TECHNOLOGY INSPIRATION
Technology-People-Innovation

Articles by "SUCCESS STORY"
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March 27, 2016 ,

Image: Kunal Bahl, co-founder and CEO of Snapdeal with Ratan Tata. Photograph: Courtesy, Kunal Bahl/Twitter
Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal
Snapdeal  
Despite having changed their business model nearly half-a-dozen times during the early days, Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal have managed to establish Snapdeal among the top three e-commerce players in India.
In 2014, Snapdeal was valued at over $1.8 billion. According to filings with the Registrar of Companies, Bahl and Bansal own around 8.5 per cent in the e-commerce company, putting their stake at around $145 million.
The single largest shareholder in Snapdeal is SoftBank Group with a 33 per cent stake. Snapdeal has so far raised $1.1 billion from 16 investors.  
Bahl and Bansal have not stopped at creating wealth in their own venture, but have also been active angel investors in Indian startups, having invested in Delhi-based Gigstart.com (a marketplace for entertainers and party planners), apparel start-up Bewakoof, travel community Tripoto and Mumbai-based food ordering app Tiny Owl.  
While in an earlier interview with this newspaper, Bahl had said that most of the wealth for him and his partner will be created by Snapdeal, their decision to mentor and engage with younger entrepreneurs has led to their being described as “brave entrepreneurs”.  
Image: Flipkart founders Binny Bansal and Sachin Bansal. Photographs courtesy: Flipkart.
Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal
Flipkart  
In just seven years of starting from scratch, Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, co-founders of India’s e-commerce posterboy Flipkart, have outgrown the financial success of several iconic Indian businessmen.
It didn’t take decades for the duo, who are unrelated to each other, to cross a combined net worth of $1 billion, like it had for technology stalwarts like N R Narayana Murthy and Nandan Nilekani, both of Infosys.  
At the time of raising $1-billion last year, the Bansals’ combined stake of around 15 per cent in Flipkart was valued at Rs 6,000 crore (Rs 60 billion).
Murthy, along with his family, had a net worth of around Rs 8,500 crore (Rs 85 billion) at the time, while Nilekani and his family’s worth stood at around Rs 6,500 crore (Rs 65 billion).  
The story of how the two men started with just two laptops and grew to its current size is inspirational.
They were not only able to ride India’s robust consumption story, but also earned the investors’ willingness to place their bets on their company. In 2014, this resulted in Flipkart raising close to $2 billion.
Image: Deepinder Goyal, founder of Zomato. Photograph: Courtesy, Zomato .
Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah
Zomato  
They didn’t choose the route of big fund-raising like their Indian peers in the consumer Internet space, but Deepinder Goyal and Pankaj Chaddah are clearly focused on establishing their seven-year-old company, Zomato, as a global leader in the online restaurant search business.
Currently valued at around $700 million, experts estimate that Zomato is all set to enter the billion-dollar club in 2015, setting the stage for the founding duo’s combined net worth to touch a billion dollars over the next few years.  
The two former Bain & Co executives have taken the Gurgaon-headquartered Zomato, which began in Goyal’s bedroom, to its current status through global acquisitions, buying out companies in the US, Turkey, Italy, New Zealand, Poland, Slovakia and Czech Republic.  
In six funding rounds, Zomato has raised $113.8 million from three investors, most of it coming from online classifieds and e-commerce company Info Edge, with venture capital funds Sequoia Capital and Vy Capital participating in later rounds.  
Image: Actress Gul Panag hands over the keys to an OlaCabs driver, in the presence of the company's co-founder Bhavish Aggarwal. Photograph: Courtesy, Facebook/ Ola .
Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati
Ola  
If sources are to be believed, the valuation of mobile app-based taxi aggregator Ola (formerly OlaCabs) doubled in the first six months of 2014.
That would put the Bengaluru-headquartered company, started by Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay alumni Bhavish Aggarwal and Ankit Bhati, among the fastest growing technology startups in the country.  
While Aggarwal and Bhati have kept a low profile, their venture was in the limelight when it entered the $1-billion valuation club late in 2014, just three years after its inception.
In addition, Ola attracted funding of $210 million from Japan’s richest man, Masayoshi Son, the chairman of telecom and media group SoftBank Corp. Ola has so far raised $276.8 million from nine investors.  
Aggarwal and Bhati, both in their late-20s, have not only created landmarks in terms of valuation, but also set records in terms of growing their business: Ola entered nine new cities in a span of 45 days between October and November last year.
The company now has a presence in over 67 cities, and has an ambitious plan to expand to 100 cities by the end of 2015.
Aggarwal’s dedication towards his idea reflects in the fact that along with his wife, he has pledged never to buy a personal vehicle and always use Ola for transportation.
Besides, they are already known for their philanthrophy.
In 2014, Aggarwal accepted the “ice-bucket challenge” from Vikas Malpani, co-founder of Commonfloor, and Kunal Bahl of Snapdeal, and donated an undisclosed amount to the Akshaya Patra Foundation, which provides mid-day meals to 1.4 million children every day.
 
Naveen Tewari, Mohit Saxena, Abhay Singhal and Amit Gupta
InMobi  
On February 11, InMobi announced that it had become the first mobile advertising company to reach over one billion unique mobile devices.
“To put that in perspective, it is as big as India’s population,” said an excited company spokesperson.
“Or for that matter, remember Facebook has over a billion mobile users on its network.” Working in the enterprise segment, which attracts far lesser attention than consumer Internet companies, the four founders of InMobi — Naveen Tewari (see left), Mohit Saxena, Abhay Singhal, and Amit Gupta — have slowly but steadily built a business that is today a big competitor for Google.  
Often referred to as “the next Infosys”, InMobi was founded in 2007 by the four Indian Institute of Technology alumni.
It is among the top three mobile advertising firms globally and has business across nearly 200 countries, with revenue estimated at $200 million for 2013.
According to sources, InMobi clocked revenue growth of over 40 per cent over the last six months and is currently valued between $2.5 billion and $3.0 billion.
While there is no clarity on the stakes held by the founding quartet, an industry insider says, “SoftBank owns one-third of In-Mobi, but the founders also have a substantial share.”
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March 26, 2016 ,

A 15-year-old student from a government school in Tral, a nondescript town in south Kashmir that has a notorious reputation for being a militancy hotbed, has developed an online radio application to highlight the problems faced by Kashmiri youth.

"I went to school amid protests, shutdowns and violence. But that never stopped me," Umar Nisar, a Class 10 student, told IANS.

The Android app he developed can be downloaded from Google Play Store.

He said he learnt programming all by himself and the idea of developing the app came as he wanted to give voice to the youth in the Stateand also promote Kashmiri culture and language beyond the State's borders..

Nisar, whose father drives a tractor and owns a small apple orchard, said he took eight months to write the code for the online radio, available at www.pannunfm.in. "This will be an inspiration for youth. It will also be a platform for them to explore their talent. I have invested my own money. But I am short of equipments like microphones and computers."

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March 26, 2016 ,
ON A RETAIL HIGH: The Bansals, Binny (left) and Sachin.
From a start-up with an investment of just four lakhs rupees, Flipkart has grown into a $100 million-revenue online retail giant in just five years. Ushamrita Choudhury tracks the fairytale

"It came to me as a Christmas gift from my Secret Santa, and it was all about choice, convenience and a new relationship," is how Naveed Ansari, a 26-year-old Project Executive from Mumbai, recounts his first experience with Flipkart. A typical professional from a metro, he's short on time, and he's invariably seeking convenience. So, an e-voucher from Flipkart seemed an ideal fit. This gift marked his initiation into the sphere of e-commerce, and the journey for him has "just begun".

Many Indians today are embracing e-retailing with enthusiasm. Popular portals such as Flipkart are spearheading the conversion of offline shoppers into online bargain hunters. Adds Naveed, as an afterthought, "I felt Flipkart was the best option as the transaction was easy, and the variety of products was a bonus." For Flipkart, this means the unlocking of a vast audience waiting to experience the joys and comfort of shopping online. Sachin Bansal, CEO and one of the co-founders of Flipkart (the other being Binny Bansal), is an ardent believer in the merits of customer service. "A simple desire to create a tailor-made product for the Indian consumer has grown into something beyond what we imagined," Sachin muses. A quick glance at Flipkart's timeline shows it was to start as a price comparison platform, but there weren't enough e-commerce sites to compare. So, both the Bansals, who were colleagues at IIT-Delhi, and then at Amazon.com, thought, "why not start an e-commerce site?" That was the genesis of Flipkart. From an initial investment of $8,000, this humble seed of desire has germinated into a $100 million e-retailing favourite. The founders' passion for the consumer Internet space manifests itself in the brand, which is synonymous with customer service and satisfaction. 'Don't count your customers before they smile' is the company's operating mantra, and it's a mantra they're applying successfully alright!

E-commerce: Good to go?

The concept of e-commerce is downloading at a fairly rapid pace in the psyche of the Indian consumer. In the metros, shortage of time is a big driver for online shopping. On the other hand, accessibility to a variety of products makes audiences from smaller towns and cities opt for the online route. Major retailers face challenges in stocking their stores adequately. Often, customers are unable to purchase items of their choice, thus prompting them to resort to e-retailers. "For books, I usually prefer shopping from physical stores, but so far, only Flipkart has managed to supply me with Manga, Japanese literature, that's otherwise difficult to find. Plus, it's often cheaper to buy online. I'm definitely going to be a regular on their site," enthuses Riddhima Toshniwal, a content writer from Raipur.

Such experiences explain the growing popularity of Flipkart in the non-metro regions as well. "We will close 2011-2012 with over $100 million in revenue. By 2015, we want to clock in $1billion, but looking at present trends, we may be able to do it sooner," states Binny, Flipkart's COO. This statement doesn't seem far-fetched; a quick overview of India's Internet penetration shows a user base of approximately 100 million. The Government's National Broadband Plan, pegged at $4.5 billion, proposes to connect nearly 160 million additional Internet users by 2014. The spread, and subsequent adoption of e-commerce, thus, only seems logical. With several reputed brick-and-mortar retailers also offering online services, it seems natural the trend of shopping remotely will scale up substantially. "The value proposition in either formats of retailing, physical and online, is different. It's the experience of touch-and-feel that makes physical shopping exciting. In the online context, convenience and comfort takes over. There's ample scope for both to grow," Sachin avers.

The Devil lies in the detail

A robust back-end is a vital pre-requisite for an online business to survive, since once the customer completes her transaction, it's this back-end that connects the dots. Flipkart began operations on the consignment model — goods were procured from suppliers on demand, based on the orders received through the website. However, eventually, the books-to-electronics e-shop adopted the warehouse model. The company has its own warehouses, and maintains its own inventory. Sales projection determines the inventory, and the available inventory accounts for the sales made; it's a self-feeding cycle of sorts. "Nearly 60 to 70 per cent of deliveries take place through our own network," states Sachin, who thinks such a model provides for better control over the entire logistics management piece.

On the operational front, issues faced by the company pertain to delay in deliveries, or faulty products. As a customer-centric organisation, none of these issues can remain unresolved for long. "We face significant challenges in reverse logistics. It's a big task to track unsuccessful orders, which are quite costly to manage," he continues. Hence, Flipkart stresses on customer service — it aligns with the firm's philosophy of 'making better our service promise'. Binny pitches in saying, "Bigger investments in our supply chain and technology will enable larger warehouses and increased process automation. Our bigger objective is to redefine the way India shops."

Consistent customer service is the hallmark of Flipkart. The founders don't think discounts can replace the customer's satisfaction of being serviced promptly and efficiently. Similarly, the trust-building exercise is accorded a lot of importance. Flipkart connects with customers in real-time, through Facebook and Twitter. Yes, honesty is the best policy for this e-commerce trailblazer. "We've trained our customer service executives to take spot decisions. Addressing customer concerns and owning up to our mistakes reassure customers we have their best interests at heart. In our business, delivery drives delight," Sachin articulates.

'Kart'apulting into the future

Positive word-of-mouth gives Flipkart an edge on the customer side of the business. Backstage, the story's no different. Their recent acquisition of Letsbuy.com will result in a faster expansion rate. Binny's long-term outlook includes scaling up the firm's self-delivery network, and alliancing with like-minded businesses. "We are open to partnerships that'll help us attain our goals," he signs off. Both the founders are happy to see increased venture capital participation in the e-commerce space, which, according to Sachin, "still needs lots of investment to bolster its back-end."

Like a typical entrepreneur, he opines innovation is the key to the company's success. Extending services like cash-on-delivery and credit card payment at doorstep were introduced to provide ample choice and comfort to customers. Now, the attempt is to widen Flipkart's reach in the digital domain through Flyte, the portal's recently launched paid music download service. Customers can buy music in MP3 format from over 700 genres, and 55 languages. The files, which are digital rights management (DRM) free, can be played without any restrictions on any type of device and for an unlimited number of times.

Innovation is just one aspect of the business universe. Today, the premise of any business, traditional or modern, rests on its ability to harness data, which prompts the question, how does Flipkart utilise its data to generate consumer insights? Since the industry is still in infancy, there is no history one can to refer to. Gathering and analysing data, hence, becomes crucial for planning the business's future course of action. This practice, in a way, adds to the 'surprise and delight' factor for customers, because they're then treated to offers that are most suited and relevant to their preferences. Sachin reiterates, "All our efforts are invested in matching customers' expectations, and we'll do our best to bring e-commerce into the forefront."

In this industry, the scope for growth is immense, as is the risk of failure. Consulting firm Technopak Advisors estimates India's digital economy at $600 million currently, with the potential to balloon to $70 billion by 2020. K. Vaitheeswaran, e-commerce veteran, and Founder and CEO, Indiaplaza.com, one of India's earliest, compares the vertical to a hard-fought marathon. "It's not like a 100-metre dash. Globally, we operate on the lowest margins, but we're still seeing real growth." There's still no formula for 100 per cent success. Flipkart is running the marathon with ample support from private equity players such as Accel Partners and Tiger Global, which have collectively invested $150 million in the entity so far. Although profits after tax remain negative, the company's valuation is soaring thanks to eager participation of these private equity players. The acquisition of Letsbuy.com signals FlipKart's ambitions to capture the domestic online market. A burgeoning consumer class, coupled with a rising web-literate population and zealous venture capital funding may just propel Flipkart to become India's answer to Amazon.com!

Uncovering India's online avatar is a fascinating process. Only those companies that can successfully engage customers through novel ideas, quality products and seamless services will flourish. May be it is sheer genius, or simple common sense the e-retail hero has been able to accomplish all this during its formative years. Summing up the Flipkart experience, Abhishek Asthana, a marketing student from Pune, has dedicated an ode to the portal. He tweaks the famous MasterCard campaign to sound something like "There are some things you can't buy online… For everything else, there's Flipkart!"

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March 26, 2016 ,

Google Inc Success Story

Quick Facts
Name :Google Inc
Founded :1998
Founder :Sergey Mikhaylovich Brin
CEO :Pichai Sundararajan
Industry :Internet
Sector :Public
Products :Google Glass ,Galaxy Nexus ,Nexus Tablet,Google TV ,Android,Google Chromecast,Google Wallet ,Gmail,Chrome ,
Country :USA
Website :google.com

Every day, hundreds of millions of Internet users type search terms into the address bar of their browsers and come face to face with meaningful information. While this everyday task may seem simple and unremarkable, it would be impossible without the innovative thinking of one Internet company: Google. Known around the world as a leader in online search, Google has grown into one of the biggest companies on the Internet. Boasting up to ninety percent market share in many countries, the giant search company owns one of the most popular websites on the entire Internet – the instantly recognizable Google.com search page.

Despite Google's current dominance of search, the company hasn't always been a major leader. Developed in the late 1990s as a Stanford University computing and data research project, Google's founders – Sergey Brin and Larry Page – invented a unique way of judging the usefulness of online data known as Page Rank.

The system assessed the value of a website using inbound links to the page, and their anchor text, as a 'voting' system. The more links a page had, the more it was worth to the system, and pages with a high worth were quickly pushed to the top of Google's search results page.

The new system for organizing content on the internet was a massive success, with its PageRank engine producing results that were far more user friendly than those dished up by rival search engines such as Yahoo and HotBot. Google grew into the world's most popular search engine within four years of launching in 1997. In the early 2000s, Google launched Adwords, an innovative ad network that put online advertising next to search results. The system was an immediate success, drawing in tens of thousands of business users in its first year of operation and pioneering a new form of advertising: search advertising.

A display advertising network, an online email service, a mapping application, and a social network soon followed, with Google establishing its dominance of both search and online utilities. The company continued to innovate throughout the 2000s, with new applications and online storage utilities popping up as time went on. Despite competition in the social arena from Facebook, in the search advertising arena from Yahoo and Microsoft, and threats to its email empire from Hotmail, it's clear that Google has been the web's biggest success story to date. The company enjoys a ninety percent market share in many markets and remains very profitable.

From online mapping utilities to space satellites, simple email solutions to global networks of fiber Internet cables, Google continues to innovate beyond its original offerings. With a huge range of products and services built around the simple idea 'don't be evil,' Google is undoubtedly the internet's most influential company. Whether you're searching for information, communicating with friends, or looking to run an advertising campaign on the internet, this California-based online giant is undoubtedly a major part of your online life.

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March 26, 2016 ,

Twitter Inc Success Story

Quick Facts
Name :Twitter Inc
Founded :2006
Founder :Evan Williams,
Noah Glass,
Jack Dorsey,
Biz Stone
CEO :Dick Costolo
Industry :Internet
Sector :Public
Country :USA
Website :twitter.com

Twitter is an online service used for social networking and micro blogging. It enables its users to send and read text messages that are restricted to 140 characters. These messages are called 'tweets'. All registered users can post and read the tweets whereas unregistered users can only read them.

Twitter was started in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone and Noah Glass. Today it has become an online phenomenon and has 500 million registered users as of 2012. It is one among the ten most visited sites in the world and more than 340 million tweets are posted each day. The word 'twitter' almost nails what the platform stands for. Twitter is mostly used for Informal chatting. It was inspired by how the birds chirp and what the term means 'a burst of inconsequential information'. This platform was aimed at small groups sharing information between themselves.

By the end of 2010, the number of tweets that were being sent each day exceeded 50 million. This was due to the rapid liking of such a platform where it was so easy to update friends and family about the latest happenings around you. The posts can be viewed by the public or can be restricted to our followers only.

This platform has been a great tool for celebrities and fans to share photos and links instantly. With 60% of its users accessing the site from their mobiles, it is always easy to keep your account updated and stay in touch with friends. With this platform one is always aware of what one's friends and celebrities are doing at that particular time.

Most of the content on twitter was found to be meaningless chatter and daily casual conversations. But the advent of twitter has increased the awareness of the average internet user. With twitter one can post suggestions, news, tips and reminders. It will in the future become a major source for publishing the latest news and happenings in the world. In twitter we can see what are the trending topics that people are discussing and participate or share that information. With this feature we are able to get the latest information in real time. We are able to re-tweet a tweet we like so that all the members in our group can see it. We can share some information like cyclone, hurricane sighting or just describing the temperature and beauty of a location.

 

Twitter has become a huge platform for debates and discussions as well. In July 2011, the account Ask Obama received more than 110,000 tweets which were mostly questions for the president Obama seeking re-election. It has had widespread growth because of companies and service providers now trying to communicate with their customers via this platform.

With growing numbers each day and more number of tweets being posted via smart phones, it won't be long before every mobile user has twitter on their mobiles. It has made information sharing convenient and easy to access. Now all the latest updates from your favorite political party, sports star, news agency is at your fingertips. Twitter along with facebook has dominated the social networking platform for the past 5 years and it is not going to be replaced anytime soon by the statistics that are visible. So hope the success twitter has achieved will be able to increase and help the average internet user to be more up to date and aware of all the latest happenings around the world.

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March 26, 2016 ,

eBay Success Story

Quick Facts
Name :eBay
Founded :1995
Founder :Pierre Morad Omidyar
CEO :John Donahoe
Industry :Internet
Sector :Public
Country :USA
Website :ebay.in

eBay Inc. is an American company which offers consumer to consumer transactions on the internet. eBay allows for customers to sell, buy or auction different items. It was started in 1995 and has become one of the first companies to become a success as a result of the dot-com bubble. It has its headquarters in San Jose, California and had revenue of $14 billion in the year 2012. 

eBay allows a platform for an auction of an item and shopping for retail goods which allows people to buy products from the comfort of their homes. The beginning of eBay was not as straightforward as we may imagine. It was Iranian-American computer programmer Pierre Omidyar's idea to start a website that auctioned used, broken and second hand stuff. He called the website Auction Web and it was started on September 3, 1995. He did not take this website too seriously and just considered it as a side hobby. But soon the traffic on his site increased and was soon asked by his internet service provider to upgrade his account in order to accommodate the amount of traffic that was accessing his site.

For paying for the up gradation which was around $250, he asked the users to pay a fee to access the site. He was surprised to see that people were happy to pay and continued using the site regularly. So eventually Omidyar had to hire an employee just to handle the cheques that were coming to his office for the payments. That is how Chris Agarpao became the first eBay employee. 

In 1996, Jeffrey Skoll became its first president. The growth it was experiencing was phenomenal and it needed someone who could offer the proper structure for the company to grow and make most use of the public interest it was gaining day by day. In January 1997 alone the site hosted 2,000,000 auctions which was 8 times more than the whole number of auctions in year 1996. In September 1997, the company changed its name to eBay.com. That very year it received funding from venture capitalists Benchmark Capital to the tune of $6.7 million. eBay went public on September 21, 1998. On the first day itself the share price went upto $53.50. This made Omidyar and Skoll overnight billionaires. With Meg Whiteman taking over as CEO and President in 1998, every detail was looked into and upgraded to make it a better experience for the customer. Soon eBay expanded and started to include many more categories other than the auction category. Their business started increasing and the company bought PayPal in October 2002. In 2005, eBay bought Skype for $2.5 billion and sold it to Microsoft in 2011 for $8.5 billion. Soon they had launched individual websites for various countries with special focus on the local demands and limitations.

In 2008, the company had millions of registered users, more than 15,000 employees and revenues around $7.7 billion. Today it sells everything from appliances to domain names to software to vehicles to furniture and everything that is not prohibited under that country's law. It offers the latest products and discounts in addition to the rage and excitement of the auction place. 

The auction place has taken the interest of many people who wait for buying used goods at lower rates and those who want to buy collectibles. eBay has become the best source for every customer's needs. This model had been copied and used in many countries like India and Japan before eBay has entered and started their own local website there.

There are some products that cannot be sold on eBay like tobacco, alcoholic beverages, drugs and weapons. eBay is also used for charity auctions and allows the seller to donate any amount they like from the amount received for their favoured charity. eBay users can pay using PayPal, Paymate, ProPay, Moneybrookers and escrow.com to make transactions. eBay generates its revenue by taking a commission for every auction or sale that is made on the website. It depends whether it is a fixed rate product or product up for auctions. Sometimes they charge upto 10% on the sale amount other than the shipping charges. The rates differ from the U.S. in the European countries and South Asia. Today eBay is one among the biggest companies that sell products online. It has built a huge customer base for itself that prompts even the top companies to showcase their products and offers through eBay so that it can get the attention of the global audience. 

From selling broken laser lights and old appliances eBay has become a global marketplace where you can find what you need at the price you can afford.  Today it is one of the top 20 most visited sites on the planet and has become a superpower on the internet with millions of transactions happening on its portal each day.

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March 26, 2016 ,


Quick Facts
Name :Snapdeal
Founded :2010
Founder :Rohit Bansal,
Kunal Bahl
CEO :Kunal Bahl
Industry :Internet
Sector :Private
Country :India
Website :snapdeal.com

It is never easy to start a business. You need to work on your ideas, find capital and investors and then you need to work hard to get results. Ask those who have succeeded, they tell you it is the best feeling ever when an idea takes off to places.

Founders of Snapdeal

Snapdeal set a niche for itself in the sphere of e-commerce in India. In 2010, when Kunal Bahl and Rohit Bansal wanted to start their own business, they chose an offline couponing business and named it MoneySaver. 15000 coupons were sold in three months and it was time to take the business to the next level.

Initial Investment

It was after they met investor Vani Kola that the venture really took off. The first meeting did not go well but after another round of discussion, Vani Kola's venture capital firm decided to invest in Snapdeal. Initially started as an offline business, Sneapdeal went online in 2010. It was a bumpy ride in the first few months. Mistakes were made, but lessons were learnt. It is this kind of hard work and diligent attempt to offer the best to the customers that gave Snapdeal its initial success.

However, the biggest decision of the founders came in November 2011. Inspired by the success of Alibaba, Rohit and Kunal wanted to create something on similar lines. The deals business was shut down and an online marketplace was opened instead.

It was a make or break decision. Snapdeal had a huge market share in the deals business at that time and starting something new was very risky and the move surprised the investors too. At that point of time, eBay was the only marketplace in India.

Success of Snapdeal

Snapdeal Founders with Alibaba Founder Jack Ma

It was a decision that was not for the short term. When Rohit Bahl managed to gain the nod the board, the present form of Snapdeal took shape. The very fact that Snapdeal is valued at a billion dollars today is a testimony to the vision of its founders. Currently, more than 50,000 sellers sell around 5 million products on Snapdeal. The company's phenomenal growth in a short span has been a remarkable journey. The company began to concentrate on building scale and improving speed. When eBay invested in Snapdeal, they brought immense experience to the table.

Snapdeal has raised an additional $627 million from SoftBank

Snapdeal Profile

Snapdeal is one of the fastest growing e-commerce companies in India today with the largest online market place. In just two years, the company went from scrapping their group coupon business and starting an online marketplace to become a billion dollar company. Its year on year growth is almost 600%.The average age of the workforce at Snapdeal is 25. Their values – Innovation, Change, Openness, Honesty and Ownership drive them to press for greater success.

The company's growth had been phenomenal but it is their continued effort to bring the best to the market and their zeal to succeed as the best B2C (Business to customer) marketplace is what sets them apart. Great ideas might be important for a business, but it is the confident implementation of those ideas and the right effort which are more important. It is action and not mere thought that gives results.  

Investment History

In January 2011, Snapdeal received a funding of $12 million from Nexus Venture Partners and Indo-US Venture Partners.

In July 2011, the company raised a further $45 million from Bessemer Venture Partners, along with existing investors Nexus Venture Partners and Indo-US Venture Partners.

Snapdeal then raised a 3rd round of funding worth $50 million from eBay and received participation from existing investors – i.e. Bessemer Venture Partners, Nexus Venture and IndoUS Venture Partners.

Snapdeal received its 4th round of funding of $133 million on Feb-2014. The 4th round of funding was led by eBay with all the current institutional investors, including Kalaari Capital, Nexus Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Intel Capital and Saama Capital all participating.

Snapdeal received its 5th round of funding of $105 million in May-2014. The 5th round included investments by Blackrock, Temasek Holdings, PremjiInvest and others. The round valued Snapdeal at $1,000,000,000.

Snapdeal received its 6th round of funding in Oct-2014 from Softbank with investments worth $647 million in fresh capital.This makes SoftBank the largest investor in Snapdeal.

Snapdeal received its 7th round of funding in Aug-2015 from Alibaba Group, Foxconn and SoftBank with investments worth $500 million in fresh capital.

Acquisitions

  • In June 2011, Snapdeal acquired Grabbon.com.
  • In April 2012, Snapdeal acquired esportsbuy.com, an online sports goods retailer .
  • In May 2013, Snapdeal acquired Shopo.in, an online marketplace for Indian handicraft products.
  • In April 2014, Snapdeal acquired Doozton.com.
  • In December 2014, Snapdeal acquired Wishpicker.com.
  • In January 2015, Snapdeal acquired a stake in product comparison website Smartprix.com.
  • In February 2015, Snapdeal acquired luxury fashion products discovery site, Exclusively.in.
  • In 2015 March Sambhav Setia had join Snapdeal as a Co-Owner
  • In March 2015, Snapdeal acquired 20% stake in Gojavas.com.
  • In March 2015, Snapdeal acquired ecommerce management software and fulfillment solution provider, Unicommerce.com .
  • In March 2015, Snapdeal entered into the financial services marketplace by acquiring a majority stake of RupeePower which provides a digital platform for financial products to customers. Mr. Tejasvi Mohanram, the founder of RupeePower would continue to be the MD&CEO of the company.
  • In April 2015, Snapdeal acquired mobile-payments company FreeCharge.com.
  • In September 2015, Snapdeal acquired Reduce Data, a programmatic display advertising platform.
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March 26, 2016 ,

Introduction

A quick look into any success story shows a path breaking idea at the heart of the tale. Flipkart is no exception. It is not the idea itself but the conviction to convert ideas into action and action into results is what defines a true success story. Measured by that yardstick, Flipkart has been a hugely successful. 

History

Back in 2007, when Flipkart was launched, Indian e-commerce industry was taking its beginner steps. The company is registered in Singapore, but theyir headquarters are in the city of Bangalore, India.

Founders

Sachin Bansal and Binny Bansal, who were working for Amazon.com had an idea to start an e-commerce company in India. Both of them are alumni of IIT, Delhi and are native of Chandigarh, India. They left their jobs in Amazon to start their own business. 

One can easily call that a risky move. In a country where people have various tastes and preferences, an ecommerce start-up will always have enormous challenges. In India, people often prefer to shop in person and buy goods they see and like. Today, thanks to Flipkart, e-commerce has become one of the fastest growing sectors in India.

How it Started

Flipkart began selling books to begin with. It soon expanded and began offering a wide variety of goods. Innovating right from the start, Flipkart has been home to few of the striking features of Indian e-commerce.

Fundings History

In the first few years of its existence, Flipkart raised funds through venture capital funding. As the company grew in stature, more funding arrived. Flipkart repaid the investors' faith with terrific performances year after year. In the financial year 2008-09, Flipkart had made sales to the tune of 40 million Indian rupees. This soon increased to 200 million Indian rupees the following year.

Their last round of Fundraising had increased their value to $ 15 billion, however, as of February 2016, according to Morgan Stanley, their estimated value stands at $11 billion.

Evolution

Back at the time when Flipkart was launched, any e-commerce company faced two major difficulties. One was the problem of online payment gateways. Not many people preferred online payment and the gateways were not easy to set up. Flipkart tackled this problem by introducing cash on delivery and payment by card on delivery in addition to others. Flipkart was the first to implement the popular 'Cash On Delivery' facility, which every online shopping website in India offers as an option today.

The second problem was the entire supply chain system. Delivering goods on time is one of the most important factor that determines the success of an ecommerce company. Flipkart addressed this issue by launching their own supply chain management system to deliver orders in a timely fashion.

Today as it stands, Sachin Bansal is the Chairman of the company and Binny Bansal is the CEO of Flipkart.

Acquisitions

Flipkart also acquired few companies like Myntra.com, LetsBuy.com etc., to better their presence in the market. With the entry of Amazon.com in India, the competition between the companies has seen many takeovers. Flipkart's journey from a small book e-retailer to India's largest e-commerce platform inspires a generation of start-ups. In a country where stereotypes are common, Flipkart managed to break the norm and change the ecommerce industry in India for ever. Flipkart's story proves that if you have a great idea, and you are a doer and not a thinker, success is not far off.

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