Five Startups to Watch in 2016

The year 2015 saw venture capitalists competing hard to back the next big idea with heavy betting on hyper-local delivery startups as well as on promising companies in segments such as education, healthcare and travel. However, in the second half, the start-ups became increasingly reliant on investor money to grow their business. Start-ups like Ola, Snapdeal, Quikr, Zomato and Paytm crossed $1 billion in valuation and joined a super elite club of ‘Unicorn’ companies. Here is our list of TOP five start-ups to watch out for the coming year.

Bumper

Founded in the year 2015, Bumper is a one -stop solution provider for all post-sales car support and needs. Based in Bengaluru, the company helps consumers get accurate quotes for any dent, paint or repair work. It also facilitates booking appointments for its customers in more than hundred workshops in Bengaluru for any car repairs and servicing needs. It has maintained a strong authorized dealer network of all major brands.

Spearheaded by Akhil Gupta it recently secured $0.5Mn seed funding led by SAIF partners which it plans to use for building a knowledge house of technology experts in solving all car related problems.

“Today, customers really don’t know which is the best workshop in town and what really needs to be done to their car and what is the right price for same. We are trying to solve this problem by aggregating verified workshops and service providers. Our app makes it very easy to discover the right solution for your car problem and track real time status as the job is being done,” said Akhil Gupta, Co-founder, Bumper.

USP: Real time status on maintenance, large dealership network, on-road assistance.

Rivigo

Founded in 2014 as TrucksFirst, Rivigo wants to build a more reliable and safer logistics network. Rivigo claims that it can lower transit times for deliveries by 50 to 70 per cent. It provides high quality services to clients across major industry verticals such as e-commerce, FMCG, Auto, Pharma and the Cold Chain space. It recently raised a $30 million Series B led by SAIF Partners.

“Rivigo has been consistently committed to innovate in the high-growth logistics space in the country and make these services simple, efficient, safe and sustainable for businesses. We also anticipate greater growth for this segment in view of the impending GST Bill,” said Deepak Garg, Founder and CEO of Rivigo.

USP: Sensors used to monitor the temperature of refrigerated shipments, track security and location to monitor the performance of each vehicle down to its individual parts, emphasis on driver satisfaction and training, 24X7 service network, quick response times.

Buildzar

Founded by Vineet Singh and Swapnil Tripathi, Buildzar is an online marketplace for all home construction requirements and home renovation solutions. It aims to make the home-building experience smooth and hassle-free. Offering

It aims to make the home-building experience smooth and hassle-free. Offering full range of construction materials it currently delivers to Delhi/NCR with plans to expand to tier-2 cities over the next three years.

USP: Beztimate to calculate the construction cost, combo offers on products and assorted fittings.

Faida

Headquartered in Jaipur Faida.com is a exchange portal for new and used products. Their unique business model allows users to exchange products without any monetary involvement, as a cashless transaction. This modern age barter platform is the brainchild of Gaurav Jain and Vipul Paliwal and recently received a seed funding of over $1, 00,000. Speaking on their unique model Vipul Paliwal, Co – Founder, Faida.com said, “We believe that change is good and people want to refresh their home and surroundings at regular intervals. While there are few services in the market through which you can buy or sell new items, but no platform for giving an option to exchange. Faida.com has now gone a step ahead and broadened its horizon by introducing the exchange along with buy and sell. Soon we will be offering a revolutionary concept of online where people can get new items in exchange of old for various categories and usage.”

Faida is available Pan India and will be launching its marketing initiatives in tier 2 and 3 towns soon.

USP: Promoting shared economy.

Chillr

Riding on the smartphone wave, Chillr is promoting cashless economy with aplomb. It has partnered with HDFC and Bank of Baroda for their app promotion. Founded by Sony Joy, Chillr is a person-to-person money transfer app that helps users to transfer cash to any person on their mobile phone contact list via the app without the requirement of recipient’s bank account details. The app also allows online recharge pre-paid phone and utility bill payment. Chillr recently raised $5 million from Seqouia Capital.

USP: Mobile cash transfer without banking details, pre-paid recharge, and utility bill payment.