For projects awarded to other contractors, they enjoy the same benefits, including assigning their teams and applying for project funding to mitigate working capital challenges. Please help us understand how you generate revenues. After offering the digital platform’s features free of charge to all contractors, including auto project scheduling, Mytek aims to provide project funding and share margins with contractors holding work orders. The Suppliers app serves dual purposes: for Mytek’s existing contracts, it facilitates major supply acquisitions, saving significant costs by sourcing inquiries among a pool of suppliers, thereby generating indirect revenue for Mytek. Additionally, any business or direct client seeking doorstep delivery of materials can create inquiries on the Mytek portal. Mytek then obtains the best quotes from registered suppliers through a reverse auction process, identifying the most favorable quote. Mytek further enhances services by offering transportation, quality checks, and timely delivery to end clients, incorporating its margin into the received input cost. This serves as an efficient supply chain management for B2B, B2G and B2C clients as well. What are your short-term and long-term goals in terms of product and business expansion and diversification? The short-term objective is to provide the platform to all SMEs requiring project planning at no cost and secure a 20% market share in infrastructure. The long-term vision is to expand the Digital Platform’s reach to encompass all engineering sectors globally.

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