Always touted as a smart city story to watch out for, Pune is slowly but steadily rising to those expectations, bringing much hope for the city's startup sector. The government, as well as other bodies and agencies, are becoming much more alive to the task, infrastructure is steadily improving, and the entrepreneurial landscape is vibrant. These efforts now seem to be showing unmistakable signs of paying off. In a landscape of negative news flow around startups, some Pune startup stories offer an example of names attracting their share of the limelight for positive reasons.
Druva - Data storage and security is top of the agenda for everyone from
midsize companies to multinationals. Protecting data is a key concern especially
when it is stored on the cloud. Druva's product suite consists of cloud-based
applications for data protection, real-time availability, and information
governance. By building an integrated
platform for securing information on the cloud, since its inception in
2008, Druva was able to build a strong clientele spanning across varied
industries like life sciences, manufacturing, education, etc. A notable feature
that proved useful to many recently, is the ransomware and anomaly detection
tool. The company now have over 400 employees and over 4000 customers globally!
Icertis - Icertis has come to become one of the leading providers of
contract lifecycle management using the cloud. Founded in 2009, it has built a state-of-the-art platform
which is highly configurable, adaptive and provides best-of-the-breed contract
management system. By helping companies around the globe by providing
contractual insights, better governance, and risk reduction, Icertis has become
a key vendor in the cloud-based contract management space. A sign of the
attention Icertis is attracting from the right circles is the recent funding of almost $46 million it received
in March 2017.
Townscript - This was a first-of-its-kind DIY event creation and
ticketing platform in India. The startup now has to its credit almost 17,600
events and more than 21,800 registrations per month. Recently, Book My Show took
a big position in this startup. With this move, Book My Show now has about 75%
stake in Townscript. This investment
has boosted Townscript's growth prospects and provided the company a clear way
forward for penetrating the online booking and event management market.
Pubmatic - Pubmatic specialises in building advertising software for the
media and publishing industry. Using automation, Pubmatic's software connects
publishers and ad buyers by creating an easy-to-use seamless platform. A
seasoned startup, in that it was established in 2006, Pubmatic has raised funds
successfully, including $45 million round in 2012. PubMatic later went on to acquire mobile ad server Mocean Mobile,
which helped Pubmatic expand its footprint in the mobile advertising industry. By
positioning itself as a reliable programmatic
partner, Pubmatic has helped publishers gain an added competitive advantage
over others.
FirstCry - This is an e-commerce portal which specialises in baby
products and toys. FirstCry has raised a significant investment of $50 million
so far and has grown into one of Asia's largest online portal with an inventory
of more than 20,000 items from 250 major Indian and international brands. In
addition to its online portal, FirstCry has also increased its presence by building
brick and mortar stores in more than 85 cities. This is an innovative reach tactic, especially in India where only about 5-7%
of the transactions are done via online retail channels. The retail footprint
of FirctCry was further bolstered when last year, they acquired BabyOye from
the house of Mahindra’s for Rs 362.1 crore.
Faasos - Faasos, a quick service fast-food joint that specialises in
serving wraps and hot meals, was initially set up in 2004 with a mere investment
of Rs 8 lakh by its founders. The idea of taking orders through Twitter and
receiving funds worth $5 million initially helped them to expand to almost 20
outlets. Later, by going down the
franchise model route and building an integrated mobile app, Faasos now
processes approximately 18,000 orders daily via their app. The company today
has more than 90 outlets spanning across India.
The success of these
startups lies not just in creative offerings but also the superior execution and
delivery. They all have ambitious plans and to various degrees are making good
on those plans. This makes them great contenders for the top, successful tech-based
startups from Pune to inspire several others!
