Tag: Siddhyesh Narkar

  • Wondrlab launches open tech platform WISR

    Wondrlab launches open tech platform WISR

    MUMBAI: MarTech network Wondrlab has launched ‘WISR’. This is an open tech platform that connects brands and schools with the ambition to empower schools through brand partnerships.

    Wondrlab said that it believes in the power of brands and ‘marketing for good’. WISR was created to fundamentally solve the problem of below-par teacher salaries and the poor state of infrastructure in schools. Brands have the power to solve this problem. Wondrlab believes that WISR has the potential to add 20 percent additional salary for teachers across every participating school.

    WISR is a platform that creates additional revenue streams for schools. The opportunity is to help brands create unique opportunities to connect with 260 million students in more than 1.5 million schools across the country.
    The segment presents an opportunity for brands. Kids have huge power and influence purchase decisions across many key categories. The pocket money of kids even in 2017 was 22000 crore and grew by 100 percent every five years (in fact the pocket money is more than the GDP of 52 countries).

    The problem for marketers has always been a disorganised database. Seeking permissions has always been a manual and extremely cumbersome process. There has never been any ability to track and measure the effectiveness of communication initiatives.

    WISR lets brands Identify schools: an intelligent algorithm selects the right schools based on the category, marketing objectives and budgets. The platform lets brands schedule, deploy and optimize campaigns at the click of a button.

    WISR, at its launch, covers more than 1500 schools across 21 cities.It will onboard more than 50,000 schools over the next five years.

    Wondrlab founder & CEO Saurabh Varma said, “Our schools need help. They need help to better teacher salaries, create better infrastructure and create superior experiences for students. Brands can play a constructive role in making this happen. India’s move towards a five trillion economy is conditional on a superior education. That is our power. It will be extremely satisfying if we can play a small role in making this dream a possibility.”

    Wondrlab co-founder & managing partner Vandana Verma said, “Our aim with WISR is to do marketing for good. But we understand that this comes with its own set of challenges. As schools benefit from brand partnerships, they are also faced with a moral responsibility towards children with regard to the pieces of communication they interact with. So, to safeguard this, the platform has on-boarded a panel of educationalists, child psychologists, and a legal team of experts responsible for vetting all brand communication. As a team, they will ensure that all school guidelines and ethical advertising principles are being adhered to. The open platform will let all brands, media agencies and creative agencies participate across key verticals like sports, health hygiene and edutainment.”

    Wondrlab CTO Siddhyesh Narkar said, “Building this platform in-house has been a thrilling and rewarding experience. Careful planning and a clear vision have helped us develop this platform into something impactful. WISR allows school and brands collaborations by successfully deploying technology, data, and robotization.”

  • Wondrlab bolsters leadership team with two key appointments

    Wondrlab bolsters leadership team with two key appointments

    Mumbai: Homegrown platform-first martech startup Wondrlab has appointed Siddhyesh Narkar as chief technology officer and Shama Sayed as head of sales. By strengthening its technology and sales teams, the company is aiming for aggressive growth and to bolster its core business in the martech space. 

    Both Narkar and Sayed will be based in Mumbai and will report to Wondrlab co-founder and managing partner Vandana Verma. “We are heading towards extraordinary growth and expansion for the martech platforms by building a world-class technology and sales team. Both Narkar and Sayed are a perfect fit as their vision integrates seamlessly with our objectives,” Verma said. 

    Narkar has over 15 years of diverse experience in the technology industry. Before joining Wondrlab, he was CTO at Digitas and SapientRazorfish. At Wondrlab, he will oversee technology development across all products and platforms. “Wondrlab’s vision is to disrupt the way brands perceive communication. This role enables me to reimagine & build world-class technology innovations around the ever-changing technology landscape,” said Narkar.

    Sayed will lead business and partnerships with a core focus on disrupting the digital space. With over two decades of experience in broadcast and digital, she has worked with stellar brands such as Star, Sony, Investing.com. “I don’t think this opportunity could have come at a better time for me as martech becomes even more dynamic than ever. We plan to employ technological innovations that will help scale-up and expand so that we can reach our goals and continue to offer unique solutions to brands,” stated Sayed.