|In: Finance|Last Updated: | 4 Comments

Earlier on this blog, we have reviewed a couple of Investment Plans, Stocks, etc. and so far we have received encouraging comments. Many of the readers touch based over Facebook and informed us that they have invested in one of the stocks that we have reviewed & have yielded excellent returns! Such news motivates us to write more about Finance 🙂

Image Source – Buy Trade Sell

When it comes to investing, we take precautionary steps like reading review about investment plan/stock/insurance online, consult known experts in the domain, consult known people who have already invested in the same, etc. However, the problem is that there is a plethora of information available online that can really confuse an investor. Same is the case with investing in stocks.

Way back in the late-1990’s or early-2000’s, investors were heavily reliant on the brokers or sub-brokers that were present in their locality. They had a good amount of information about the markets, stocks, etc. and could guide investors in person as well. However, once the technology became a key player in the complex field of investments and stock trading, traditional brokerage houses like Indiabulls, ICICI Direct, ShareKhan, etc. became the torch-bearers of this change. A majority of these brokers, also known as full-service brokers used to charge a certain percentage from the trade amount. Fast forward now, with the evolution of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Big Data and other modern technologies, the brokerage space is also disrupted by new-age fintech startups as well as established financial institutions.

There are a number of trading platforms from the likes of Zerodha, ICICI Direct, India Infoline, Edelweiss, Angel Broking, etc. and each of them has various types of Trading accounts [Standard, Prepaid], different brokerage charges, transaction charges, demat account charges. When it comes to trading, brokerage fees, website usability, yearly maintenance fees, etc. play a vital role in the growth of the platform and customer retention. We have a look at some of the trading platforms available for investors from the perspective of account opening & maintenance charges, brokerage fees, fees of stock delivery, intraday trading, etc.

Note: Review based on usage, interaction with existing users of these trading accounts, research, and other parameters.

Angel Broking

Angel Broking is one of the oldest brokerage companies in the country. It is operational since 1987. They have a PAN India presence and along with technology enabled DEMAT & Trading account, they also provide offline services where investors can place orders via a phone call or by visiting their sub-brokers facility.

Account Opening Charges: No account opening charges. You can start trading in one hour.
Yearly maintenance charges: No charges levied for the first year.

Brokerage features and charges

  • Access to all market segments of BSE, NSE, MCX & NCDEX
  • Weekly research reports from financial experts
  • Supports both browser and app-based trading. Platform is available across mobile, tablet and desktop
  • Personalized customer support
  • Different brokerage plans Angel Classic, Angel Preferred, Angel Elite & Angel Premium available for a different set of investors. Further details can be found here
Source – Angel Broking

Intraday Trading: Intraday trading, as the name suggests, is trading stocks within trading hours in a single day and investors can do intraday trading on Angel Broking platform. More details about Intraday Trading on Angel Broking can be found here

5paisa.com

5paisa.com provides a single account for all your investments. They charge a flat rate of Rs. 10 per order irrespective of the segment you trade or the value of your trade. They charge Rs. 750 as account opening fees and the annual fees [for Demat and Trading account] is Rs. 400.

Brokerage features and charges

  • Access to all market segments of BSE, NSE, MCX & NCDEX
  • Weekly research reports from financial experts
  • Trading platform accessible across mobile, tablet and desktop
  • Personalized customer support

Further details about the pricing can be found here

Zerodha

Zerodha is a Bengaluru based bootstrapped startup that has pioneered the concept of discount brokerage. With Zerodha, an investor can open an account instantly and start trading. They are also called as Flat Fee Share Broker since they charge Rs. 20 or 0.01% [whichever is lower] per executed order on intraday trades across equity, currency, and commodity trades across NSE, BSE, and MCX. They do not have any minimum brokerage.

Brokerage features and charges

  • Access to all market segments of BSE, NSE, MCX, MCDEX, Mutual Funds, etc.
  • All your equity delivery investments [NSE, BSE], absolutely free
  • Trading platform accessible across mobile, tablet and desktop
  • Customer support via email, phone, and chat

More details about the pricing can be found here

Source – Zerodha

ICICI Direct

ICICI Direct from ICICI is an old and preferred broker due to its brand image. The 3-in-1 trading account gives you the convenience of opening a demat account, trading account as well as a bank account all in one go. The demat account is linked with your trading and bank accounts.

You can earn an interest of 4% on the allocated unutilized amount for trading. They have more than 150 branches which means that their services are accessible both online as well as offline. Yearly maintenance charge is Rs. 600.

Brokerage features and charges

  • Access to all market segments of BSE, NSE, MCX, MCDEX, Mutual Funds, etc.
  • Brokerage includes DP charges of higher of 0.04% or Rs. 25 every time shares are debited from your demat account
  • Trading platform accessible across mobile, tablet and desktop
  • There is call and trade facility

More details about ICICI Direct brokerage plans [Server Plan, Secure Plan & Prepaid Brokerage Plan]  can be found here

Source – ICICIDirect

UpStox

UpStox by RKSV is another popular discount broker like Zerodha. Its trading platform Upstox Pro offers zero brokerage on stock investments. With Upstox, investors can create a custom watchlist of their favorite stocks. Upstox is backed by top investors namely Ratan Tata, Kalaari Capital & GVK Davix

Brokerage features and charges

  • Access to all market segments of BSE, NSE, MCX, MCDEX
  • Free delivery trades. Only Rs. 20 per trade brokerage
  • Trading platform accessible across mobile, tablet and desktop

Further details about UpStox Pro pricing can be found here

Source – UpStox

ShareKhan

Just like ICICI Direct, ShareKhan is one of the oldest brokerage companies in India. It was acquired by BNP Paribas in 2015. There are no account opening charges but there is a yearly maintenance charge of Rs. 500.

Brokerage features and charges

  • Access to all market segments of BSE, NSE, MCX & NCDEX
  • Trading platform accessible across different devices
  • Detailed trading reports from financial experts
Source – ShareKhan

Edelweiss Broking

Edelweiss Financial Services Limited is a diversified financial services group. The firm has five major businesses, namely Capital Markets, Credit, Asset Management, Life Insurance, and Commodities. Its main focus is on credit. Edelweiss Broking was founded in the year 1995. They have different brokerage plans for different kind of investors.

Account Opening Charges: Rs. 750 is charged as opening a trading account
Yearly maintenance charges: Free for the first year, Rs. 500 for the subsequent years
Intraday Cash & Equity Futures: 0.06% [Plan 1] and 0.04% [Plan 2]

Brokerage features and charges

  • Access to all the market segments of BSE, NSE, MCX & NCDEX
  • Weekly research reports from financial experts with access to various finance Edelweiss platforms that solve deep-rooted customer pain-points
  • Accessible across web, mobile, and tablet
Source – Edelweiss Broking

Solving Investor’s Pain Points

Though there are so many trading and brokerage platforms, the real pain-point that investors/stock market traders face is that most of these platforms provide detailed analysis on stocks but all the features required by investors do not exist on a single platform, some of which are mentioned below:

Market information in a single view: Due to the huge amount of ‘scattered’ information available online, it becomes painful for traders/investors to perform ‘meaningful’ research of a particular sector or stock. For example, I use MoneyControl app to keep myself updated about the happenings in different sectors. There is no single platform that gives such kind of granular information.

In-depth Technical Analysis: In addition to the point mentioned above, there is a dearth of trading/investment platforms that also cater to technical and sentiment analysis of the market. This is a gap that needs to be filled for the investor community.

Trading Execution: When an investor is trading, he executes trades from the broker’s website [examples mentioned earlier] but the broker’s terminal is entirely different. This delay might cost dearly to the trader. Hence, when it comes to trading, execution is of top-notch priority.

There was a requirement for a trading platform that could solve these problems for the investor community so that even novice investors in future can become seasoned investors. This is the problem that financial firm Edelweiss wants to solve via Edelweiss Traders Lounge. Let’s have a look at the features of Edelweiss Web and Edelweiss Traders Lounge.

Broker’s terminal like experience: Though traders would access this platform via the web, the look & feel is similar to the broker’s terminal. The terminal supports customizable shortcuts so that you can trade faster than ever before.

Customizable watch-list combined with the power of data: In one single window, investors can get a wholesome view of the stocks that they have invested and the stocks that are on their watch-list. As mentioned earlier, the real power lies in presenting a holistic view to the traders and that is what Edelweiss Traders Lounge solves with the watch-list. It provides you with stock performance with real-time filtering & analytical parameters i.e. Sentiments, Events, Technical Alerts, etc.

Useful information in a single-view: As mentioned earlier, investors have to scout for meaningful information like company performance, changes [if any] to the RBI monetary policy, sector performance, impact of the global economy on the stock market, etc. available on the internet and it might result in a never ending process. Edelweiss Traders Lounge solves this problem by using the power of Data Analytics.

It provides Charting, Broker calls, News/Corporate Announcements/Events, Sector-wise performance, Live OI build-up, Moving averages, etc. in a single window so that you can Buy/Sell a stock after having in-depth information about that sector and the stock.

News sentiments, Broker Recommendations and Health Indicator: When it comes to investing in the stock market, it becomes primarily important to study the sector and also how various stocks are performing in that sector. With the ‘Peer Comparison‘ feature, you can compare the performance of the stocks that belong to a similar sector. With Edelweiss Traders Lounge, there is a deep level of sentiment analysis that gets done on the latest news on equities, currency & global markets, so that as an investor you can analyze the sentiment attached to the news. The expert opinions along with the sentiment analysis play a crucial role in impacting your ‘Buy/Sell behavior’.

Edelweiss is the only platform that provides in-depth information about the stocks, financial information, technical graphs/charts, detailed news related to stocks and more. This enables the investor to analyze, identify and trade on the same platform. Along with these features, the platform also gives whether a particular stock is listed as BUY [Green in color] or SELL [Red in Color] by the broker community.

If you are a heavy-duty trader and looking for an efficient desktop trading software then you should look no further than Edelweiss Xtreme Trader. It is a terminal based trading platform that is loosely based on Edelweiss Traders Lounge. The interface is highly customizable and can be changed to suit your requirements. The tool has advanced charting tools so that you can track the performance of your stocks.

The tool also has SMS and email alerts that can be customized as per the sector that you have opted for. Xtreme Trader ensures that the research calls are flashed instantly on your screen, the moment research team generates so that you do not miss out on any trading opportunity.

When it comes to brokerage charges, exchanges that are enabled, account opening costs, etc. Edelweiss Trading scores lesser than Zerodha but significantly higher than ShareKhan. However, from a usability perspective, Edelweiss trading platform scores significantly higher than the other trading platforms! The trading platform from #Edelweiss facilitates #EasyTrading, a requirement which is the need of the growing investor community!

What is the brokerage platform you use for trading, please leave the message in the comments section…

|In: Funding|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

ah! Ventures, one of the key players in the Indian start-up space, is taking a big stride forward in the Indian alternative investment universe by playing a key supporting role to India’s largest gathering of family offices,  business families, private investors, investment professionals, limited partners, alternative investment funds and private wealth professionals at the upcoming 5th Annual Family Office Summit India [FOSI2017], scheduled at Hotel Taj Lands End in Mumbai on September 6 and at Hotel Shangri La in Delhi on September 8.

Image Source – Family Office Summit

FOSI12017 is its 5th year and is being organized by the Association of International Wealth Management of India [AIWMI] – the pioneer in the family office and wealth education in the country.

With over 400 Ultra and High Net-Worth Individuals and Family Office Executives every year, the Family Office Summit India is the country’s largest wealth management & family office event held annually in Mumbai. This prestigious conference provides an annual meeting place for the Indian High Net-Worth Families, Single Family Offices, Private Investors and Thought Leaders. The conference’s continuing success since its inception testifies to the coming-of- age of Indian family office community and the need for an effective cross-learning and networking forum.

This prestigious Summit, year after year has presented a prolific forum to uncover how wealthy families are handling many of their most pressing issues and challenges including their key objectives, investment styles and management of philanthropic activities, as well as encouraging the next generation, compensating executives, retaining trusted employees and more.

In India the ranks of the wealthy are expanding albeit at varying paces depending on the region and the business sector. As the number of ultra-high- net-worth families proliferates, so are the single and multi-family offices designed to serve them. With this sudden surge, an education & networking gathering like FOSI has become a necessity for all the stakeholders.

As is the case every year, the agenda of FOSI17 has been designed by family offices for family offices and it deals exclusively with specific topics for UHNWI and Family Offices, with a focus on Family Governance, Family Office Operations, Investments & Philanthropy. FOSI17 will continue to explore the best ways to map out their portfolios with a wide variety of investment topics including property investing, private equity, and impact investing as well as risk management and mitigation. Through an eclectic mix of keynote addresses, panel discussions, case studies and showcases this event will provide its delegates thought-provoking insights and best practice tips in the industry.

Launch of ‘Priwexus’ – FOSI2017 will witness the launch of Priwexus- the membership forum for Indian Single Family Offices and business families being set up by AIWMI.  Priwexus will be an exclusive, by-invite membership forum focusing on various areas of interests of prominent business families like family office, family governance, succession planning, investments, gen-nex education etc.

Promise of a Dynamic Flow of Events

Akin to the success of the preceding summits in the years 2013 to 2016, this summit promises to bring more to the table. The CEO of the Association of International Wealth Management of India, Aditya Gadge has said

Indian Family Office segment has grown significantly over the last few years. With more than 90 SFO and 25 MFOs in the country today, this segment  is just about to take off.  We expect these numbers to be more than 5 times over the next couple of years.

This is the second year ah! Ventures is participating in this Summit and as one of the major stakeholders in the Indian alternative investment space is expected to add a lot of value to the content and proceedings.  CLUB ah! comprises over 200 potential investors with investment power ranging from USD 100,000 to USD 1 million each.

Members of ah! Ventures shall receive an exclusive discount of 20% on the ticket by using the promo code: FOSI17. Delegate registrations are now open on the Family Office Summit site

|In: AI|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Intel launched the Movidius™ Neural Compute Stick, the world’s first USB-based deep learning inference kit and self-contained Artificial Intelligence accelerator that delivers dedicated deep neural network processing capabilities to a wide range of host devices at the edge.

Image Source – Movidius

Designed for product developers, researchers and makers, the Movidius Neural Compute Stick aims to reduce barriers to developing, tuning and deploying AI applications by delivering dedicated high-performance deep-neural network processing in a small form factor.

As more developers adopt advanced machine learning approaches to build innovative applications and solutions, Intel is committed to providing the most comprehensive set of development tools and resources to ensure developers are retooling for an AI-centric digital economy. Whether it is training artificial neural networks on the Intel Nervana cloud, optimizing for emerging workloads such as artificial intelligence, virtual and augmented reality, and automated driving with Intel Xeon Scalable processors, or taking AI to the edge with Movidius Vision Processing Unit [VPU] technology, Intel offers a comprehensive AI portfolio of tools, training and deployment options for the next generation of AI-powered products and services.

Remi El-Ouazzane, Vice President and General Manager of Movidius, an Intel company said

The Myriad 2 VPU housed inside the Movidius Neural Compute Stick provides powerful, yet efficient performance – more than 100 gigaflops of performance within a 1W power envelope – to run real-time deep neural networks directly from the device. This enables a wide range of AI applications to be deployed offline.

Machine intelligence development is fundamentally composed of two stages – 1. Training an algorithm on large sets of sample data via modern machine learning techniques and 2. Running the algorithm in an end-application that needs to interpret real-world data. This second stage is referred to as ‘inference’, and performing inference at the edge – or natively inside the device – brings numerous benefits in terms of latency, power consumption and privacy

  • Compile: Automatically convert a trained Caffe-based convolutional neural network (CNN) into an embedded neural network optimized to run on the onboard Movidius Myriad 2 VPU.
  • Tune: Layer-by-layer performance metrics for both industry-standard and custom-designed neural networks enable effective tuning for optimal real-world performance at ultra-low power. Validation scripts allow developers to compare the accuracy of the optimized model on the device to the original PC-based model.
  • Accelerate: Unique to Movidius Neural Compute Stick, the device can behave as a discrete neural network accelerator by adding dedicated deep learning inference capabilities to existing computing platforms for improved performance and power efficiency.

Movidius Neural Compute Stick is now available for purchase through select distributors for MSRP USD 79 and at the conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR) in Honolulu, Hawaii, from July 22-25.

|In: Android|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

Truecaller have rolled out its newest update for Android 8.21 with interface changes for easier access to spam inbox. The new design will allow users to experience a  cleaner inbox and pay attention to the SMS that matter most with a spam tab segregating the unwanted messages.

Truecaller recently revealed through their Truecaller Insights Special Report, that India receives an overwhelming majority of spam calls. In its strive towards protecting its users from unwanted calls and potential fraud, Truecaller with its new interface is continuing its endeavour to ensure that users are better protected and more aware of incoming spam messages.

Themes in TrueCaller
Look of the SPAM Inbox

In this update, Truecaller has also included new app themes to match every user’s unique identity. This includes new colour combinations, which include colours like royal, coffee, grey, dark, and pitch black.

Other upgrades in version 8.21 include reoccurring pro subscriptions, flash messaging themes, mark all as read in block view and the ability to save MMS. The new update also gives the users an option to block & view profile on incoming flash.

|In: Android|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

LinkedIn, the world’s largest professional network with more than 42 million members in India have announced the launch of the LinkedIn Lite Android app, a faster and lighter version of its flagship app. With mobile fast becoming the first screen in India, the Lite app offers a seamless and intuitive experience of LinkedIn to users on Android’s operating system, that accounts for 97% of India’s smartphone market [Source].

Developed by LinkedIn’s R&D team in Bengaluru, LinkedIn Lite app is first being rolled out to members in India. The Lite app was inspired by the success of the lightweight mobile website, which was launched in September 2016. LinkedIn plans to roll out the mobile web version and the Android app in over 60+ countries shortly.


To help overcome the challenges of unpredictable internet connectivity, LinkedIn designed Lite to make the platform more easily accessible to the growing population of mobile internet users. Built to run smoothly and offer faster access even on lower end smartphones, the app loads extremely fast – in under five seconds, even on 2G network. The app size is only 1MB and reduces data usage by 80 percent. It also offers all key features like news feed, jobs, profile, network, messaging, notifications, and search.

Commenting on the launch, Akshay Kothari, LinkedIn’s Country Manager for India said

Besides providing a fast, data-light solution for professionals in slow network areas, we hope the LinkedIn Lite app will democratize access to economic opportunity. Regardless of their device or location, we hope to level the playing field for all LinkedIn members so they can get closer to their dream jobs, grow their networks and become more successful.

The LinkedIn Lite app is available on Play Store for all Android users in India.

|In: Accelerator|Last Updated: | 1 Comment

Target India announced the fifth batch and the largest cohort yet for the Target Accelerator Program. Eight startups were selected to develop innovative technology solutions with the potential to enhance guest experiences at Target and in the wider retail industry. These startups will work in the areas of artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer vision, natural language processing, analytics and digital experiences.

Rakesh Mishra, Vice President of Marketing for Target and the accelerator program’s executive sponsor said

The Target accelerator’s largest batch yet holds diverse capabilities that can add value to our business and the entire retail sector through cutting-edge technologies such as AI and machine learning. We are fortunate to have the opportunity to tap into the immense innovation potential that exists in India through the Target Accelerator Program.

The startups selected for the accelerator will go through a rigorous four-month program, wherein they will get to refine their technology offerings and pilot solutions at Target stores or headquarter locations. In addition, during their stint with the accelerator, they will have access to Target business leaders as mentors. The startups will also be provided with legal, financial and talent consulting services based on the need of the startup. At the end of the program, startups will have the opportunity to pitch their products and capabilities to investors and others in Bengaluru’s startup ecosystem, and possibly continue their engagement with Target.

The eight selected for the fifth batch of the accelerator program are:

  • Cogknit has a solution that extracts context from videos and is able to generate a textual play-by-play of the video content.
  • Hyperworks has developed software that integrates with hardware to scan fresh produce using a simple camera.
  • Moonraft is a design consultant with an artificial intelligence-powered shopping assistant in the trial room.
  • Cognitifai is able to perform video analytics on video footage (both live and offline).
  • Light Information Systems has capabilities in natural language processing that can be applied to customer support functions.
  • vPhrase can generate insights in natural language from structured data.
  • Streamoid enables personalized product recommendations and natural language search.
  • Jumper.ai enables shopping on social media through hashtags.
Fifth batch of the Target Accelerator Program

Along with external startups, Target also encourages participation from internal teams in the accelerator program. Pal’s Prompt, an affiliate marketing solution for Facebook, was developed by one of our Target India team members and has been selected to be a part of this cohort.

The Target Accelerator Program [TAP] was launched in December 2013. Till date, 22 startups have graduated from the program. The startups work with various internal Target teams including marketing, finance, stores, legal, search engine, merchandising, mobile and digital. For more information about the program, please visit Target Accelerator Program [TAP] page

|In: Interviews|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

As per a report released by Economic Times, the unused goods market is likely to cross Rs. 115,000 crores. As per Assocham, whether consumer goods like electronics, durables or automobiles – used cars, or the industrial machinery in the capital goods sector the options of re-usage are being considered more actively than ever before. Also, it was indicated that Stocking items is very prominent among Indian households [Source].

Image Source – Used Goods

Along with Tier-1 cities, e-commerce growth has also been observed in Tier-2 & Tier-3 cities mainly due to growing aspirations & limited access to brands. When it comes to used goods marketplace, the biggest testimony of the market was when Amazon forayed into the used-goods market [via Junglee] thereby allowing individuals to sell their used stuff on Amazon. Though there are couple of players in the used-goods marketplace, there is not a single marketplace for selling Industrial goods, Jewelry & gems, furniture, electronics, musical instruments, etc.

This is the opportunity that the founders of Refabd, a recommerce startup seized when they moved to Delhi for a short period of one year to train for the Civil Services. The glaring lacuna became evident to them when they tried to either hire or purchase used home appliances. Realization then dawned that this must be the experience of short term residents as well as newcomers to a city who are looking at a similar market. The trio was then quick to spot a business opportunity waiting to be tapped in this domain and that’s how Refabd was born!

Today we have a chat with Vineeth Kumar, Co Founder of Refabd. So lets get started with the Q&A…

How did you come up with the idea of venturing into used goods How did you come up with the idea of venturing into used goods marketplace ?

When we, the founders of Refabd, moved to Delhi for chasing our dreams on Civil Service, we personally wanted to setup our home with appliances and furniture. It was difficult for us to resort on the classified platforms, as that lacked transparency, simplicity and trust. Our search to find out a single platform for buying used products was not successful and found a business opportunity and thus Refabd was born.

Can you share some details about the team behind Refabd ?

The founders of Refabd are

  • Vineeth Kumar T – Post Graduate from IISc, 6+ years of experience in IT Field
  • Rahul Varma K – Post Graduate from Manipal Institute, 5+ Years in Chip Design, QC and Testing
  • Durai Gowardhan S – Graduate from PSG Tech, 4+ years of IT experience

We are a team of 20 members including the founders.

How much is the overall market size of used goods market place ?

As per the recent study OLX Crust 2016, Rs. 780 Billion is the Second Hand House Hold market in India in which Rs. 33 Billion is the Used Home Appliances and Furniture serviceable market in India.

What are some of the items that can be sold on Refabd ?

All kinds of large appliances, Furniture and Laptops can be sold on Refabd.

What according to you are some of the USP’s of Refabd from other such sites like Greendust, OLX, etc. [Specifically GreenDust since they also sell refurbished electronic items]

Classified sites like OLX, Quikr and even Shopo are Consumer to Consumer models. C2C model does not work very well with Used goods market as that lacks transparency in pricing, quality and service. Consumers all around the world prefers hassle free experience while shopping online and hence any model around used goods has to be curated.

Curated model will solve issues like pricing around used goods has to be curated. Curated model will solve issues like pricing and quality but still can’t gain the trust of buyers as the curator can’t guarantee post sale care. The model that works very well is a curated inventory based model where in products are sourced from different sources, performs rigorous QC and sell with Warranty. This model can give transparency in pricing, quality as well as post sale care.

Refabd follows this model in which all products undergo thorough quality inspection and given an QC SCORE and then images of the products are taken showing the defects and damages very clearly if any and uploaded with transparency in pricing. Refabd takes this experience to the next level by giving free delivery, easy return, warranty and Buy Back options. When it comes to GreenDust, they mainly focus on electronic goods, especially mobiles. They are not transparent in terms of quality, images and pricing.

[L-R] Co-founders of Refabd : Rahul Varma, Durai Gowardhan, Vineeth Kumar

Can you let us know about some of the steps taken by the back-end team to to ensure that high quality products are sold on Refabd ?

Refabd quality measures starts from procurement [sourcing] phase itself. Our in house technician/carpenter inspects the products and approves only if the product is sellable after minor repair/refurbishment. Once the products come to the warehouse, it undergoes following phases:

  • QC Stage – In this stage, the quality in terms of appearance and working is QC Stage – In this stage, the quality in terms of appearance and working is verified and the condition spec of the product along with QC report is generated
  • Cleaning/Refurbishment – Product is cleaned and disinfected thoroughly and minor refurbishment like polishing, change of plastic parts etc., are performed
  • Full Cycle Testing [FCT] – Full cycle functionality of the product is tested in this stage by simulating various scenarios. For example, the washing machines undergo a full spin test with clothes in it. All the aspects like noise, water leakage, vibration, power consumption etc., are checked in this phase and added to the QC report
  • Photography – In this stage, details images of the product is taken. The images show the defects very clearly if at all any.
  • Packaging – The products are packed carefully after the photography and moved to the delivery section
  • Product Upload – The product is uploaded to Refabd website. Complete Quality details of the product is shown in the website and what the customer sees in website is what he gets!

Who are the logistics partners of Refabd and how do you ensure that the ROR [Rate of Return] is kept to the minimum in order to maximize revenues.

Refabd manages the logistics on its own to provide quality service to its customers. We are very much flexible in terms of return and provides On the Spot Return if the appearance of the product does not match to customer expectation however is expected to go through the images and product description before purchase and also our customer care personnel explains about the condition of the product to the customer before delivery.

As Refabd is transparent on the product condition, returns are very less. Also inspite of carrying on all the expenses to ensure quality control, the sale price of Refabd goods is marked to, direct sellers of used goods online or offline, keeping the ROR balanced and providing value for money to buyers, ensuring higher sale values to provide return to Refabd investors.

Please walk us through funding of Refabd [Self/Angel/VC] and are you looking for external funding ?

Athamus Venture team invested to unlock the potential of Refabd Platform, it being attractive, unorthodox, and stressed on buy back and warranty issuance to be hallmark of the business. We are raising expansion capital now, to spread to at least 4 more cities like NCR, Pune, Hyderabad and Chennai in next 6 months and 20 more cities by another 12 months.

Many e-commerce companies are now pushing for omni-channel Many e-commerce companies are now pushing for omni-channel presence, does Refabd also have plans to enter into offline as well [especially for big ticket items like Fridge, Washing Machine, Laptops,etc. or other items that require touch & fell] ?

Today, stress is to provide hassle free service though centralized warehouses, with doorstep pickup and delivery services to delight our customers on quality of product and services. We have innovative plans to fulfil the needs to give satisfaction of physical shopping experience going forward and shall be announced in 3 months time.

We would like to understand the customer [i.e. age, cities Tier-1,Tier-2, etc.] as well item demographics on Refabd ?

Refabd is operational only in Bengaluru as of now. Refabd caters to all income group customers with its used and unboxed products. Furniture is sold around the year and appliances demand varies based on season. In summer season refrigerator and ACs are sold more and in rainy season washing machines and ovens are sold more.

Does Refabd also provide ‘Try & Buy’ facility for its customers, especially items like clothing, shoes, etc.

We introduced On the Spot return in case of appearance mismatch and 7 days return in case of quality issue which is as good as Try and Buy.

Is Refabd a pure B2C marketplace for used goods or you also cater to the B2B segment ?

We are into B2B as well catering the needs of builders, rental companies & Startup Companies.

There is growing competition in used-goods marketplace where there are vertical marketplaces like Droom [Automobiles], GreenDust [electronics], GoZefo [Furniture], etc. and horizontal marketplaces like OLX, Quikr, Kraftly, etc. how does Refabd ensure that it stays ahead of the growing competition in providing excellent service [goods] at competitive pricing ?

We intend to keep our margins balanced, to reach out masses not only in Tier-1 but Tier-2 & 3 cities, coupled with fact that, Refabd has direct accountability to customer on each product sold makes us very different from our peers.

Do you have any tie-ups with e-commerce companies so that goods returned by the customer [reverse logistics] can be sold on your platform at a lesser price/as a used-item ?

We have tie up with e-commerce companies for sourcing used and unboxed products.

There is a section where ‘Unused Products’ [particularly electronics are sold], don’t you think that it would dilute the core offerings of Refabd which is into selling ‘Quality Refurbished Items’ ?

As said earlier, Refabd wants to cater all income group customers and also help the customer to upgrade their product as and when their income increases. The unboxed products help for this.

Customers who are planning to buy unused products can buy unboxed products from Refabd at around 70% of their budget. We ensure that unboxed products are in excellent condition w.r.t appearance and quality.

2017 so far has not been good for e-commerce companies – funds drying up, huge cash-burn; how according to you should entrepreneurs deal with such adverse situations ?

Lot of action is happening in e-commerce space, the business segment is evolving from its early days and maturing into set formats, players that provide quality service with the goods will evolve to fulfill the demands. It is difficult to comment on business model of larger formats right now, as they too are in a flux to compete even bigger challenges out.

Online commerce has been so far about discounting, customer acquisition, etc. how do you see 2017 panning out for the online commerce, hyper-local & used goods marketplace sector ?

e-commerce is here to stay and satisfy daily requirements of Indian population, the process business discrepancies have been rooted out to make businesses efficient, as long as e-commerce platforms sell ‘value for money’ goods and services they will find buyers and expand.

Initial customer acquisition is mostly built on discounting, any other methods that entrepreneurs can follow to gain more customers keeping the burn-rate to the minimum [ensuring that transactions are repetitive instead of one-time] ?

In addition to providing best value for money, quality of service, delivery and follow up maintenance will be the differentiators.

As per your entrepreneurial experience, when should an entrepreneur look out for external funding ?

When your idea starts generating cash flows to sustain itself organically and scaling/expansion can only be through external capitalization, to capture greater market share.

Some books that you highly recommend for entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs you highly admire and some traits of theirs that you would like to imbibe.

Elon Musk – Determination, Dream Big and Curiosity to implement

Closing thoughts for our readers.

Chase your dreams and always remember that a very minute detail addition can bring so much of positive difference. Try to find out this small detail which is missing and add it to your solution and you will find growth.

We thank Rahul Kumar for sharing his insights with our readers. Do give Refabd a spin and share your experience in the comments section. If you have any questions for Rahul or the Refabd Team, please email them here or share them via a comment to this article.

|In: Funding|Last Updated: | 0 Comments

QwikSpec, an end-to-end real-estate site operations platform startup, which has consistently delivered significant time & money savings to its customers in the construction industry, has raised Rs. 3.5 crores in funding from a consortium of investors led by Brigade Innovations LLP. Other investors in the consortium include Mohandas Pai, Suhail Rahman, Director Asset Builders, Bobby Reddy of Indus Group, and UAE based private investor M George Oommen.

Ms. Nirupa Shankar, Director at Brigade Innovations stated that

QwikSpec was one of the 5 companies that was part of the first batch of Brigade’s Real Estate Accelerator Program [REAP]. They are solving on-site challenges faced by project teams and are able to deliver tangible savings in time, money and improvements in quality. QwikSpec’s platform brings in transparency and accountability across all stakeholders in the construction process including contractors, sub-contractors and even customers.

With Brigade REAP’s domain knowledge and experience in real estate QwikSpec’s value proposition was sharpened significantly helping them improve their conversion rate from 30% to 70% in the fourth month of the program. We believe QwikSpec’s platform will become an imperative for the Real estate fraternity in the new regulatory environment of RERA.

Mohandas Pai, investing in his personal capacity, said

The QwikSpec team has utilized their core domain expertise and strategic insights to develop a full-stack toolset for builders to optimize their operations from the bottoms-up. The workforce on-site constitutes nearly 95% of the total employee base in a construction company, while all existing enterprise applications cater to the 5% of the workforce that is off-site. This is the main reason why technology penetration in construction has been historically very low, and workforce productivity in the sector has remained stagnant over the last two decades.

With the sector seeing accelerated demand and the need for quality deliverables only increasing, such technology will offer real operational differentiation to its users, reduce costs, improve productivity and reduce time to market. QwikSpec will aim to work with lateral tools to become the center of this exciting universe of technology, and I am looking forward to the possibilities ahead.

QwikSpec was founded by Ajith Alexander and Roby Kurien in January 2015. Ajith worked with Cisco Systems, McKinsey & Co. and Nakheel Group in the past while Roby was associated with Motorola, Kyocera Wireless and Sirf Technologies.

On the company’s growth and expansion plans; Ajith Alexander, Co-Founder and Managing Director said

With over 120 projects across the entire lifecycle of construction right from excavation to handover and more than 10 million data-points, we have seen rapid adoption-QwikSpec doubled its monthly revenues in the last 6 months.

Our current clients include Tata Housing, Mahindra Lifespaces, Brigade Group, Mantri Developers, Prestige Group, Omkar Developers, Vaswani Group, etc. We will use the investment to significantly ramp up our technology capabilities as also invest in business development and customer acquisition. QwikSpec, being the leader in India, will continue to penetrate in the Indian market before looking at expanding to Middle East and South East Asian markets in the near future.

For more information about the startup, please visit QwikSpec