With the advent of globalization, there has been a massive growth in the import business of our country. Moreover, there is no denying that it is one of the largest and fastest-growing economies in the world. For the unversed, consumers are the ones who drive the economies including the production, marketing, and distribution.
People in India are crazy about imported items. So, it becomes a lucrative business option for many aspiring entrepreneurs. There is no denying that you can earn whopping amounts by doing import business. But how well do you know India's import business? We have curated some facts below for you to brush up on your knowledge.
The production scale in India has also gone up in the past few decades. It is because Indian goods have a great demand in the foreign market. That is why more goods and services are exported to other countries at present times. The result of these exports is an increase in income generation and foreign exchange. This, in turn, helps the Indian economy to grow further.
Now, keeping this in mind, some of you might have planned to start an import business of your own. However, before diving in, you must understand that this business has its own set of challenges that you will have to face in the course of time. You need to familiarize yourself with everything including the guidelines, rules, and regulations to properly govern import business. Moreover, information about the same is scanty, so you need to be careful when investigating the same. So, Here's a complete guide on how to start an import business in India in 2022.
Consumers’ demands are increasing daily in today’s world. So, the imports help bridge the gap between domestic supply and domestic demand.
All about quality
There is no denying that imported goods are of better quality as compared to domestic goods. So, the consumers who can afford the product will always go for imported goods.
Cheaper price
In some cases, the imported goods come at a much cheaper price. The reason behind this is the larger production capacity of the foreign producer as compared to domestic producers.
A Complete Guide to Starting an Import Business in India
Select a Business Model
You need to choose the most effective business model for your franchise. It is important for you to select the business entity that you want to work on in the future. It will help you decide the financial expenses, manpower, and other factors required to start the business.
Final documentation process
You must settle the final documentation before beginning the business. Right from a PAN card to a trade license - you must make note of everything to avoid last-minute hassles or issues. It is necessary for businessmen to possess every legal document required for their business.
Compliance with rules
You must be aware of the rules and compliances associated with import business. Guidelines are a way of making people comply with the law and order. Once you are well-versed with the same, you can start your business smoothly.
Shipping the order
You need to ship your first order as soon as possible to get the business off the ground. Making connections with other dealers is another way of moving a step further to flourishing your import business.
Navigation of the business
You need to know effectively about learning to grow and navigate your business. You can take assistance from learned professionals or experienced persons in this regard. The mentorship and guidance that you will get from these people will help you discover a better version of yourself.
Pan Card is a Must
A PAN card is one of the most important documents that you need to possess when doing business. You must have a valid identity and address proof for all transactions and verifications. It is mandatory for everyone involved in businesses to apply for a PAN card at the Income Tax department in India.
Choose the Type of Business Entity
You need to choose the type of business entity you want to be a part of in the future. In this case, you need to choose from company types like LLP, private limited, partnership firm, and more. Your decision will depend on the structure of ownership of the said business. Also, do not forget to choose a unique name for your business entity.
Open a Current Account at the Bank
You must open a current account at the bank which will be used as your business account for all future purposes. This particular account is always used by business entities in the bank. Moreover, you will always need a current account to deal with other businesses or vendors.
Get the IEC and DGFT
You should also not forget about getting the Import Export Code (IEC). The Directorate General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) issues this unique registration code for all businesses. Moreover, you also need to produce various supporting documents with the same.
Choose the Right Product or Service
You must make sure to choose the correct product or service that suits your business needs. You need to keep various factors in mind when doing the same. It includes profitability, trade barriers, demand for the product, etc.
Find the Perfect Market and Buyers
You need to find the perfect market and buyers to sell your products or services at reliable profits. You should select your buyer only after having decided on the product and the market for the same.
Make sure your Finances are in Place
You also need to ensure that your finances are in place to help your business prosper further. Businesses are unlikely to take off without initial funding. So, make sure you estimate your business's financial requirements before starting with anything else.
Import business has a great demand in India. Even the COVID-19 wave of 2020 could not dim the spirits of this business that flourished at its own pace. In fact, the country's foreign trade relies heavily on imports. It has led the government to encourage domestic exports and manufacturing. However, India will still be dependent on imports for the long term as it is necessary for its export ambitions. So, if you are waiting to start your import business, now is the right time to do so.
FAQ
What is the best import products in India?
Jewellery and precious stones, Shoes, Perfumes, Electronics, Heavy machinery, Silk import, and Oil import are some of the best products you can import.
Which country does India import most?
China, the United States, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia are some of the top countries India imports the most.
How do I find international buyers?
Visit Trade fairs and exhibitions, Approach Government bodies like Export Promotion Councils or Embassies, and Market research about companies.
Author :- S N
Source :- https://startuptalky.com/start-import-business-india-guide/
Date :-January 26, 2022 at 11:38PM
{fullWidth}Ever heard of a unicorn? If you are imagining the beautiful mythical creature then you are wrong! Today’s generation has a different understanding of unicorns, thanks to Mr Aileen Lee, who popularized the term in 2013. So, what exactly is a unicorn? It is a private startup company that has a valuation of over $1 billion.
What is more shocking is that there are more than 900 unicorns across the world as recorded till December 2021. It makes you think the world is rich, isn’t it? Some of the former popular unicorns around the world are Facebook, Google, and Airbnb. Did it ring a bell? Well, it should! These unicorns later went on to become some of the largest companies in the world. We are here to look into the unicorns that are currently ruling the US.
Given below is a list of the top unicorns in the United States. We have curated a list of the best startup companies that have made a mark in the US market in a very short period.
SpaceX or Space Exploration Technologies Corp. was founded in 2002 by Elon Musk. Its headquarters are in Hawthorne, California. Musk founded SpaceX with the aim to reduce space transportation costs and to conduct the colonization of the planet Mars. The company has developed a liquid propellent rocket, a spacecraft, and an orbital rocket among its many products. It is on the verge of creating a mega constellation named Starlink for providing commercial internet services.
2. Stripe
Country- United States
Valuation- $95 billion
Unicorn Entry- 2014
Stripe Logo
Stripe is a financial services company that is headquartered in San Francisco. However, it also has another headquarter in Dublin, Ireland. Stripe usually works with e-commerce websites and mobile applications. One of its major achievements includes the introduction of Radar, an anti-fraud tool to block fraud transactions.
3. Epic Games
Country- United States
Valuation- $42 billion
Unicorn Entry- 2018
Epic Games Logo
Epic Games is a popular video game and software development company is headquartered in Cary, California. This unicorn was founded by Tim Sweeney in 1991. It was earlier named Potomac Computer Systems. Its first commercial video game release was ZZT in 1991. It is mostly known for developing the commercially available game engine, Unreal Engine. It is also used to power internally developed video games.
4. Instacart
Country- United States
Valuation- $39 billion
Unicorn Entry- 2014
Instacart Logo
This popular retail company operates both in the US and Canada. Instacart operates a grocery delivery service and a pickup service in both countries. The company’s services are offered through its web and mobile app.
5. Databricks
Country- United States
Valuation- $38 billion
Unicorn Entry- 2019
Databricks Logo
Databricks is a popular software company that was founded in 2013. The creators of Apache Spark created this unicorn with the aim of creating multiple open-source projects. Most of them spin around data science, data engineering, and machine learning. It mostly develops and sells cloud data platforms.
This financial technology company provides free mobile banking services owned and provided by Central National Bank or The Bankcorp Bank. It issues Visa debit cards to the account holders and they also get access to the online banking system. The company earns a majority of its revenue through the collection of interchange fees.
7. Fanatics
Country- United States
Valuation- $18 billion
Unicorn Entry- 2012
Fanatics logo
This popular American retailer unicorn, Fanatics was developed in 1995 and is headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida. It mostly deals with sports merchandise, equipment, and sportswear. Founded by Alan Trager, Fanatics proudly boasts of having connections with over 1080 product vendors and companies like Majestic, Adidas, Reebok, Nike, and more.
8. Gopuff
Country- United States
Valuation- $15 billion
Unicorn Entry- 2020
Gopuff Logo
This food delivery company operates not only in the US but also in England. Its headquarters are currently in Philadelphia. The unicorn boasts of operating in over 650 cities in the US. You will also be shocked to know that the company's worth as of 2021 is $15 billion. It makes for a huge amount, isn't it?
9. Plaid Technologies
Valuation- $13.4 billion
Unicorn Entry- 2018
Plaid Technologies Logo
This is also a fintech startup that is headquartered in San Francisco, California. It is responsible for building a data transfer network that is known to power Fintech and other digital finance products. The company also hosts a technology platform that enables the applications to connect with the bank accounts of the users. Apart from the US, Plaid Technologies also operates in the UK, Canada, Spain, France, Ireland, and the Netherlands.
10. Grammarly
Valuation- $13 billion
Unicorn Entry- 2019
Grammarly Logo
Who doesn't know Grammarly? This popular cloud-based writing assistant has helped millions of users around the world correct their grammar and tone. It uses a special AI method to identify mistakes and search for an alternative for those words in the platform. It was initially released in 2009 and remains one of the most popular writing assistants in today's world. Right from reviewing spellings, punctuation, grammar, engagement, and clarity, it looks for everything in content.
It is another popular eCommerce platform based out of the US. Users can shop from over 40,o00 independent brands through Faire's website. It acts as a wholesale marketplace for both brands and retailers. It mostly helps the retailers find and buy unique merchandise as per their demands or requirements.
12. Brex
Valuation- $12.3 billion
Unicorn Entry- 2018
Brex Logo
This technology company deals in financial services and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. It not only offers cash management accounts but also business credit cards to other technology companies who require them. The cards offered by Brex are business charge cards and are issued by the Emigrant Bank.
13. JUUL Labs
Valuation- $12 billion
Unicorn Entry- 2017
Juul Labs Logo
It is an electronic cigarette company that was carved out of Pax Labs a few years ago in 2017. The electronic cigarette made by JUUL labs atomizes the nicotine salts that are derived from tobacco. Moreover, one-time-use cartridges are used to provide the products for the same. This popular company headquarters is in San Francisco. If you are not aware, JUUL even became the most popular e-cigarette in the US back in 2017.
Conclusion
With the advent of growing competition in the market, unicorns are striving hard and leaving no stone unturned to remain in the field. This is happening in every part of the world and the US seems to be leading the way here. Multiple unicorns have already reached heights of success while a few others have just entered the market. Only time will tell what lies in the fate of these non-mythical, real unicorns that are currently running for success and fame.
FAQ
How many unicorns are there in the United States?
There are approximately 487 Unicorns in the USA.
Which city has the most unicorns in the United States?
San Francisco has the most unicorns with a total count of 203 unicorns.
How many unicorns are there in the world?
As of January 2022, there are more than 1000 unicorns in the world.
Author :- S N
Source :- https://startuptalky.com/top-unicorn-startups-united-states/
Date :-January 26, 2022 at 10:22PM{fullWidth}
Running a company is always challenging, with all the tasks that need to be done. You need a motivated, loyal, and productive workforce to help maximize the company’s resources and output. However, motivating and retaining great employees can challenging, considering the salaries and other benefits that you have to provide them in exchange for their services. This is where an Employee Share Option Plan (ESOP) comes into play.
If this is the first time that you’ve heard of this concept, no worries. This article summarizes what ESOP is and how it can help business owners like you.
Simply put, an Employee Share Option Plan or ESOP is when a company offers its employees the option to buy a specific number of shares in the company, at a specified price that is typically lower than the market price, within a particular date.
In other words, this is an employee share option that allows employees to have an ownership interest in the company they’re working for. There are two types of share options that can be offered:
Incentive Stock Option (ISO) – This type of option allows an employee to get rid of taxes on the shares they own until the shares are sold. After getting the option grant, they will hold the stock for at least two years, and after a year of exercising the option, they can be eligible for a long-term 20% capital gains tax. This option is not transferable to anyone, even within the family.
Non-Qualified Stock Option (NSO) – This type of share option requires an employee to pay an income tax on the difference between the price at which you avail of the option and the grant price. Furthermore, the employer can agree if the employee wants to transfer the shares to the employee’s offspring.
Benefits of an Employee Share Option Plans for the Companies
With that general idea of what ESOP is, if you now want to know how an employee share option benefits your company, then the four (4) most common benefits of granting an Employee Share Option Plan to your workforce are summarized here:
Attract and Retain Talented Employees
Hiring and keeping talented employees is never easy and this is more of a truth in today’s world, where companies and startups abound. With the fierce competition in the business world, companies are competing with one another to get the staff they want for their company. Aside from attracting the best applicants, offering employee share option plans can also motivate workers to give their best, knowing that their output affects their shares.
Ideally, with an employee benefit plan such as ESOP in place, applicants will be attracted to join the company while current employees will be inspired to work and stay longer. Considering the fact that they have an ownership interest in the company, they will tend to be more loyal and committed to their job and for a longer period of time. As a result, your organization will be more productive and prosperous today and in the coming years as your employees work together in helping the company grow.
Boost Employee Morale
Having shares in the company in which they’re working can help boost the employees’ morale. Instead of seeing themselves as salaried personnel, they’ll feel like they’re owners of the organization and that they have a say over important aspects. They’ll become more inspired and committed to the best interests of the company considering that one of the benefits of availing of the ESOP is that they will get a share of the company’s profits in the form of dividends.
Cost-Effective
As mentioned, most companies are looking for ways to reduce the costs of employee benefits, searching for less-cost solutions that offer high value for their staff. This is how offering ESOP becomes an ideal addition to employee benefits.
Although these share option plans for employees are rarely considered as an alternative for compensation, they’re still a good part of your company’s benefits packages because they can make employment opportunities in your company more appealing.
Despite the lost chance to sell the shares at the best market price and the cost of executing the plan, you can still get the most out of this benefit option by keeping staff motivated and loyal to stay with the company.
If you’re a small business owner, administering ESOP can be a cost-effective way of competing with more prominent corporations in your area.
Offers Tax Advantages
Including employee share option plans in your employees’ benefits program comes with some tax benefits too for your business. Generally, not until they’re exercised, ESOPs are considered worthless on your company’s book of accounts. This means that you’re not required to list down these options pending as a cost.
Moreover, once the employees exercise their options, your organization is authorized to deduct a tax equivalent to the difference between the market price and the strike price (fixed price at which the owner can buy the shares) as compensation expense.
Some other advantages of ESOPs or employee stock ownership plans for the companies can be summed up as:
ESOPs helps boost productivity
They save companies from immediate cash outflow
They help ageing owners to exit from the company
ESOPs help reshuffle ownership
They enhance employee retention
They help companies attract new employees
They are excellent for startups and companies operating in a low to moderate budget
The employee share option schemes also helps increase the intrinsic value of the cmpany
ESOP Benefits to Employees
ESOPs certainly help the companies and startups grow in ways more than one but not without benefitting the employees. After all, it is centring the employees that the concept of ESOPs are built. According to the recent survey conducted towards the end of 2021, it has been discovered that the employees working with startups have made more than $335 mn solely with the help of employee stock option strategies.
Thus, ESOPs definitely help the employees to a great extent. So, let's have a glimpse into how the employee option plan for stocks prove to be a boon for the employees themselves:
ESOPs help enhances the job security of the employees
Startup ESOPs extend retirement benefits
ESOP in startups improves the employees' overall commitment to work
Share option plans make the employees wealthy
ESOP benefits the employees by boosting their professional growth
Company Share Option Plans and the Indian Companies
Company share option plans are growing more than ever all around the world. Therefore, the Indian markets are not an exception to it. The Indian ecosystem has seen around 44 companies turning unicorn in 2021. Acording to the reports dated December 2021, the Indian startups have raised a total of $39 Bn till the first week of December, which is an increase of around 225% from $11.8 Bn in 2020. All these fundings are also enabling a huge growth for the startup companies and an outstanding era of growth and innovation for the country as well. Along with the funding it usually boils down to the employees that companies have as far as growth is concerned. It is the talent that a company nurtures, which helps distinguish a great performing company to an average performing or a low-performing company. Here, implementing overwhelming employee stock option strategies comes in extremely handy to boost the employees. While the companies can certainly resort to giving cash bonus, freebies, week offs or gifts to their employees to motivate them, the ultimate motivation comes in with the administration of lucrative share option schemes as offers that the employees simply cannot refuse.
ESOPs are not only growing in numbers but also expanding in terms of the size. If you are now more curious to learn about the major Indian companies that have been promising decent employee stock options for the empoyees, then let's have a quick rundown along the best ESOP buybacks that the Indian companies has seen in 2021.
Well, Flipkart leads the Indian companies with the biggest ESOP buyback amount of $125 mn. The Walmart-led company has been succeeded by:
Browserstack - $50 mn
Swiggy - $40 mn
UpGrad - $29.5 mn
Zerodha - $27 mn
Udaan - $23 mn
Sharechat - $19 mn
Phonepe - $18 mn
CRED - $19.3 mn
Spinny - $12 mn
HealthifyMe - $12 mn
Unacademy - $10.5 mn
Chalo - $10 mn
Khatabook - $10 mn
Razorpay - $10 mn
Zetwerk - $8.3 mn
Urban Company - $7.3 mn
Simplilearn - $6.4 mn
Meesho - $5.5 mn
Takeaways
As you can see, ESOPs can be a perfect tool for businesses that are looking to attract the best talents, and for those who want their business to grow and succeed. For your convenience, this article summarizes information for you to know when you should consider ESOP for your business and more importantly, to convince people about the growth potential of your company.
FAQs
What is an employee share scheme?
An Employee Share Option Plan is when a company offers its employees the option to buy a specific number of shares in the company, at a specified price that is typically lower than the market price, within a particular date.
What are the pros of offering employee stock options?
ESOP acts as a tool of motivation for the employees that once they own a stock they feel responsible for the performance of the company, as it determines the value of the stocks of the company.
It helps the employer to retain the company and assure a good level of performance in the work.
How do I avoid tax on ESOP?
To avoid paying taxes and potential penalties consider a rollover for your ESOP distribution. The rollover process takes place when tax-deferred funds from your ESOP are transferred to another tax deferred account such as an IRA or 401(k).
How ESOP is taxed?
The shares is short-term when held for less than 3 years and long-term when sold after 3 years. The period of holding begins from the exercise date up to the date of sale.
What is the full form of ESOP?
The full form of ESOP is an employee share 0ption plan.
Company Profile is an initiative by StartupTalky to publish verified information on different startups and organizations. The content in this post has been approved by POPxo.
POPxo is India's largest online community for millennial women to read, watch, purchase, and hang out, which was founded in 2015. POPxo brings a welcoming and empowering environment that encourages women to live their best lives.
POPxo is aimed to merge content and commerce, which started as content and eventually had its own private label brand. POPxo's articles, videos, and social networking material are in six languages - English, Hindi, Marathi, Bangla, Tamil, and Telugu - which has attracted over 39 million monthly users who spend over 3 million hours across all of the company's platforms.
POPxo also partners with the leading companies to increase its reach and engage its audience. The whole platform runs on the basis of content that fascinates young girls. Furthermore, it also features on its website, Bollywood news, life hacks, retail listicles and more.
POPxo was acquired by MyGlamm's parent, The Good Glamm Group on August 7, 2020. The six-year-old company's investors - Chiratae Ventures, Kalaari Capital, and Neoplux Venture Capital have joined the board of MyGlamm soon after the acquisition. Furthermore, Priyanka Gill, the founder of POPxo also joined MyGlamm as a cofounder. Here's all about POPxo, its Founders and Team, Business Model, Revenue Model, Services, Funding, FAQs, and more.
POPxo - Company Highlights
Startup Name
POPxo
Legal Name
Luxeva Limited
Headquarters
Gurgaon, Haryana
Sector
Beauty, Health & Lifestyle
Founded
March 2014
Founders
Priyanka Gill and Namrata Bostrom
Parent Company
The Good Glamm Group
Operating Revenue
$1.61M in FY19
Funding
$12.4 mn (2021)
Number of Employees
251 to 500
Website
www.popxo.com
Popxo - Latest News
January 24, 2022 - Popxo parent, The Good Glamm Group acquires Organic Harvest, a beauty and personal care D2C startup led by Rahul Agarwal.
October 1, 2021 - Popxo enters the Indian cosmetic industry with a Makeup Collection from Myglamm.
POPxo has been founded in 2014 as India's largest online community for women that offers discussions, content, and products across a wide range of domains including fashion, beauty, lifestyle, work, and more. Founded by Priyanka Gill and Namrata Bostrom, PopXo offers millennial women an excellent platform where they can read, watch, shop, and hang out. Along with exclusive products across brands, PopXo also offers text and video content in a manner that is accessible via social media on mobile and PCs across the web. PopXo has last reported having crossed the 9 million mark in terms of user acquisitions every month and has boasted of witnessing over 102 million monthly engaged content views.
Popxo was acquired by MyGlamm in August 2020 and has since served as a subsidiary of MyGlamm, which eventually turned into The Good Glamm Group in September 2021. The Popxo parent, MyGlamm includes The Moms Co, St Botanica and Sirona, along with other content platforms - POPxo, Scoopwhoop, and BabyChakra, as per January 2022's reports, and has already turned unicorn in November 2021, thereby being hailed as the first beauty commerce unicorn company of India.
Popxo - Industry
The Indian industry comprised of online personal care and beauty brands and products are estimated to reach $4.4 billion by 2025. There is also likely to be a 4X increase witnessed in the number of shoppers of beauty and personal care products online, which was last reported to be 25 million in FY20 and would be going up to 110 million in FY25.
Popxo - Startup Story
The Popxo is founded by two dynamic women - Priyanka Gill and Namrata Bostrom. During 2012-13 there was no content platform at scale in English for women. So, this was the point when they thought of creating a useful platform for women and began Popxo in March 2013. Priyanka Gill first started Estylista in September 2013 in London for the NRI women, which is popularly known as the base of PopXo. For the first few years, the company started working out of London and raised its first institutional round of funding.
Initially, Popxo created content that enthused women who love to delve into fashion, beauty, lifestyle, wedding, relationships, work, fitness et cetera. The most popular things that attracted women to the Popxo website are hair and skin protection, and other products.
The greatness of the website lies in the production of 1500+ articles in six languages that the Popxo website was last recorded to be publishing every month. The team understood the audience well and presented articles in the same way, which lead to content creation to adding relevant videos. Today, the platform produces 60-70 videos a month and generates 100-150 million views a month. The duration of videos is between 3-7 minutes. Furthermore, they even produce web series.
Priyanka is the Co-Founder and President of MyGlamm and the Founder and CEO of POPxo and Plixxo. She lives in London with her husband and two children as a digital media entrepreneur and storyteller. She enjoys working with creative and entrepreneurial people, particularly women, and considers it a privilege to be in their company. She is now enrolled in a joint London Business School and Columbia Business School EMBA - Global program, said her Linkedin profile post dated May 24, 2021.
Her passion for writing merged with entrepreneurship when she started her own site, Estylista, which is now known as POPxo. She returned to India in 2014 to create POPxo, envisioning her company as a safe and engaging community that helps Indian women lead their lives. Influencer marketing seems to be on the verge of breaking out in India. As a result, she began developing a tech-enabled platform to take advantage of this enormous opportunity. Plixxo was released in 2017 and is powered by PopXo. It was here that India's first generation of influencers grew up. Priyanka Gill has experience serving as a freelance writer and editor and an investor and board member for several companies. She eventually served as an advisor at PolkaRare and a seed investor of Kalamint, a role that she is still continuing with. She co-founded The Good Glamm Group on Darpan Sanghvi and Naiyya Saggi in September 2021 initially with the merger of MyGlamm, PopXo, and BabyChakra.
POPxo's Plixxo also joined MyGlamm, India's premier beauty conglomerate, in 2020, marking a watershed moment and a watershed year. Three powerful brands merged to form one incredible enterprise that goes by the name The Good Glamm, the parent company of MyGlamm in August 2020 and since then, Gill has been appointed as the Cofounder of the latter.
Namrata Bostrom was the co-founder of PopXo, who has also been the CEO of the company as well from the initial phase of the company and stepped down from the role in March 2017. Bostrom is an Economics student who has The University of Oxford and London Business School as her alma mater. Bostrom earlier served as a Consultant at The Boston Consulting Group, and as a Sales and Product Strategist at EDITED before co-founding PopXo. After leaving the role at PopXo, Namrata joined Facebook, the company that she is still aligned to as the Product Management Lead.
PopXo initially had a team of 15 people working together, which eventually grew to include more than 200 employees strong.
POPxo Founder and CEO - Priyanka Gill talks about POPxo
PopXo's vision has always been "to build a content-community-commerce platform for women."
The mission of the company was to help the users find their inner natural glow. Now, as a part of The Good Glamm Group, PopXo's mission is aligned with the mission of its parent, which aims to build the global Digital FMCG Conglomerate of the Future.
Popxo - Name, Tagline and Logo
PopXo Logo
PopXo's tagline has said, 'Take it up a POP!' - and we live and breathe it with everything we do.
Popxo - Business Model
Popxo targets millennial women aged between 18-35 with a range of products across diverse industries including fashion, beauty, lifestyle, wedding, wellness, and entertainment. The company has recently forayed into the cosmetics industry. The social community platform for women has entered the cosmetics industry, which is currently valued at $20 billion with a Makeup Collection by MyGlamm. MyGlamm has acquired Popxo towards the end of last year, and this development has come almost a year after that.
This new makeup collection is termed POPxo Makeup Collection by MyGlamm and will include nail kits, face kits, eye kits, and lip kits in order to cater to all makeup needs. The entire range is reported to be priced under Rs 499 per product in an effort to stay within the affordable limits for younger women. The Popxo Makeup Collection powered by MyGlamm will be sold on the MyGlaam app and website along with being available at popular company stores and kiosks across the country.
Popxo - Revenue Model
Sponsored content is the initial source of revenue. The company approaches brands and claim to have a large audience. Popxo knows what people want and can assist you in selling. The company made content for them, including social media and video content. That comes first while influencer marketing comes in second. Ads come in third, and e-commerce comes in fourth.
Popxo’s money comes from sponsored material, which accounts for half of our total. Influencer marketing accounts for 40% of income. They started selling online in the fourth quarter of the previous fiscal year.
Fashion- POPxo allows you to stay up to speed on the latest fashion trends by reading fashion articles and watching videos. Thefashion experts of the company provide the users with everything they need to stay on-trend, from styling advice to shopping hotspots and must-have items. The platform also offers the latest news on fashion in both western and Indian. It also provides the best tips and fashion hacks that suit you. This platform also offers the latest updates on celebrity attires (both Bollywood and Hollywood).
Beauty- The team of beauty specialists is committed to providing the users with the best services available in the industry. The beauty section has it all, from unbiased product reviews to makeup hacks to skin and hair care advice. The users get updates on skincare, makeup, hair, bath & body, nails, hair products, beauty products and DIYs.
Lifestyle- POPxo also offers related content from a wide range of topics. It provides the consumers with popular articles across all categories, from travel and education to sex and relationships.
Wedding- Wedding planning can be as stressful as you imagine, which is why Popxo is also there to assist. The wedding area keeps young brides-to-be up to date on the latest trends. POPxo has all you need to know about weddings, from bridal makeup to honeymoon ideas.
Wellness- Overall wellness, according to POPxo, is at the heart of a healthy lifestyle. So, if the consumers want to live a healthier life, check out Popxo’s wellness section which has articles on managing stress and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
Entertainment- Popxo will make sure the users get the best of everything from the comfort of their homes on laptops or mobile phones, from movie recommendations to what's going on in the lives of their favorite celebrity.
Popxo is home to all feminine things. POPxo's online store, which includes items such as home decor, beauty, clothes, face masks, mobile accessories, stationery, rakhi presents, and more, is an attempt to make online shopping for women in India more enjoyable!
POPxo has raised a total funding of $12.4M in over 7 rounds of funding. POPxo is funded by 21 investors. Neoplux, IDG Ventures, Summit Media, Oppo, Kalaari Capital, STRIVE, Chiratae Ventures are the lead investors of POPxo.
Date
Round
Amount
Lead Investors
Apr 25, 2018
Series C
$5M
Neoplux, Oppo
Mar 1, 2018
Series B
$750K
-
Mar 16, 2017
Series B
$3.3M
Chiratae Ventures, STRIVE
Nov 5, 2015
Series A
$2M
500 Startups, Chiratae Ventures, Kalaari Capital
Nov 1, 2014
Angel Round
$500K
--
Jul 1, 2013
Seed Round
$300K
--
Popxo - Growth
PopXo grew considerably with a well-knit team of 33 people in its textual content team. Let's look at some of the prominent milestones that PopXo managed to attain throughout the years:
It has drawn over 39 million users per month
PopXo has delivered content in over 6 languages
The startup has seen over 10.18 mn visiting its content across the mobile app in a month
PopXo claims to have 1.6 bn monthly social media impressions
Popxo - Startup Challenges
Founded by Priyanka Gill and Namrata Bostrom, ideating, founding, and growing PopXo was difficult for two independent women entrepreneurs, which both of them managed really well, earning themselves quite a name in the industry. The first challenge for PopXo was to expand the content it produced and the kind of content produced by the website. The challenge that followed was the creation of an app. Even here PopXo absolutely nailed it. The website witnessed an overwhelming 500K initial downloads!
Popxo - Competitors
Though Popxo, when it was launched, was the sole platform focused on confident and educated women, which speak to them directly without taking down to them, PopXo has been a lot of companies competing with it once it started achieving milestones. Some of the PopXo competitors can be noted as:
ScoopWhoop
Polka Cafe
BuzzFeed
The Business of Fashion
nippon.com
Luxe Radio
The Canberra Times
Popxo - Future Plans
Popxo forayed into the beauty segment with POPxo Makeup Collection by MyGlamm, where both MyGlamm and PopXo are a part of The Good Glamm Group in October 2021 and is currently targeting a revenue run rate of Rs 100 crore in the upcoming 12 months.
Popxo - FAQs
What is POPxo?
POPxo is an Indian online platform specially for women to read, watch, shop and hangout. POPxo covers content related to beauty, weddings, health and lifestyle.
Who started POPxo?
Priyanka Gill has founded POPxo in 2015.
Who is the owner of MyGlamm?
Darpan Sanghvi owns MyGlamm.
Does POPxo creates videos along with content?
Yes, POPxo is able to create over 2000 pieces of content along with 150 videos, 800 stories and a large number of social media graphics.
Author :- Chaitra S
Source :- https://startuptalky.com/popxo-success-story/
Date :-January 24, 2022 at 03:59PM
Ola is a Bengaluru-based ride-sharing company that only a few people are ignorant of. Ever since Ola became operational in all the major cities throughout India, it has become our go-to option. Along with the US-based Uber, Ola is one of the most dominating ride-sharing companies that offers the users a wide range of vehicles and renting options to choose from!
India’s leading mobility platform, Ola has been operating since 2010, when it was founded and has already streamlined its ride-booking and car renting service and its different modes throughout these years with a focus on its users to add to its growth.
Now, Ola has also chosen to empower sustainable development and therefore, came up with its unique concept of “e-scooters” or what we term as “electric scooters”.
OLA Electric is planning to launch its Electric scooters on August 15, 2021, Ola chief, Bhavish Aggarwal disclosed it via his Twitter handle.
Thanks to all who have reserved our scooter!
Planning a launch event for the Ola Scooter on 15th August. Will share full specs and details on product and availability dates. Looking forward to it! 😀
If you have already heard about them and are curious to learn everything about electric scooters, then you can keep this article handy because here we bring you all that you would like to know about these vehicles!
Latest News
January 17, 2022 - Ola Electric hits another roadblock, the S1 scooter deliveries are delayed. However, the customers who are interested to upgrade to S1 Pro can do it easily now as the EV manufacturers will be prioritizing the production of the S1 Pro scooters, which is the choice of the majority, against a performance upgrade fee. The S1 Pro orders will start dispatching through January and February and might take up to 20 days to reach the customers' place.
December 27, 2021 - Ola Electric has expanded its authorized capital by 17,121%, increasing its capital amount from INR 22.2 Cr to INR 3,825 Cr. An IPO might follow because raising authorized capital is one of the primary steps leading a company to its conversion into a public entity.
December 24, 2021 - Ola Electric is expected to delay its production of escooters further. Though the Indian EV manufacturers have delivered nearly 100 scooters to the customers during an event earlier this month, Ola's superfactory has been operating much below its capacity, according to the sources close to the matter.
December 7, 2021 - Ola Electric raises funds from Vijay Shekhar Sharma of Paytm feat and Bollywood brother-sister duo - Farhan Akhtar and Zoya Akhtar. The subsidiary of OLA Cabs has already raised Rs 398 crore and is further looking to raise around $53 mn by allotting 371 Series C compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS) to Temasek, IIFL, Edelweiss, Rahul Ravindra Raj Mehta, and others.
November 22, 2021 - Ola again has to postpone the delivery of the electric scooters to mid-late December 2021. The scooters that were to be delivered from October 2021 onwards had already been postponed earlier due to a global shortage of semiconductors.
November 20, 2021 - Ola founder Bhavish Aggarwal rejoiced at the amazing responses of the S1 test rides and further plans to expand the test rides to 1000+ cities across India by December 15, 2021.
October 25, 2021 - Ola launches its first Hypercharger to charge the S1 model of Electric scooters. The company is planning to start the test drive of its electric vehicles from November 10, 2021.
September 17, 2021 - Ola Electric scooters are being sold at a rate of 4 scooters each second. At the end of Day 2 of the sale, Ola has already sold Rs 1100 crores worth of scooters.
September 8, 2021 - Ola CEO and Co-founder, Bhavish Aggarwal tweets an apology for being unable to make the Ola website live for the audience to begin the purchases of Ola S1 scooters. Bhavish postpones the purchase date and time to September 15, 8 am.
September 4, 2021 - Ola Electric scooters are expected to be shipped to the US by early 2022, as mentioned by the OLA CEO, Bhavish Aggarwal.
September 4, 2021 - Ola has planned to come out with 2 products to be launched in the Indian markets: Ola S1 and S1 Pro, priced at Rs 99,999 and Rs 1,29,999 respectively.
Why Ola Electric Scooter is much like a “Revolution on two wheels”?
Yes, coming up with Ola electric scooters will certainly help people lose track of the rising costs of fossil fuels and all the morbid thoughts about the exhaustion of our fossil fuel reserves and their likes.
Ola electric is certainly a revolutionary idea and even its tagline says so “Ready or not, a revolution is coming” along with a motivating hashtag #JoinTheRevolution.
Here are the 3 key features that the Ola Electric scooter boasts of:
Big on Acceleration - The Ola electric scooters would be furnished with acceleration to envy and will allow the users to stay ahead on the road.
High on handling - Along with providing a remarkable acceleration, these bikes are also slick and promise exceptional handling on any surface.
Larger boot space - Ola Electric vehicles also come with a large boot space that is capable of storing two helmets and more important things you would need along the ride.
Ola Electric - Birth of the Entity
Ola has announced that its electricity-powered scooter manufacturing company would be different from its ride-sharing wing. They are two different lines of businesses under ANI Technologies where the former will continue to be a ride-hailing business whereas the latter would be associated with the manufacturing and selling of the electric scooters.
Ola Electric Scooters - Built, Colour Variants, Specifications, and Charging
Ola has disclosed that their electric scooters will be made available in 2 versions – the Ola Series S - Ola S1, and the top-of-the-line Ola S1 Pro. The company has already launched S1 and S1 Pro scooters with prices starting from Rs 99,999 and Rs 1,29,999, respectively.
Ola electric has acquired Etergo BV back in 2020 and announced that the Ola electric scooter is based on the Etergo Appscooter. The company has already adopted the platform of Etergo to be used in India in order to deliver better performance.
Etergo Appscooter
The Ola electric scooters will pace on 12-inch black alloy wheels. Talking about the design of the vehicles, they are clean and sleek in appearance and devoid of any other redundancies. As per the reports, the Ola e-scooters will feature a twin-pod LED headlamp that will have an LED strip running around it.
Ola electric scooter
Furthermore, these will have single-sided telescopic front suspensions and their rear shock absorbers will be mounted horizontally, with the disc brakes slotted front and in the rear. The pillion footpegs of the scooter fold flush into the bodywork of the vehicles and at the back there are chunky pillion grab handles, ending in clear-lens tail-lights.
These scooters are also claimed to be launched with the largest boot space ever, which will be capable of accommodating two half-face helmets and will have space for packing in more.
Ola Electric Scooter boot space
As per the batteries, Ola hasn’t released any formal statements concerning the battery system of the vehicles but its batteries will not be of a swappable type according to most. It will rather run on a standard charging system.
Ola electric scooter’s riding range for the S1 model is 121 km and for its S1 Pro model, it is around 181 km per charge. The latter also includes the Hyper Mode, which is not present in the former model.
Ola's electric scooters are reported to be equipped with a 7.0-inch TFT color display that will feature in-built navigation, onboard diagnostics, and other infotainment functions, and will be powered by an Android operating system.
Ola has already roped in Wayne Burgess, a Jaguar design veteran who also served as the Design Director of Jaguar Production and SVO Vehicles, and plans to make their vehicles big on design, bringing in the global appeal to the vehicles.
Wayne Burgess
Besides, Ola is also planning to launch an indigenously built car in order to foray into the electric four-wheeler industry, which will also get a major boost in its design with Burgess leading their team as the VP of Design.
Matte black, matte pink, matte sky blue were some of the color options that were disclosed by Ola initially. However, currently the S1 Pro model comes in 10 different colours, which are:
Midnight Blue
Matt Black
Millenial Pink
Liquid Silver
Anthracite Grey
Porcelain White
Neo Mint
Marshmellow
Jet Black
Coral Glam,
wheras, the S1 model of Ola Electric scooters comes in 5 colours - Porcelain White, Midnight Blue, Coral Glam, Jet Black, Marshmellow.
The owners of Ola Electric vehicles will be able to charge their scooters using a standard 5A socket or at one of its ‘Hypercharger’ charging stations. The company has already announced that it will make the stations live for charging scooters in over 100 cities initially, which will eventually cover over 400 cities.
The first Ola Electric Hypercharger was launched on October 25, 2021, ahead of the planned test drives of the Ola electric vehicles scheduled for November 10, 2021. The S1 test rides of the vehicles have already started, and have received an encouraging response from all across the country, as per the reports of November 20, 2021. Furthermore, witnessing the overwhelming response that Ola S1 scooters have received, Bhavish Aggarwal, Co-founder and CEO of Ola, has decided to extend the test rides to over 1000 cities by December 15, 2021.
Amazed and proud to see the strong response to our S1 test rides! Thousands of you have tried & loved it! We’re now expanding test rides to 1000+ cities across India by Dec 15. This is the largest direct to consumer outreach in Indian automotive history! #JoinTheRevolutionpic.twitter.com/ErxXkflQzO
The electric vehicles of Ola are currently manufactured in its electric scooter factory in Tamil Nadu, which has a capacity of producing 2 million vehicles annually and the numbers will rise to 10 million by the end of 2022.
Yes, Ola Electric is in process of building its factory, OLA FutureFactory in Tamil Nadu, which will cover an area of more than 100 acres, boast a production capacity of 10 million units per year, and will operate with the help of over 3000 AI-powered robots.
It is believed to be the world’s largest 2 wheeler factory that is planned with the facilities to roll out 1 vehicle every 2 seconds. Phase 1 of the plant is nearly complete.
What will be the price of Ola Electric Scooters?
The website of the Indian multinational ride-sharing company initially declared that the Ola e-scooters would be competitively priced. According to sources close to Ola, these scooters were expected to be priced around Rs 1 lakh mark.
The prices, as unveiled, are tagged at Rs 99,999 and 1,29,999 for S1 and S1 Pro models respectively. At this price segment, these vehicles will compete with the likes of the Bajaj e-Chetak, Ather 450X, and TVS iQube.
If you are eager to purchase one of such vehicles, then you don’t have to worry anymore because here are some easy steps that will help you book your vehicle:
First, you need to visit the official website of Ola electric: www.olaelectric.com and then click/tap on the ‘Reserve for Rs 499’ button, which appears at the top-right corner of your screen.
Now, you need to enter your mobile number, click on the captcha verification box to verify the same, and then click/tap on the Next option.
You will then receive an OTP on your mobile number, which you will need to type in and then click/tap on the Next option.
Then you will get a dialog box that says ‘Total Payable – Rs 499’ and will offer 3 payment options – Debit/Credit card, UPI, and Netbanking.
After that, you need to choose your preferred payment option, after which you will be redirected to the payment gateway.
After making the payment you will see the final screen, which will confirm your Ola booking by saying “Congrats, you are now part of the revolution."
As soon as you have completed making the payment, you will receive the order ID and other details via SMS or email to the mobile number and the email address provided.
Funding received by Ola Electric Mobility
Ola Electric Mobility, the subsidiary of Ola responsible for manufacturing Ola Electric scooters has raised a total funding of $607.2 million to date over 7 funding rounds and is powered by 8 investors in total.
The lead investors of Ola Electric Mobility include big names like Softbank, Tata Sons Private Limited, Matrix Partners India, Tiger Global Management, Hyundai Motor Company, Kia Motors, and more.
Ola Electric is now looking to raise around $1 billion in the upcoming months. To funnel in the money from the equity firms and international investors, the company has already started its collaboration with JP Morgan, which has a network of equity firms, financial investors, strategic traders, and other large-scale investors. The company had already raised $100 million from the Bank of Baroda in July 2021 in order to kickstart the first phase of the construction of the largest two-wheeler factory.
Ola Electric raises funds close to $200 million on October 1, 2021, from Falcon Edge, Softbank, and others to elevate its valuation to $3 billion. The recent funds would be used to boost the development of its other vehicle platforms, including electric motorbikes, mass-market scooters, and electric cars.
The company is further looking for its upcoming funding round worth $200 mn, which would be led by a couple of US-based bluechip tech funds along with its existing investors. This will reportedly boost the valuation of the four-year-old startup, Ola Electric, by over 60% to $5 bn. The company has finally succeeded in raising the fund it was looking for. Ola Electric raised over $200 million from a clutch of investors including Tekne Private Ventures, Alpine Opportunity Fund, Edelweiss, and others, to elevate its valuation to $5 bn, as per the reports dated January 24, 2022.
Ola Electric has raised funds equal to Rs 398 crore, as per the reports dated December 8, 2021, from a bunch of investors including Vijay Shekhar Sharma, who has poured in Rs 75 crore via VSS Investco; Farhan and Zoya Akhtar, who have invested around Rs 21 crore and Rs 10.7 crore, and from Ritesh Sidhwani, who has pumped in Rs 21.4 crore along with other investors Edelweiss, IIFL and others. This investment might also increase in the upcoming months. The EV manufacturing arm of OLA is also looking to raise around $53 Mn by allotting 371 Series C compulsory convertible preference shares (CCPS) to Temasek, angel investor Rahul Ravindra Raj Mehta, IIFL, Edelweiss, and a clutch of other investors. Ola Electric, after these recent rounds of funding, is valued at over $5 bn, as of December 7, 2021.
OLA Electric has raised $860.2+ mn via over 9 funding rounds that the company has seen. The last Ola Electric funding round was raised on January 24, 2021, where the company raised over $200 mn.
Here's a glimpse into all the prominent funding rounds that OLA Electric has seen so far:
Date
Stage
Amount
Investors
January 24, 2022
-
$200+ mn
Tekne Private Ventures, Alpine Opportunity Fund, Edelweiss, and others
December 8, 2021
Series C
$53 mn
Temasek Holdings
September 30, 2021
Series C
$200 mn
Alpha Wave Global, Softbank
July 12, 2021
Debt Financing
$100 mn
Bank of Baroda
March 12, 2020
Series B
$1 mn
Pawan Munjal Family Trust
September 16, 2019
Corporate Round
-
Kia Motors, Hyundai Motor Company
July 2, 2019
Series B
$250 mn
Softbank
May 6, 2019
Series A
-
Tata Sons
March 1, 2019
Series A
$53.58 mn
Marix Partners India, Tiger Global Management
Pre-Sale Bookings and Sales Records for the Ola Electric Scooters
Ola opened the option for pre-booking their customers on July 15, 2021. Therefore, everyone who was eager to buy the much-awaited e-scooters, and wanted to stay ahead of their peers could pay a refundable deposit amount of Rs 499.
Ola electric vehicles have witnessed pre-bookings of more than 1 lakh vehicles, as reported on July 17, 2021, the numbers of which increased each second.
The purchases for Ola Electric scooters were geared to start from September 8, 2021, and the brand was set to kickstart the delivery of the products from October 2021, as of the website status on August 2021. The brand also mentioned then that the purchase of the S1 Pro vehicles will be starting from September 8, 2021, and the Ola scooter delivery will tentatively begin from October 2021 onwards. The booking for Ola S1 and S1 Pro had already started back then and you can also find it live on their website as well as the Ola app even today.
However, Ola S1 scooters couldn't be bought on the mentioned date due to technical glitches in the developer's end of the website that failed to make it up and running. The website that would be a one-stop solution for digital purchases, which would also guide the customers with a fully digital loan process without any paperwork, wasn't live on September 8, 2021. Ola co-founder and CEO Bhavish Aggarwal apologized on Twitter for the frustrating experience the customers had to go through and postponed the purchase date to September 15, 8 am. He further reassured that the reservation of the customers in the purchase queue will remain unchanged.
The purchase of the Ola e-scooters went live on the mentioned date, September 15, 2021, at the end of which it was declared by Bhavish Aggarwal that Ola Electric sold 4 scooters/second, which resulted in the sale of scooters worth Rs 600 crores+ in a single day. The total sale of Day 2 was even better as goes the Twitter post of the Co-founder of Ola Cabs, Bhavish Aggarwal:
Day 2 of EV era was even better than Day 1! Crossed ₹1100Cr in sales in 2 days! Purchase window will reopen on Nov 1 so reserve now if you haven't already.
Ola is also looking to transport their electric scooters to the US by early 2022 as part of its international trade. The CEO of the company, Bhavish Aggarwal has mentioned,
"Yes soon! We will be shipping to the US by early next year,"
in a reply to Vivek Wadhwa, a US-based entrepreneur on Twitter, who earlier referred to the Ola Electric scooters as "the Tesla of Scooters," further adding, "would love to get one here in Silicon Valley."
Ola, however, had to postpone the deliveries of the e-vehicles from the month of October to November 2021 due to a global semiconductor shortage. However, the delay has further extended, as per the reports dated November 22, 2021, where the company has decided to defer the first batch of deliveries of its e-scooters to December 15 - 30, 2021, which was earlier expected to happen between October 25 - November 25, 2021.
Ola Electric - Brand Ambassadors
Ola Electric has already been a grand pre-booking success and is innovating its marketing strategies to attract the present generation of customers. The company has already roped in Bhuvan Bam, singer, songwriter, actor, and one of the most popular YouTubers of India, famous for his Youtube "BB ki Vines," as its brand ambassador to hook in the young generation of buyers.
Bhuvan Bam was hired on August 27, 2021, on a contractual basis, the agreement of which declares that the popular Youtube personality would collaborate with the electric scooter manufacturers to create entertaining and eccentric content revolving around the new-age Ola Electric scooters.
Bhuvan Bam seemed thrilled to be an Ola Electric brand ambassador and said,
“I am really happy that Ola Electric considered me as one of their ambassadors. It’s truly exciting to be a part of this green revolution, something I’ve always wished for. The scooters are sleek, attractive, and are designed as per the Indian electric vehicle market. I have joined the green revolution already and I can’t wait for everyone to get their hands on it.”
FAQ
How much does Ola electric scooter cost?
The Ola electric scooter has 2 models -
Ola S1 is priced at Rs 99,999.
Ola S1 Pro is priced at Rs 1,29,999.
What is the range of Ola electric scooter?
The range of Ola Electric scooter on a single charge are -
Ola S1 - 121 kms
Ola S1 Pro - 181 kms.
What is the top speed of Ola Electric scooter?
The top speed of Ola Electric S1 is 90km/hr whereas for the S1 Pro model the top speed is 115km/hr.
Author :- Anik Banerjee
Source :- https://startuptalky.com/ola-launch-electric-scooter/
Date :-January 24, 2022 at 11:45AM
Souvik Dey
