Best printers for Home

Best Mixer Grinder

Best wired Earphones

Best 43 Inch TV in India

Best Wi Fi Routers

Best Home Theatre in India

Smart Watch under 5000

Best Laptops for Education

Best Laptop for Students

With Rs 250 crores waiting to be invested, <keyword id="6381424" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Quikr">Quikr</keyword> is surely taking the stakes higher in India's home services market. The Bengaluru-based mobile and online classifieds company has plans in place, to become the largest player in the space which has competitors like against Amazon-backed Housejoy, UrbanClap and Sulekha. 
 
The money would be spent on product development, including technology and building in-house supply. Not to forget, marketing campaigns and strategic investments in start-ups are also in the pipeline. 
 
"We have grown this business organically till now as we already have a lot of transacting users, so we don't need to spend as much on customer acquisition," PD Sundar, who leads QuikrServices, told ET. A benefit that Quikr has over its competitors comes in the form of other verticals that it owns. For example, a house rented through QuikrHomes could get synced services from QuikrServices on the same platform. 
 
Over the past two years, Quikr has raised $300 million and has Tiger Global, Matrix Partners, Warburg Pincus and Kinnevik as major shareholders. 
 
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/QuikrFans/photos/a.153939511302069.35970.124493907579963/1107388265957184/?type=3&amp;theater">Image source</a>

It’s Quikr vs everyone else in home services market!

<keyword id="6381424" type="COMPANY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Quikr">Quikr</keyword>, which was for months resisting a merger in its property vehicle, has finally bought the property search website CommonFloor. The acquisition was announced on Thursday; however, the amount of the deal is not announced as of now. The deal would give CommonFloor access to the vast customer base of the online classifieds firm. 
 
Quikr will now be valued at about $1.5 billion (about Rs 10,000 crore) based on the share-swap ratio, entering it into the rarefied club of Indian Unicorns, a term used for companies worth at least a billion dollars. 
 The acquisition has happened just four months after Quikr launched its own property search website <keyword id="2796396" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="Quikrhomes">QuikrHomes</keyword>. 
 
As per ET’s sources, CommonFloor, which was valued at about $160 million in its last funding round, dropped down to $100-120 million for this deal. 
 
Both Quikr and CommonFloor have the New York-based investment firm Tiger Global Management as an investor. 
 
Even after the merger, both brands will operate independently and would benefit from each other 
 
"(This) will give CommonFloor.com access to Quikr's 30 million consumers and harness the potential of the cross category nature of the platform, while Quikr-Homes will benefit from CommonFloor's structured data and domain expertise," read the Quikr statement. 
 
CommonFloor, which was founded in 2008, is owned by maxHeap Technologies, and is backed by venture capital firm Accel Partners and Google Capital along with Tiger Global Management. 
 
<a href="https://web.facebook.com/QuikrFans/photos/a.166622723367081.40694.124493907579963/1184932371536106/?type=3&amp;theater">Image source</a>

Quikr now owns this real estate portal

<keyword id="6354743" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Amazon-India">Amazon India</keyword>, after introducing the sale of used books on its platform in August 2016, has opened up the platform to individual sellers to encourage peer-to-peer sales. 
 The e-commerce giant is calling it 'pick-pack-andpay' programme, directly taking on classifieds sites including Naspers-backed <keyword id="6360657" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="OLX">OLX</keyword> and a similar service from Indian unicorn <keyword id="6381424" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Quikr">Quikr</keyword>, which introduced a similar service 'Quikr Doorstep' for facilitating payment, packing and delivery in March 2016. 
 The current model for individual sellers to retail their goods on <keyword id="18635" type="CITY" weightage="100" keywordseo="Amazon">Amazon</keyword> India marketplace includes product categories like refurbished mobile phones, tablets and laptops as well as unboxed and used gadgets, books, watches, movies, video games and music CDs. The portal will also showcase products made by home-preneurs such as fashion jewellery makers. 
 "This is the launch of Amazon India's pilot with <keyword id="124959" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Junglee">Junglee</keyword>, which was initiated in late 2014 following which Junglee was diluted as a brand," a source familiar with the discussion, told ET. 
 
The landing page for registration as an individual seller continues to be on Junglee, the price comparison and barter site which was bought by Amazon in 1998 in the US. 
 
Sale of high gross merchandise value (GMV) products such as phone, tablets and laptops brings an additional stream of revenue for Amazon India, which is charging a commission on sale of Rs 10 per item of value less than Rs 1,000 and Rs 100 per item priced beyond Rs 5,000. 
 
"Amazon has now launched an end-to-end experience for custo mers in Bengaluru to sell their used products. Amazon has specifically customised it for customers in India (individuals) with features like easy-to-list form, doorstep pickup, packing and delivery to customers, a price-recommender for guiding individual sellers on how to price their used items and a localised discovery experience on Amazon for buyers to help sellers get a quick sale," an Amazon spokesperson told ET. 
 
In order to incentivise customers to enroll for the programme, Amazon India is offering cashback to users on its wallet. 
 
"On selling five used books, or movies, or music or video games, Amazon will offer '. 1,000 as Amazon Pay Balance. It is also applicable on selling one used mobile, or tablet or laptop worth Rs 5,000 and above. This offer is valid till January 15, 2017, and the cashback will be credited 30 days after the offer," the Amazon spokesperson, told ET. 
 
Reportedly, in December 2016, Amazon Seller Services invested an additional . 2,010 crore to strengthen its India's business.

Got stuff you don’t use anymore? Amazon will help you to get rid of them. Here’s how

<ul><li>Founded in 1997 as an outdoor agency, <keyword id="2911687" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Laqshya-Media-Group">Laqshya Media Group</keyword> has today diversified its offerings to events, digital and experiential marketing.</li><li>With revenues of Rs 500 crore currently, the organization is eyeing revenues of Rs 2,000 crore in the next 5 years.</li><li><keyword id="2406965" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Atul-Shrivastava">Atul Shrivastava</keyword>, Group CEO and Executive Director, Laqshya Media Group tells us about the organization’s roadmap ahead.</li></ul> Today, travelling to and from our workplaces take up a lot of our time, especially when you live in a crowded metro city. If a recent report by MoveInSync is to be believed, on an average, Indians spend 7% of their day in commuting to their workplaces. With more and more people spending more time outside their homes, out-of-home (OOH) advertising presents a huge opportunity for brands to come up with larger-than-life communications and hook on the audience with its messaging. It therefore doesn’t come as a surprise that the Indian outdoor industry has been seeing a steady growth of between 10-11% in the past few years. According to Statista, the industry is expected to become worth Rs 5,200 crore by 2024. The past few years have also seen many new-age brands from OTT and e-commerce spend big bucks on OOH, realizing the potential of the medium. Laqshya Media Group has been a part of the OOH ecosystem for 20 years now and has worked for an impressive roster of brands over the years that include Maruti, LG, Quikr, Myntra, Shopper Stop, Platinum Guuild, a Tanishq and Flipkart, among others. We recently caught up with Atul Shrivastava, Group CEO and Executive Director, Laqshya Media Group who tells us that the organization that is right now bringing in Rs 500 crore revenue is eying a revenue of Rs 2,000 crore by 2024-25. He tells us about the organization’s roadmap ahead, its growth strategy, and the role that data and technology will play to make the overall ecosystem more robust and accountable. Edited excerpts: Q) 2019 was a year of slowdown for the economy. How was your performance and what are your expectations from 2020? 2019 was a complete roller coaster year. The year was full of surprises and equal shudders. Mega media events like Indian Premier League, the General Elections, and the Cricket World Cup brought some cheer while, there was a bit of cautious spending visible during the onset of Q3. However overall, it was a decent year for us. The growth definitely wasn’t what we expected but we still managed to grow by 15% compared to last year. We are better prepared for 2020 and the year looks promising and we look forward doing some great stuff as the year progresses. Q) Laqshya Media Group is currently operating at revenues of Rs 500 crore. Where do you want to be in the next few years? Right now we are operating at Rs 500 crore and we are targeting Rs 2,000 crore revenue by 2024-25. It all starts with a vision, followed by a plan. We have followed the simple steps of firstly identifying the opportunities and then going after them aggressively. This has led the company to diversify into many other verticals like Digital Marketing, Experiential Marketing, Events and creative apart from advertising through every format. The markets are conducive, infrastructure and opportunities are good and all our verticals are doing great work and projects individually. We continue to believe in the ‘One Laqshya‘ philosophy. Our teams across verticals breed the common passion and belief of ‘Business with Ethics’, it is this that makes us different and we will continue to hold on to it as we spread our wings. Q) Laqshya launched its in-house tool, ‘SHARP’ (Strategic Hyperlocal AI-powered Reach Planner) in 2019. Tell us a bit about how the tool has helped in making your campaigns more effective? SHARP is a first-of-its-kind state-of-the-art planning tool for measuring the effectiveness and media value of Outdoor campaigns. It’s a tool we have developed in-house that allows brands to target the right audiences with reach or budget as an objective for an OOH campaign. Our clients have benefitted immensely from the science and technology that has gone in all the recent campaigns that we have executed for them. SHARP combines diverse data points involving geo-tagged OOH formats, traffic study by a global research agency, multiple databases to arrive at the current profiles of resident and transit population; panel rating points and various other factors, with data on thousands of sites comprising multiple OOH formats. The OOH tool relies on machine learning to deliver AI-optimized recommendations. In short, with this tool, the days of gut feel is over. What we are giving our clients with this software is a full-fledged and full proof ROI. Q) What role will data and technology play in taking Indian OOH to the next level? The future of OOH is only about using the right technology and big data. There’s no dearth to the extent of data available for targeting. The customized level of geo targeting possible is unimaginable. All these and more can be easily executed in the ambit of the rules laid by TRAI on data privacy. Communication would be more impactful and selective with the right use of data and analytics. Digital OOH is anyways driving the OOH growth globally elsewhere. It will surely evolve the Indian landscape too slowly and gradually. Q) What gives Laqshya an edge over other OOH agencies? We have always embraced Research and Technology like no one else. Our endeavor to develop SHARP was on the same lines. We believed in addressing the needs of the industry as a whole. The language of ROI that has started with SHARP has been successful in helping marketers realize the potential of OOH and has helped us take a giant leap. Q) In the last few years, OTT players have been big investors on OOH. Do they continue to invest big? What are the other segments that are making use of OOH? OTT has invested on OOH and has witnessed the impact it has created in their brand building. It has definitely helped OTT players address their concerns of going mass and geo-targeting. OOH delivers the reach while it also helps geo-fence and create impact towards a niche audience. This is what makes OOH a go-to medium for a lot of OTT players. A lot of newer segments like e-commerce and mobile apps are embracing OOH along with government and political spending like never before but, it is the traditional sectors like real estate and retail that continue to hold the lion’s share. Q) How are you, as an organization ensuring there is more accountability, since this has been an issue plaguing the industry for a while. We believe accountability starts from following and adhering to some set practices ourselves. Our MD,Alok Jalan is the Vice Chairman of <keyword id="1094070" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Indian-Outdoor-Advertising-Association">Indian Outdoor Advertising Association</keyword> (IOAA) and is very strongly putting across the uniform guidelines that will make processes more transparent. We can expect a lot of consolidation in the industry from the association’s side. Q) What does the OOH as an industry need to do to make advertisers take them more seriously, and put in more money? OOH needs to convey the advantage it brings to any marketer- the larger-than-life canvas for a greater reach and an equally possible customized impact. It addresses both these objective of any brands effectively. Q) How big is the OOH industry in India right now and what is its potential in the next few years? OOH has been quoted to be somewhere between Rs 3,700-3,900 crore currently. We as a group have a detailed research report that summarizes the overall OOH to be around Rs 5,750 crore and the industry has been growing consistently at an average of around 11% . Q) What is your vision for Laqshya? We want Laqshya to be known as an innovative media and communication company. We want creativity, innovativeness and technology to be the company’s ethos.

Laqshya Media Group is eyeing a 4X increase in revenue, to Rs 2,000 crore in the next 5 years

<ul><li><keyword id="8681398" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Urban-Company">Urban Company</keyword> claims to have 40,000 <keyword id="7870685" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="service-professionals">service professionals</keyword> on its platforms.</li><li>The company is also testing out new services on its platform.</li><li>Urban Company has its presence spread across India, Dubai, Australia, Singapore and Saudi Arabia.</li></ul>On-demand home and beauty services startup Urban Company, previously known as Urban Clap, is now on the lookout for 10,000-15,000 service professionals as it plans to expand to 50 cities across India by the end of this year or early 2022. The company is also looking to add new services to its businesses. The seven-year-old startup claims to have over 40,000 services professionals listed on its platform for beauty and home segments. Of these about 12,000 are women. The company claims to have been adding 3,000 to 5,000 partners every month as its business has witnessed an uptick during the pandemic. Varun Khaitan, co-founder of Urban Company, told Business Insider that the service professionals onboarding grows linearly with the expansion in business. “If the business grows 2X, you sort of need to have 2X more partners,” he added. Khaitan emphasised that their business is currently two-fold of what it was pre-pandemic (February 2020). The company did see a dip during the second wave of COVID-19 in April-May 2021. “By October [2021] that should go to 3x of pre-COVID. That's really the big milestone that we are all moving towards,” Khaitan said. <div type="image" title="Urban Company is on the lookout for 15,000 service professionals as it wishes to tap into 50 cities by the end of this year" msid="85447336" hostid="261"></div> Home and beauty segments contribute 50-50 to Urban Company’s revenue Founded by Abhiraj Bhal, <keyword id="2377092" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Raghav-Chandra">Raghav Chandra</keyword> and Khaitan in 2014, Urban Company has its offerings spread across the home and beauty segment in India, Dubai, Australia, Singapore and Saudi Arabia. It offers home services and beauty services like hair care and skin care; spa services at home; and home-related services like cleaning, plumbing, carpentry, appliance repair, painting and more. The company claims to have added over 10,000 professionals since 2020. <div type="image" title="Urban Company is on the lookout for 15,000 service professionals as it wishes to tap into 50 cities by the end of this year" msid="85447346" hostid="261"></div> Khaitan added that the home and beauty segment is half-and-half of their businesses overall. Mukund Kulashekaran, senior vice president of business at Urban Company, added that the Gurugram-based startup is also testing out several new services —- like nail art and advanced treatments like hair removal or laser hair removal — to add to its platform. It is also starting to do appliance repairs over video call, where the professional can guide a customer on how to repair certain electronics and appliances over video calls. He added that the men’s grooming segment, which was launched right before India announced nationwide lockdown in March 2020, has seen 150,000 transactions to date. Meanwhile, its spa business is at 200,000 deliveries. Meanwhile, it’s salon-for-women business has grown at the same pace, Kulashekaran noted. Will Urban Company be able to sustain this growth post-pandemic? While Urban Company may have witnessed an uptick in their demand and supply since 2020, the question remains whether it would be able to sustain it once things go back to normal and customers get more comfortable with going out. Devendra Agrawal, founder of investment bank Dexter Capital, told Business Insider that COVID-19 has caused permanent changes in habits in several segments. While most people would have preferred salons earlier, the convenience and pricing offered by Urban Company has the potential to cause that change in habit. “Similarly on the supply side, earlier for stylists there won't be any option but to work in a salon on a meagre salary, but such stylists are getting their income multiplied with help of Urban Company. Whenever technology and operations come together to give great customer experience, it creates a wonderful moat. We have seen this in the case of Amazon and in <keyword id="11888858" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="india-urban-company">India Urban Company</keyword> has created that wonderful moat so the uptick is likely to stay post-pandemic as well,” he added. Urban Company competes with Amazon-backed HouseJoy in the home category. Quikr’s ‘AtHomeDiva’ was a competitor for Urban Company in the at-home beauty services segment, but the company <a href="https://inc42.com/buzz/quikr-clears-the-air-around-layoffs-athomediva-shutdown/">shut down in 2019</a>. Agrawal believes that any large or lucrative sector is always under threat of being penetrated by larger players. That’s what has happened in the e-commerce and groceries segments with the entry of Reliance and Tata. “However, the segment Urban Clap caters to, may not be easy to crack for a large player organically, which means the only option is inorganically. Unfortunately, there are not too many high quality players of scale, which are in this segment so it may actually mean that Urban Company actually becomes one large player in this segment,” he added. SEE ALSO <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/business/startups/news/postman-is-now-the-highest-valued-vc-funded-saas-startup-in-india-after-a-225-million-fundraise/articleshow/85429769.cms">Postman is now the highest valued VC funded-SaaS startup in India, after a $225 million fundraise</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/retail/news/a-third-of-internet-users-would-be-actively-shopping-online-by-the-end-of-this-decade-offline-retail-to-take-a-back-seat/articleshow/85390712.cms">A third of internet users would be actively shopping online by the end of this decade, offline retail to take a back seat</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/international/news/over-1000-people-have-been-killed-in-myanmar-since-the-military-took-control-more-than-6-months-ago-according-to-a-human-rights-group/articleshow/85444265.cms">Over 1,000 people have been killed in Myanmar since the military took control more than 6 months ago, according to a human rights group</a>

Urban Company is on the lookout for 15,000 service professionals as it wishes to tap into 50 cities by the end of this year

New Delhi, Dec 15 () Housing sales are estimated to rise by mere 4 per cent to 2.58 lakh units across seven major cities during this calendar year on subdued demand because of liquidity crunch and overall economic slowdown, according to property brokerage firm Anarock.
 "Indian real estate was devoid of any appreciable forward momentum in 2019. Dwindling consumption, lacklustre investment appetite and the global slowdown overshadowed all possibilities for growth," Anarock Property Consultants Chairman Anuj Puri said.
 India's GDP growth rate slumped to a six-year low of 4.5 per cent in Q2 FY20.
 In its yearly round-up for the real estate sector, Anarock said that collectively, all four quarters of 2019 are likely to see housing sales of 2,58,410 units (assuming 56,200 units in Q4 2019) as against 2,48,300 units sold in entire 2018.
 Sales were better in the first half of this year but demand fell in the third quarter.
 Anarock tracks seven major cities -- Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), National Capital Region (NCR), Bengaluru, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai and Kolkata.
 "The real estate sector's performance - a reliable barometer of India's overall economic health - painfully reflected the macro-economic state of affairs. The liquidity crisis did not relent and dented any 'real' growth during the year," Puri said.
 "Multiple developers fell off the grid while others still struggle to stay viable. However, strong players with healthy balance sheets - in many cases diversified beyond real estate - sailed through 2019 and recorded decent housing sales and revenue growth," he added.
 For the housing sector, 2019 was a non-event in terms of sales growth and investor interest.
 "Sentiments remained subdued, sustaining almost solely on end-user activity focused on ready-to-move-in or almost-complete homes. Branded developers gained ground, with some listed players performing exceptionally well on sales and commensurate revenue growth," he said.
 For the housing sector, Puri said the only light at the end of the dark financial tunnel was the announcement of the alternative investment fund (AIF) of Rs 25,000 crore to facilitate the completion of stuck affordable and mid-segment homes.
 In fact, affordable housing remained upbeat in 2019 thanks to multiple government sops throughout the year.
 First-time homebuyers were given further tax deductions (now amounting to Rs 3.5 lakh in a year) on interest amount of home loans below Rs 45 lakh availed within FY 2020-end.
 Luxury and ultra-luxury segments remained limited to end-user interest, with no serious investor activity.
 Co-living and student housing gained momentum during the year.
 In the organised housing brokerage business, Noida-based Investors Clinic, Anarock, News Corp-backed PropTiger, Anil Ambani-led Reliance group-backed Square Yards, Quikr Realty, Gurugram-based 360 Realtors and Wealth Clinic are the leading players. MJH ABM
ABM

Housing sales may rise marginally by 4 pc in 2019: Report

At an undisclosed valuation, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Real+estate+&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Real estate </a>portal <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=PropTiger&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">PropTiger</a> and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Housing.com&amp;sortorder=effectivedate">Housing.com</a> have merged in an all stock deal. 
 
The company, in a statement, confirmed that global online real estate advertising company REA Group will invest $50 million in the joint entity while Softbank will put in $5 million. 
 <keyword id="1871874" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="PropTiger">PropTiger</keyword> CEO Dhruv Agarwala will be leading the company and both the companies will be working and running separately. 
 
"India is an important part of our international growth strategy. The joint entity will have access to REA Group's expertise and know-how from its operations across the globe,” said REA Group CEO Tracy Fellows. 
 
This deal comes in roughly a year after Tiger Global backed Commonfloor got acquired by online classifieds firm Quikr. 
 Reportedly, in the tie up, new projects showcased on the <keyword id="1960231" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Housing-com">Housing.com</keyword> platform online, will leverage PropTiger's offline services including site-visit arrangement, price negotiations, paperwork assistance, home-loan offers to complete the deal. While PropTiger will provide an upfront marketing fee to promote New Projects on Housing.com, it will also share a part of the transaction fee on successful sale of a property. 
 
After the ouster of Housing's founder Rahul Yadav, most of the company cofounders quit the startup. However at the same time, under the leadership of Kothari the company has revamped its top management and appointed more experienced talent on its board including former Google and Amazon top executive Vivek Jain as its chief product and technology officer and Keerthi Kiran as the head of new real estate projects. 
 
PropTiger on the other hand says it distinguishes itself in the market by offering customers an end-to-end service from house discovery to final purchase, including arranging site visits, assisting with home loans and property registrations. 
 
The company's other investors include SAIF Partners and Accel Partners. News Corp acquired 25% stake in Elara in November 2014 for $30 million and increased its stake to about 30% in June 2015.

PropTiger and Housing.com merge at an undisclosed valuation; raise $55 million from REA, Softbank

Personal grooming is a growing industry in India and is raising hairs of many start-ups in India since the past two years. Many companies have sprung up in this space notably <keyword id="2811049" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="urbanclap">Urbanclap</keyword>, <keyword id="6439410" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="housejoy">Housejoy</keyword>, StayGlad,Yes Madam, MyGlamm, <keyword id="3023137" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="vanitycube">VanityCube</keyword>, and many more, just to provide customers a better service at a great price. According to reports, the grooming market in India is valued at nearly Rs 50,000 crore and 85% of the business here comes from women, notably professionals with increasing disposable incomes in cities. While the industry quickly grew in investment in 2015, the next year saw many of them shutting down due to high losses. While VanityCube was acquired by VLCC, Vyomo got acquired by Naturals and Quikr acquired StayGlad players like Urbanclap, MyGlamm and Housejoy have reported increased revenue in the past year steering the roadblocks. The problem with the current model The beauty services industry is a complicated one and isn’t particularly eased by technology after the booking is made. The service offered needs to be of great quality every time so that the customer makes repeated purchases on a regular basis. Till a brand is created, growth will not come as start-ups focus on signups. As a platform, the management cannot make sure that every service is quality-checked. While most start-ups including Urbanclap, focus on providing the service to the customer at their homes, many consumers find that the beauty care ritual is a better experience in salons because of the hygienic and professional environment. As I have used Urbanclap and Housejoy in the past, I noticed that they are not particularly more affordable compared to neighbourhood salons. The solution to these two problems have been devised by two startups which is making waves in Delhi NCR for being different in the approach. <keyword id="4425546" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Be-U-Salons">Be U Salons</keyword> Be U operates in the B2B2C space and aims to fix the gap between the demand and supply in the salon industry through on-ground operations and advanced technology. Unlike the conventional models, the company signs up small salon owners and don’t levy any franchise fee or capital expenditure on the part of the salons. The company brands the salons completely and has created categories under which everything including the products used, services offered and the prices are replicated to ensure quality is delivered. Instead they charge a 15% commission on the overall salon revenue which varies on the salon category Red, Blue or Green which falls under different revenue slabs. Vikas Johari, CEO &amp; Founder, Be U Salons told Business Insider, “When I entered the salon industry with Monsoon salons, I noticed that the industry is suffering due to inefficiencies and running costs such as real estate rentals, promoter services etc. While Monsoon became a great salon brand in Delhi, I realized that a tech-enabled solution could help scale up the franchise model in place.” Enter asset-light tech-enabled Be U model which has low or no capital commitment, benefits of economies of scale, focus on core activities, automation and standardization due to strong tech support which helps existing small salons to achieve better productivity and profitability. How it works Be U Salons has an mobile app on android and <keyword id="75489" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="IOS">iOS</keyword> platforms that enables customers to make easy online appointments, mobile payments and check transaction history record. The app also has scope for feedback, reviews and ratings, loyalty programmes, no waiting time and real time services which ensures that all partner salons provide quality service. Not just that, the app offers its customers attractive ‘’freebies” like a free haircut or 100% cashback on digital payments which ensures that once someone uses the app, they come back for the great value for money. Currently, the company has 70 plus outlets operating across Delhi-NCR, and services about 900-1000 customers per day. <keyword id="795759" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Yes-Madam">Yes Madam</keyword> Yes Madam is a nascent startup that has come up in some areas of Delhi NCR like Noida, Greater Noida and <keyword id="44991" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="ghaziabad">Ghaziabad</keyword>. While this startup also provides its personal grooming services at home, it has a unique billing system which makes it affordable to most working women. The company charges its customers on per minute basis for Rupees 6 on any beauty service they want with extra service charge for better brands. During peak hours or weekends, the company charges Rs. 8 per minute which makes it still more affordable compared to the competitors. 
	
	<div type="image" title="Screenshot_2017-08-01-10-27-26-1" msid="61155045" hostid="261"></div>





 With Yes Madam app, the customers have the freedom to use their own product and the beautician. Another way to book can be through the call centre and Whatsapp which makes this startup more inclusive to people that might not have a smartphone or omnipresent internet connection. These new startups are engaging more people while using the resources differently but it will be interesting to see who leaves a last impression behind.

These personal grooming startups are leveraging technology differently compared to Urbanclap

<keyword id="541988" type="COMPANY" weightage="80" keywordseo="SnapDeal">Snapdeal</keyword> has taken a step away from its online marketplace model to tap into India’s booming Small and Medium Business (SME) segment with <keyword id="1692395" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="80" keywordseo="Shopo">Shopo</keyword> – a zero commission mobile marketplace. Currently out of 32 million Indian SMEs, less than 0.1% sell online. 
 With a rather hasty product design time of 8 weeks, the <keyword id="235499" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="APP">app</keyword> lets one list, chat and sell/buy goods from home entrepreneurs and SMEs. Imagine Quikr designed primarily for new products with assisted social media marketing. The app is currently available on Android and iOS. 
 
A potential seller only needs to enter his/her name and mobile number. The app offers features like hand curated listings, seller and buyer ratings, time-bound offers, and online storefronts for sellers. The logistics would be coordinated between the buyer and seller. However, while Snapdeal claims it’ll keep a check to ensure only legal and authorized products are sold online, users can flag products they deem inappropriate. 
 
“This is the vision we articulated when we partnered with Freecharge. We believe the purpose of the company should go beyond an app or website. India needs more digital platforms to bring consumption online”, Kunal Bahl, Co-Founder and CEO, Snapdeal. 
 
When asked why the company needed a separate app altogether Bahl adds, “Intent driven purchases are better off in catalogue marketplaces. However, on a trip to the local market or mall we don’t know what we want. Hence the use cases are very different here.” 
 
The company is not mandating minimum limits. “One may not know how many cupcakes they can make. We might however give sellers ability to indicate they are running out of stock. We’ll start with the least number of features and learn from feedback”, Anand Chandrasekaran, Chief Product Officer, Snapdeal says. 
 
When asked if Shopo’s model was designed more for products than services Senior VP Sandeep Komaravelly thinks it can work both ways, “That’s the beauty of it. If you have a movie ticket you might want to sell, put it up. Someone in the vicinity might want to pick it up.” 
 
About 30 days into the launch, the app currently features around 140000 sellers and over 30,000 listings with a new one popping every 5 seconds. The company aims to earn back the money it invested after a year with ad revenues and premium listings.

Snapdeal launches SME mobile
marketplace, Shopo

2015 was the year that saw the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=startup">startup industry </a>in India come off age. While on the one hand, there were brave individuals starting up on their own, the year saw companies like Ola, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=Snapdeal">Snapdeal</a>, Quikr, <keyword id="830092" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Zomato">Zomato</keyword> and Paytm crossing the $1 billion in valuation to join the Unicorn club on the other. The rise of startups also led the angel investment community to take more risks than before. However, most importantly, all along India witnessed a Prime Minister who went the extra mile in encouraging the startup community by announcing several government measures -‘Startup India, Standup India’ being the latest one – while also showing the world the power of entrepreneurs back home. 
 
<a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/No-funds-for-your-start-up-Here-are-5-things-you-need-to-attract-angel-investors/articleshow/49323077.cms">ALSO READ: No funds for your start-up? Here are 5 things you need to attract angel investors</a> 
 
As the spectacular year draws to a close, imminent investors take us through the significant changes which both the startup as well as <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/searchresult.cms?query=investor+">investor </a>community witnessed in 2015. Read on: 
 
STARTUP ECOSYSTEM BUILDING IN INDIA 
 “2015 has been a watershed year because there has been huge growth in the quality of startups that have come in,” says Saurabh Srivastava, cofounder of the Indian Angel Network and Nasscom. Happy to see an ecosystem building, he says: The government is beginning to encourage startups like never before as they also believe that startups can build wealth and employment. Moreover, people are seeing so many other successful ones with innovative ideas which are making good amount of money, solving ground problems and attracting global interest that they feel encouraged to do startups themselves. Also, there is huge interest among <keyword id="6365770" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="angel-investors">angel investors</keyword> to come in, invest and take more risks.” 
 
ANGEL INVESTMENT BECOMING AN ASSET CLASS: 
 
Mrs Padmaja Ruparel talks about the growth of angel investing community in India and how it has become an asset class. 
 
“It really is a class where first generation entrepreneurs like Saurabh, Narayanan Murthy and the likes – all middle class entrepreneurs who created garage to IPO kind of companies - have had a passion for entrepreneurship and have wanted to remain engaged in new innovations. They do this today by not only investing in young startups, but by mentoring and providing market access through their global network. This asset class has now moved beyond entrepreneurs. So, we are seeing lot of professional class investing and lot of second generation business house people also investing.” 
 
“On the other side, I feel starting up will become a career option soon. We are seeing entrepreneurs’ freshly out of college increasingly doing startups. One of our companies Mukunda Foods making tabletop dosa making machines, have youngsters who came out of college, created a prototype and are now delivering across nearly 9 countries. This is not to say that others aren’t. It’s also true that several experienced professionals are also building startups,” she says. 
 
SHIFT IN TRADITIONAL MINDSET AND APPROACH OF INVESTORS 
 Saurabh, who has nearly two decades of experience in <keyword id="6357455" type="EVENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="Funding">funding</keyword> startups, admits there has been massive change in the way investors look at startups today. 
 
“Investors are willing to put their money in more and more startups these days. 15-20 years ago investments were made only in IT companies, particularly those which had global appeal because growth came from overseas market. Today, India itself is a big market and we now see high quality entrepreneurs across variety of sectors – healthcare, IT, education, semi-conductors, hospitality, medical devices, ecommerce etc. A big shift in the investor approach has been to take the risk of investing in companies which target only the domestic market. Some of our best successes at IAN have come from companies catering to the Indian market,” he says. 
 
GEOGRAPHY NO MORE LIMITING FACTOR, INVESTMENT HAPPENING OVERSEAS 
 
Meanwhile, Padmaja feels opportunities lay galore for startups everywhere in the world when it comes to raising funds. Why? She explains: 
 
“IAN has set up its angel investment office outside the country. We are not only seeing entrepreneurs there, but actively investing too. The reverse is true as a lot of overseas investors are investing with us in companies that we are bringing the opportunities from. Geography is thus not a limiting factor anymore and that’s where we are able to make IAN a global platform where people from around the world can invest and get good returns,” says Padmaja. 
 
INDIA IS BEGINNING TO ACCEPT FAILURES 
 
Both Saurabh and Padmaja are of the opinion that failing does not minimalize chances of getting money from investors as there is increasing social acceptance for failures in India unlike before. 
 
“I think the concept of accepting failure was not there in India, but it is starting to get accepted. You try your best but it may not have worked for various reasons. I feel people who have not succeeded can be very good entrepreneurs because they have learnt from mistakes and have the hunger to succeed,” says Padmaja. 
 
Saurabh joins in to conclude: “When somebody has tried failed and wants to do it again, it shows character. It shows passion and commitment. An entrepreneur doesn’t always fail due to incompetence, there could be several other reasons say their partners let them down. They want to come back again and show the world what they can do. There has to be social acceptance for them and it is happening within the investor community gradually.” 
 
(Image credit: Thinkstock)

Why 2015 was the year of Indian Startups, tell us imminent investors

Rahul Yadav has been kicked out of realty portal Housing.com. This is the end of the story. But the story that began with an ambitious youngster (read IIT dropout) founding a company that would make the established rivals sweat in competition and gradually attaining the status of corporate drama prince is something that needs serious analysis. 
 
The Economic Times in a news has asked ‘Had Rahul Yadav lost interest in Housing?’ 
 
Fond of controversy, Rahul may have lost actual interest in the business. "The guy is good. But he doesn't have the interests of his own company in mind, as he has now said that it is not interesting for him to solve the housing problem,” a venture capital investor told the ET. 
 
Even until a day earlier, Yadav was denying reports of his ouster or that online classifieds company Quikr was in talks to acquire Housing. 
 
The ET report further elaborates, Yadav has been openly contemptuous of rival organisations and people he perceives to have crossed his path. Things began to go haywire for him in March when he wrote an incendiary email to Sequoia India managing director Shailendra Singh, ostensibly because the venture capital firm poached an employee from Housing. 
 
Then came the most trolling phase in the life of Rahul. He resigned as CEO, questioning "intellectual capability” of the board members and investors. At a board meeting a few days later, he apologized and withdrew his resignation, but the stage had been sfor an unceremonious exit from the company he cofounded three years ago. 
 
 
According to the ET news report, Yadav announced a few days later in May that he was giving away his entire 4.57% stake to Housing employees, and challenged the founders of Ola and Zomato to follow suit. The following month, while returning from a trip to China, Yadav posted a photograph of Vishal Sikka sleeping at an airport lounge, complaining that the Infosys CEO had refused to answer his questions. 
 
Born to middle-class parents from Alwar in Rajasthan, Yadav's turning point came when he enrolled at IIT-Bombay in 2007, specialising in metallurgy. It was at the institute, a breeding ground for tech entrepreneurs - the founders of India's largest cab aggregator, Ola, are IIT-Bombay alumni - that Yadav caught the entrepreneurship bug. 
 
Having built Exambaba.com, an online question bank of old exam papers that IIT-Bombay asked to close, he dropped out of the institute in the final year. In 2012, he and 11 other batchmates cofounded Housing after they had a difficult time finding accommodation in Mumbai, home to some of the world's most expensive real estate. 
 
Yadav's ignonimous exit puts a lot of things in question. With the influx of capital, Housing has aggressively expanded and now employs more than 2,500 people, whose are now in a precarious place with investors keen to sell the company. 
 
But Yadav isn't without his share of supporters, people won over primarily because of his bold attitude. "... Please know that we are ardent admirers, and know that you are meant for greatness. Looking forward to hearing your next," Ajeet Khurana, the former CEO of IIT-Bombay's incubator, commented on Yadav's Facebook wall after he was fired, also stating that he was willing to invest in his next venture. 
 
Yadav had grand visions for Housing, which he outlined to ET after returning from his trip to China. This included going beyond Housing being a classifieds website for real estate and evolving into an ecosystem with an online community and helping design the "next generation of houses,” reads the news report by the financial daily. 
 
(Image: India Times)

You Searched For "quikr homes investment" and got 11 results

It’s Quikr vs everyone else in home services market!

BI India Bureau

Quikr now owns this real estate portal

BI India Bureau

Got stuff you don’t use anymore? Amazon will help you to get rid of them. Here’s how

BI India Bureau

Laqshya Media Group is eyeing a 4X increase in revenue, to Rs 2,000 crore in the next 5 years

Samarpita Banerjee

Urban Company is on the lookout for 15,000 service professionals as it wishes to tap into 50 cities by the end of this year

Kritti Bhalla

Housing sales may rise marginally by 4 pc in 2019: Report

PTI

PropTiger and Housing.com merge at an undisclosed valuation; raise $55 million from REA, Softbank

BI India Bureau

These personal grooming startups are leveraging technology differently compared to Urbanclap

Tanya Dubey

Snapdeal launches SME mobile marketplace, Shopo

Saikat Pyne

Why 2015 was the year of Indian Startups, tell us imminent investors

Anushree Singh

Rahul Yadav: The bad boy of Indian startup might have lost interest in business

BI India Bureau

Popular Keywords

Buying Guides