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Category: e-commerce

  • Startups thriving on mutual synergies

    Startups thriving on mutual synergies

    MUMBAI  According to a recent industry survey, the total amount invested in the startups more than doubled between 2014 and 2016. The rate of growth was high in India, with the country accounting for more than $4 of every $10 invested in startups. This growth of capital investment in start-ups highlights the significant role that technology and the internet are playing in radically changing the nature of start-ups on a global level.

    Partnership and collaboration is key to any successful mentoring arrangement and it is not just the start-up that benefits.  Small but growing companies can introduce mature partners to more creative and flexible ways of thinking. Likewise, they can provide access to new customers and innovative products. This is especially true in the start-up sector which is characterised by rapid change and innovation. 

    One of the biggest examples of this phenomenon is Onspon.com. Onspon.com is a unique start-up that focusses on founded with the objective of automating the process of making sponsorship decisions, and securing access to timely sponsorship.

    If you thought this was interesting, Hitesh has more in store. “Sponsorships have become a very vital tool for the start-ups of today. They have started realising that discovering brands and companies that provide them with value in terms of an association or powering an event that can create value for them.” 

    Onspon.com is providing early-stage start-ups with a brilliant medium for effective outreach and early traction which can be considered gold-dust in today’s fast paced start-up world. Hitesh Gossain, CEO,Onspon.com, elaborates on this, “There are several start-ups and brands nowadays that are in requirement of associations and synergies to leverage each other’s strengths. Our platforms have the special ability to provide brands with the most befitting / high ROI yielding avenues. What they also arereliasing that in this sphere, collaborating together on events and picking up platforms to expose their brand is an effective tool which can make a bigger difference than a media plan at times.”

    “We have over 11000 event managers regsitered with us. They range from college sponsorship seeking individuals to IPL teams looking for brands on their jersey. Some of these cases provideStartups with an intriguing opportunity to engage their brand identity and reach out to a concentrated and effective audience. We are one of the examples of a startup offering other companies an opportunities to leverage our strengths and contribute to our platform in return,” says Hitesh smiling. 

    The success of Startup Bootcamps and similar mentoring initiatives lies in the fact that entrepreneurs and corporate executives now need each other more than ever. Indeed, their requirements and their strengths are often complementary.

    Therefore, startups can brighten their global prospects by forming collaborative partnerships thatcapitalise on their complementary strengths while respecting the independence of each party. Nowthats a food for thought. Isn’t it ?

  • #Qyukistars rank No.1 and 3 in Youtube’s Fastest Growing List

    #Qyukistars rank No.1 and 3 in Youtube’s Fastest Growing List

    MUMBAI: Digital Broadcast Network and Agency Qyuki, driven by a unique strategy of partnering with creators versus an aggregation or ‘owned and operated’ channel approach, recently surpassed over 5 billion views across YouTube and Facebook.

    With a creator DNA in the founding team of Shekhar Kapur and AR Rahman and digital entrepreneur Samir Bangara, the Company has created a clear leadership position in the market as a home for creators across the genres of Music, Pranks and Auto blogs while making headway in other popular genres.

    The strategy has been vindicated by YouTube’s recent list of top ten fastest growing channels in the country that ranked Qyuki partners Sanam Band (Music) and FunkYou (Pranks) No.1 and No.3 respectively. The genre based focus of the company has also helped bring on board celebrated Bollywood and indie artists like Salim-Sulaiman, Clinton Cerejo, Dhruv Ghanekar and most recently Rabbi Shergill.

    Its differentiated approach and successful track record in the space led to a recently announced partnership with YouTube to create one of the biggest digital properties in India called Jammin. Jammin will bring together some of the best Bollywood composers with the biggest YouTube stars of music. The show begins online and finishes offline with a massive live performance.

    Beyond music the Company is home to some of the biggest Prank channels, a genre that is very popular with the 13-34 millennial audiences, with FunkYou emerging as the largest prank channel in the country across Facebook and YouTube. The group of four 19 year old boys has grown 1000 times on Facebook with more than 5.6 million fans amassed over the last 10 months and a following across the world with Cairo, Metro Manila, Lahore and Karachi forming part of their top ten cities of viewership.

    While content is king, Qyuki believes that in the digital space technology can serve as a very successful ‘kingmaker’. Therefore it has built proprietary tools to spot and effectively market creators to their respective communities. The mix of technology, deep understanding in content, and marketing has helped win the confidence of several brands like Coca-Cola, Olx, VW, Moneycontrol and Mercedes, amongst others, to invest significantly with the company on branded content or as sponsors for Qyuki properties.

    Shekhar Kapur, Co-founder Qyuki said, “Everyone is born creative, we just forget that in our daily lives. By helping creators achieve their creative ambitions, Qyuki is fulfilling a dream I had years ago.”
    AR Rahman, Co-founder Qyuki noted “In the digital world of excessive clutter Qyuki curates and offers a platform for promising artists and improves the audience experience.”

    Speaking on the occasion Samir Bangara, Co-founder and MD, Qyuki said, “We are building a new form of a media conglomerate that can power creators with technology, production and marketing across multiple platforms and genres in order to build business models that begin on digital but spread across TV, Live and Theatrical”

  • #Qyukistars rank No.1 and 3 in Youtube’s Fastest Growing List

    #Qyukistars rank No.1 and 3 in Youtube’s Fastest Growing List

    MUMBAI: Digital Broadcast Network and Agency Qyuki, driven by a unique strategy of partnering with creators versus an aggregation or ‘owned and operated’ channel approach, recently surpassed over 5 billion views across YouTube and Facebook.

    With a creator DNA in the founding team of Shekhar Kapur and AR Rahman and digital entrepreneur Samir Bangara, the Company has created a clear leadership position in the market as a home for creators across the genres of Music, Pranks and Auto blogs while making headway in other popular genres.

    The strategy has been vindicated by YouTube’s recent list of top ten fastest growing channels in the country that ranked Qyuki partners Sanam Band (Music) and FunkYou (Pranks) No.1 and No.3 respectively. The genre based focus of the company has also helped bring on board celebrated Bollywood and indie artists like Salim-Sulaiman, Clinton Cerejo, Dhruv Ghanekar and most recently Rabbi Shergill.

    Its differentiated approach and successful track record in the space led to a recently announced partnership with YouTube to create one of the biggest digital properties in India called Jammin. Jammin will bring together some of the best Bollywood composers with the biggest YouTube stars of music. The show begins online and finishes offline with a massive live performance.

    Beyond music the Company is home to some of the biggest Prank channels, a genre that is very popular with the 13-34 millennial audiences, with FunkYou emerging as the largest prank channel in the country across Facebook and YouTube. The group of four 19 year old boys has grown 1000 times on Facebook with more than 5.6 million fans amassed over the last 10 months and a following across the world with Cairo, Metro Manila, Lahore and Karachi forming part of their top ten cities of viewership.

    While content is king, Qyuki believes that in the digital space technology can serve as a very successful ‘kingmaker’. Therefore it has built proprietary tools to spot and effectively market creators to their respective communities. The mix of technology, deep understanding in content, and marketing has helped win the confidence of several brands like Coca-Cola, Olx, VW, Moneycontrol and Mercedes, amongst others, to invest significantly with the company on branded content or as sponsors for Qyuki properties.

    Shekhar Kapur, Co-founder Qyuki said, “Everyone is born creative, we just forget that in our daily lives. By helping creators achieve their creative ambitions, Qyuki is fulfilling a dream I had years ago.”
    AR Rahman, Co-founder Qyuki noted “In the digital world of excessive clutter Qyuki curates and offers a platform for promising artists and improves the audience experience.”

    Speaking on the occasion Samir Bangara, Co-founder and MD, Qyuki said, “We are building a new form of a media conglomerate that can power creators with technology, production and marketing across multiple platforms and genres in order to build business models that begin on digital but spread across TV, Live and Theatrical”

  • Q1-2016: Verizon reports growth in video subscribers, Fios revenue up 5 per cent

    Q1-2016: Verizon reports growth in video subscribers, Fios revenue up 5 per cent

    BENGALURU: Verizon Communications Inc., (Verizon) added 98,000 net new Fios internet connections and 36,000 net new Fios video connections in the first-quarter of 2016 (quarter ended 31 March 2016, Q1-2016, current quarter) as compared the 133,000 net new and 90,000 net new respective adds duringQ1-2015. Year-on-year (YoY), video subscribers grew 2.2 per cent to 5.863 million in Q1-2016 as compared to 5.739 million in Q4-2015.

    Fios digital voice connections in the current quarter increased to 4.800 million as compared to 4.661 million in Q1-2015. Total Fios digital connections increased in Q1-2016 to 17.795 million as compared to 17.194 million in the corresponding year ago quarter.

    Verizon’s operations are divided into four business units: wireless services, residential and small business services, enterprise services, and partner programs. Consumer retail, small businesses, mass markets, global enterprise, global wholesale and other are a part of wireline services. Under consumer retail, residential services are a part of wireline services under the brand Fios.

    Total Fios revenues grew 5.0 percent YoY to $3,521 million, compared to $3,352 million in Q1-2015., including consumer Fios revenue growth of 4.7 percent. In Q1-2016, consumer revenues were $4,022 million, an increase of 0.8 percent compared with $3,992 million in Q1-2015.

    Wireline segment operating income was $589 million (6.3 percent margin) for Q1-2016 as compared to $405 million (4.3 per cent margin). In Q1-2016, wireline generated $2,177 million (23.4 per cent margin) in EBITDA, a YoY increase of 1.2 percent over $2,151 million (22.7 per cent margin) in Q1-2015.

    The company says that by the end of first-quarter 2016, about 78 per cent of consumer Fios internet customers subscribed to data speeds of 50 megabits per second or higher. Customer demand remained strong for Custom TV, which represented about 38 per cent of Fios video sales in the quarter.                

    Verizon informs that during the first quarter, Verizon Enterprise Solutions entered into new agreements with or began servicing a number of clients, including 1-800-Flowers, the Commonwealth of Virginia, Dana Holding Corporation, the Florida Sheriffs Association, Promeditec, PSE&G, South Australia Health & Medical Research Institute, and Wyndham Worldwide.

    In the wireline segment, Fios fiber-optic-based services remain the driver of revenue growth and now represent about 81 percent of consumer revenues.

    Verizon consolidated numbers

    Verizon’s total operating revenues in Q1-2016 were $32,171 million, a 0.6 percent YoY increase compared with $31,884 million in Q1-2015. Excluding AOL, which was not part of Verizon a year ago, total operating revenues declined 1.5 percent. AOL had its highest first-quarter revenues at $669 million in the last five years says Verizon      

    The company says that new revenue streams from IoT (Internet of Things) are growing, with revenues of approximately $195 million in Q1-2016, a year-over-year increase of about 25 percent.     

    Verizon’s operating income in Q1-2016 at $7,942 million (24.7 per cent margin) was 0.2 per cent lower YoY as compared to $7,960million (24.9 percent margin). Net Income attributable to Verizon in Q1-2016 totalled $4,310 million (13.4 per cent margin), which was 2.1 per cent more than $4,219 million (13.2 per cent margin) in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

    Company speak

    “Verizon’s strong first-quarter results demonstrate our capacity to compete effectively, while executing on our plan of continued network leadership and seeding new growth markets in mobile video and the Internet of Things,” said Verizon chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam.

  • Q1-2016: Verizon reports growth in video subscribers, Fios revenue up 5 per cent

    Q1-2016: Verizon reports growth in video subscribers, Fios revenue up 5 per cent

    BENGALURU: Verizon Communications Inc., (Verizon) added 98,000 net new Fios internet connections and 36,000 net new Fios video connections in the first-quarter of 2016 (quarter ended 31 March 2016, Q1-2016, current quarter) as compared the 133,000 net new and 90,000 net new respective adds duringQ1-2015. Year-on-year (YoY), video subscribers grew 2.2 per cent to 5.863 million in Q1-2016 as compared to 5.739 million in Q4-2015.

    Fios digital voice connections in the current quarter increased to 4.800 million as compared to 4.661 million in Q1-2015. Total Fios digital connections increased in Q1-2016 to 17.795 million as compared to 17.194 million in the corresponding year ago quarter.

    Verizon’s operations are divided into four business units: wireless services, residential and small business services, enterprise services, and partner programs. Consumer retail, small businesses, mass markets, global enterprise, global wholesale and other are a part of wireline services. Under consumer retail, residential services are a part of wireline services under the brand Fios.

    Total Fios revenues grew 5.0 percent YoY to $3,521 million, compared to $3,352 million in Q1-2015., including consumer Fios revenue growth of 4.7 percent. In Q1-2016, consumer revenues were $4,022 million, an increase of 0.8 percent compared with $3,992 million in Q1-2015.

    Wireline segment operating income was $589 million (6.3 percent margin) for Q1-2016 as compared to $405 million (4.3 per cent margin). In Q1-2016, wireline generated $2,177 million (23.4 per cent margin) in EBITDA, a YoY increase of 1.2 percent over $2,151 million (22.7 per cent margin) in Q1-2015.

    The company says that by the end of first-quarter 2016, about 78 per cent of consumer Fios internet customers subscribed to data speeds of 50 megabits per second or higher. Customer demand remained strong for Custom TV, which represented about 38 per cent of Fios video sales in the quarter.                

    Verizon informs that during the first quarter, Verizon Enterprise Solutions entered into new agreements with or began servicing a number of clients, including 1-800-Flowers, the Commonwealth of Virginia, Dana Holding Corporation, the Florida Sheriffs Association, Promeditec, PSE&G, South Australia Health & Medical Research Institute, and Wyndham Worldwide.

    In the wireline segment, Fios fiber-optic-based services remain the driver of revenue growth and now represent about 81 percent of consumer revenues.

    Verizon consolidated numbers

    Verizon’s total operating revenues in Q1-2016 were $32,171 million, a 0.6 percent YoY increase compared with $31,884 million in Q1-2015. Excluding AOL, which was not part of Verizon a year ago, total operating revenues declined 1.5 percent. AOL had its highest first-quarter revenues at $669 million in the last five years says Verizon      

    The company says that new revenue streams from IoT (Internet of Things) are growing, with revenues of approximately $195 million in Q1-2016, a year-over-year increase of about 25 percent.     

    Verizon’s operating income in Q1-2016 at $7,942 million (24.7 per cent margin) was 0.2 per cent lower YoY as compared to $7,960million (24.9 percent margin). Net Income attributable to Verizon in Q1-2016 totalled $4,310 million (13.4 per cent margin), which was 2.1 per cent more than $4,219 million (13.2 per cent margin) in the corresponding quarter of the previous year.

    Company speak

    “Verizon’s strong first-quarter results demonstrate our capacity to compete effectively, while executing on our plan of continued network leadership and seeding new growth markets in mobile video and the Internet of Things,” said Verizon chairman and CEO Lowell McAdam.

  • Airbnb in strategic partnership with Times Group hopes to help Indian travelers discover more

    Airbnb in strategic partnership with Times Group hopes to help Indian travelers discover more

    NEW DELHI: Community driven hospitality company Airbnb has joined with The Times of India Group to help Airbnb create a truly localized presence for India, leveraging the media group’s vast network of media and operational resources.

    The strategic partnership comes as part of Airbnb’s plans to focus on developing the Indian travel market. As a part of the partnership, The Times Group will drive awareness of Airbnb accommodations.

    This is a key partnership for Times Global Partners that supports the launch and expansion of emerging global digital companies in India. Previously, Times Global Partners has partnered with Huffington Post, Coursera, as well as other digital companies.

    Times Internet MD Satyan Gajwani said, “We are excited to partner with Airbnb to transform the way Indians travel. As a personal user, I’ve found that Airbnb has brought a new dimension of convenience, value, and uniqueness to travel. We look forward to working closely with Airbnb to evangelize community driven hospitality.”

    Commenting on the partnership, Airbnb Chief Technology Officer & CoFounder Nathan Blecharczyk said, “We are excited about the opportunity that India presents, and to have one of the most respected partners in The Times Group. We are working on adapting our product for the Indian market so that Indian travelers can live like a local anywhere in the world.”

  • Airbnb in strategic partnership with Times Group hopes to help Indian travelers discover more

    Airbnb in strategic partnership with Times Group hopes to help Indian travelers discover more

    NEW DELHI: Community driven hospitality company Airbnb has joined with The Times of India Group to help Airbnb create a truly localized presence for India, leveraging the media group’s vast network of media and operational resources.

    The strategic partnership comes as part of Airbnb’s plans to focus on developing the Indian travel market. As a part of the partnership, The Times Group will drive awareness of Airbnb accommodations.

    This is a key partnership for Times Global Partners that supports the launch and expansion of emerging global digital companies in India. Previously, Times Global Partners has partnered with Huffington Post, Coursera, as well as other digital companies.

    Times Internet MD Satyan Gajwani said, “We are excited to partner with Airbnb to transform the way Indians travel. As a personal user, I’ve found that Airbnb has brought a new dimension of convenience, value, and uniqueness to travel. We look forward to working closely with Airbnb to evangelize community driven hospitality.”

    Commenting on the partnership, Airbnb Chief Technology Officer & CoFounder Nathan Blecharczyk said, “We are excited about the opportunity that India presents, and to have one of the most respected partners in The Times Group. We are working on adapting our product for the Indian market so that Indian travelers can live like a local anywhere in the world.”

  • Kingfisher to launch Pitchers app to answer all nightlife queries

    Kingfisher to launch Pitchers app to answer all nightlife queries

    MUMBAI: Acknowledging the power of digital, United Beverage’s flagship alcobev brand Kingfisher is all set to launch an aggregator cum classified app targeting urban nightlife. The beverage giant couldn’t have come up with a better name than ‘Pitchers’, hence giving a recall  to its brand association with TVF’s popular web series ‘Pitchers’ which had Kingfisher as sponsors.

    While addressing a summit at Goafest 2016, United Beverages Limited marketing SVP Samar Singh Sheikhawat announced the app, “Our consumers are constantly on the lookout for fun exciting nightlife destinations, and often that information is not curated and presented to them in a sensible manner. This app will be a one stop shop for them for any night life related queries — it could be about pubs, clubs, a fancy eating joint or places with live gigs.”

    Expected to be available at the Google Play store within the next five days with a soft launch in Bengaluru, Sheikhawat shared that the app would compete with the likes of Zomato and Foodpanda, with focus on nightlife being its key differentiating factor. Sheikhawat revealed that Kingfisher was eyeing Delhi and Mumbai next for the launch (in no particular order).

    “The app will share the entire listing of all the restaurants and pubs, provided that they have a liquor license, unlike Zomato. It will answer frequently asked questions about ‘what is the dress code’, ‘what are the charges as couple, singles and stags, ‘will there be valet parking services or not’, ‘how long will the happy hours be’, ‘What is the music going to be like,’ and if ‘the place has an open smoking zone,” etc.

    Since Pitchers would be a free app, Sheikhawat explained the revenue model, “We don’t need to make money out of this app. We are into the beer business. This is one of the many ways to reach out to our modern age digitally enabled consumer. We will definitely keep an eye out and see how it evolves into something that can be cashed later.”

    Sheikhawat also shared that his company  is open to forming commercial deals with local F&B players, be it SMEs  or five star, who would like to be showcased on the platform. However, his short term goal is to create a buzz around the app’s utility amongst the company’s consumers. The brand would also ensure that the access to the app is age restricted due to the content that will be showcased on it.

    Revealing the marketing and promotion details of  new app Sheikhawat said Kingfisher would be careful, “We want to launch the app, get user feedback,  fix bugs and explore possibilities and then market it to the masses based on our analytics of sometimes’ worth of use. We can create a song and dance around it anytime we want to, but we would rather iron out all issues before talking about Pitchers.”

    With Vijay Mallya making recent headlines for all the wrong reasons, it was inevitable to ask how that affected brand Kingfisher and UBL in general. ”Throughout this time we haven’t seen our shares take a dip. UBL is a completely different entity and a brand on its own. And with Heineken owning 44 per cent stake, we aren’t really worried,” Sheikhawat clarified before signing off.

  • Kingfisher to launch Pitchers app to answer all nightlife queries

    Kingfisher to launch Pitchers app to answer all nightlife queries

    MUMBAI: Acknowledging the power of digital, United Beverage’s flagship alcobev brand Kingfisher is all set to launch an aggregator cum classified app targeting urban nightlife. The beverage giant couldn’t have come up with a better name than ‘Pitchers’, hence giving a recall  to its brand association with TVF’s popular web series ‘Pitchers’ which had Kingfisher as sponsors.

    While addressing a summit at Goafest 2016, United Beverages Limited marketing SVP Samar Singh Sheikhawat announced the app, “Our consumers are constantly on the lookout for fun exciting nightlife destinations, and often that information is not curated and presented to them in a sensible manner. This app will be a one stop shop for them for any night life related queries — it could be about pubs, clubs, a fancy eating joint or places with live gigs.”

    Expected to be available at the Google Play store within the next five days with a soft launch in Bengaluru, Sheikhawat shared that the app would compete with the likes of Zomato and Foodpanda, with focus on nightlife being its key differentiating factor. Sheikhawat revealed that Kingfisher was eyeing Delhi and Mumbai next for the launch (in no particular order).

    “The app will share the entire listing of all the restaurants and pubs, provided that they have a liquor license, unlike Zomato. It will answer frequently asked questions about ‘what is the dress code’, ‘what are the charges as couple, singles and stags, ‘will there be valet parking services or not’, ‘how long will the happy hours be’, ‘What is the music going to be like,’ and if ‘the place has an open smoking zone,” etc.

    Since Pitchers would be a free app, Sheikhawat explained the revenue model, “We don’t need to make money out of this app. We are into the beer business. This is one of the many ways to reach out to our modern age digitally enabled consumer. We will definitely keep an eye out and see how it evolves into something that can be cashed later.”

    Sheikhawat also shared that his company  is open to forming commercial deals with local F&B players, be it SMEs  or five star, who would like to be showcased on the platform. However, his short term goal is to create a buzz around the app’s utility amongst the company’s consumers. The brand would also ensure that the access to the app is age restricted due to the content that will be showcased on it.

    Revealing the marketing and promotion details of  new app Sheikhawat said Kingfisher would be careful, “We want to launch the app, get user feedback,  fix bugs and explore possibilities and then market it to the masses based on our analytics of sometimes’ worth of use. We can create a song and dance around it anytime we want to, but we would rather iron out all issues before talking about Pitchers.”

    With Vijay Mallya making recent headlines for all the wrong reasons, it was inevitable to ask how that affected brand Kingfisher and UBL in general. ”Throughout this time we haven’t seen our shares take a dip. UBL is a completely different entity and a brand on its own. And with Heineken owning 44 per cent stake, we aren’t really worried,” Sheikhawat clarified before signing off.

  • Lycos extends deal with Yahoo! for enhanced search advertising, expects 10 per cent higher topline

    Lycos extends deal with Yahoo! for enhanced search advertising, expects 10 per cent higher topline

    New Delhi: Global Internet brand Lycos today announced the extension of its deal with Yahoo! for enhanced search advertising by one more year. The contract leverages Lycos; services to increase the reach of Yahoo! search and content offerings. Contextual advertising offerings of Lycos will in turn increase.

    This relationship – that allows LYCOS to serve globally on all platforms including search, mobile and other contextual advertising – is expected to increase LYCOS’ turnover by 10% in FY2016-2017.  

    The enhanced form of search advertising is a type of contextually targeted platform which allows online search advertisers to buy keyword-targeted traffic from sources other than search engine results pages.

    Lycos Internet Limited had reported consolidated revenue from operations of Rs 1957 crore  and a net profit after tax and minority interest of Rs 342.22 crore for the year ended March 31, 2015 (FY-2015). For the nine month period ended December 31, 2015, the company reported revenue of Rs 1782 crore reflecting a growth of about 18 per cent over the corresponding year ago period, and a net profit after tax and minority interest of Rs 321 crore.