Devendra Nagle

AstroTalk is redefining the spiritual-tech landscape with incredible growth in FY24. The Noida-based platform reported a 2.3x increase in revenue, reaching ₹651 crore, while profits surged nearly 12x to ₹99.99 crore. This exponential rise showcases AstroTalk’s ability to scale rapidly while maintaining strong profitability. What’s Driving This #Transformation? Expanding Market Reach: AstroTalk’s revenue in India doubled to ₹529 crore, while international revenue jumped 4.2x to ₹121 crore. The demand for digital astrology services has gone global, breaking cultural barriers and tapping into a new wave of spirituality seekers. #AI-Powered User Experience: The integration of AI has been pivotal in delivering personalized, accurate astrology consultations. By analyzing user behavior, AI helps tailor predictions, improving satisfaction and increasing user retention. This shift to data-driven insights is fueling industry growth, making astrology more accessible and reliable than ever. Mobile App Convenience: AstroTalk’s mobile app is a game-changer, providing users with a seamless and intuitive experience. The app’s features, like instant chat consultations and 24/7 availability, have transformed how people access spiritual guidance. It’s not just about convenience—it’s about creating a platform that meets the evolving expectations of today’s digital users. Strategic Investments and Scalability: AstroTalk’s significant spending on advertising (₹162 crore, up 116%) and professional services (₹319 crore, 60% of total costs) shows a strategic push for brand visibility and operational efficiency. With a Return on Capital Employed (ROCE) of 40.16% and an EBITDA margin of 19.42%, the platform scales efficiently, spending just ₹0.82 to earn ₹1 of revenue. Shifting Consumer Trends: The increasing demand for instant, personalized guidance reflects a broader shift in consumer behavior. Today’s users seek quick answers and digital-first solutions, and AstroTalk is perfectly positioned to meet these needs. This trend is adding more fuel to the spiritual-tech industry, driving innovation and attracting new players. Changing the Landscape of Spiritual-Tech AstroTalk isn’t just riding the wave—it’s shaping it. By combining traditional astrology with advanced AI and mobile-first strategies, it’s setting a new standard for the industry. This blend of tech and tradition is creating a sustainable model for growth, proving that spiritual services can thrive in the digital age. Investors are taking note, and with the broader spiritual-tech space already attracting over $60 million in funding, it’s clear that this is just the beginning. AstroTalk’s journey is a testament to the power of innovation in transforming industries. It’s time to watch this space closely—because the future of spirituality is digital. #AstrologyTech #SpiritualTech #AIInnovation #MobileApps #GrowthStory #AstroTalk #IndustryTrends #ScalingUp

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We will hit ₹200,00,00,000.00 revenue! Time taken by Sanfe to reach 1st 70 crore ARR = 5 years 2nd 70 crore ARR = 5 months 3rd 70 crore ARR (targeted)= 5 weeks We are at Bali to celebrate this win! Currently Sanfe stands at ₹140 Crore ARR and we aim to take it to 210crore ARR by the end of May. In December 2023, I catched up with my batchmate from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, Archit Agarwal, after 5 years. Suddenly something vibed and we went on a trip to Kazakhstan. On our trip we discovered that both of us are more similar than we had imagined. Both of us had similar amount of experience in facing the consumer. We also comfortably discussed our businesses. At that point, Archit decided to shift gears and I joined Sanfe as strategic advisor. We started hitting milestones after milestones. While “esteemed” consultants didn’t have much to offer, evening conversations with and old friend on a cup of tea did miracles. How our conversations looked like? They either started with “Bhai Jindal, ek baat sun…” or “Archit yaar, ek baat sun…” Then we proposed our growth strategies to eachother. So the thing is, we both were a bit emotional about our own companies, whereas very objective about the other person’s company. It helped in removing blurriness and taking faster decisions. One more reason was that we gave eachother constructive criticism and helped eachother grow and rethink our approach. Our next trip should be at Switzerland when we hit ₹500cr ARR Similar developments have happened at Bharat Skool, but that is a story for another day. Harry Sehrawat Follow Nishant Jindal for more such updates.

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'Oravel Travel' founded in 2012, as an India-based startup in Gurgaon by #RiteshAgarwal (Agarwal), offered budget hotel room listing initially and later (in 2016) began to provide co-living, co-working space and other hospitality services known as OYO Rooms (#OYO). During the growing years, although OYO faced #criticism about its #business policies, #lapses in quality control and not addressing #customer complaints, the company continued to #grow and even had #expanded its operations #overseas, including the most lucrative #hospitality market in the US (in 2019). Agarwal expected OYO to become #number one globally #replicating its #success in India (by making hotel brands adopt its branding and technology) across the world. However, since OYO was #losing money in its #core markets, the company was #forced to #pull out of hundreds of cities, #consolidate and #restructure its business. On the other hand, after a #slow growth in the US, OYO witnessed a significant growth in 2022 and its hotel #count had grown over 320 in over 35 states. With OYO's decision to #acquire the iconic #G6 Hospitality brand from Blackstone Real Estate for $525 million to #bolster its #international presence and #drive the #growth of newly acquired brands in September 2024, hospitality industry experts raised #questions whether OYO's new attempt to #strengthen its #presence in the lucrative US #marketplace be successful? #CaseStudy #AmityResearchCenters #AmityUniversity

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Why your D2C brand won't scale? Most likely because of the top 5 Marketing Challenges faced by Early-Stage (monthly revenue < INR 1 Cr) D2C brands that I have identified on the basis on my conversations with multiple D2C founder & marketers, and the secondary research done on the space. 1. Unsustainable Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC) ✔️ Average CAC increased by 157% in last 18 months for early-stage brands ✔️Meta CPMs up 98% YoY for Indian D2C advertisers ✔️72% of brands report negative unit economics on first purchase Impact: 🌵 Brands spending ₹800-1200 to acquire customers with AOV of ₹600-800 🌵Marketing budgets consuming 45-60% of revenue 🌵Cash runway reduced by 40% compared to 2022 2. Platform Dependency & Data Loss ✔️82% of early-stage brands rely on marketplaces for >60% of sales ✔️Average D2C brand loses visibility on 40% of customer data ✔️Only 15% have first-party data collection systems Impact: 🌵Limited customer remarketing capability 🌵High platform commissions (25-35%) 🌵No clear view of customer lifetime value 3. Poor Cash Flow Management ✔️68% of brands face stockouts despite high marketing spend ✔️Average payment cycle of 45-60 days from marketplaces ✔️Marketing commitments consume 70% of working capital Impact: 🌵Unable to scale marketing during peak seasons 🌵Missed inventory reordering windows 🌵Constrained growth due to working capital 4. Ineffective Content & Creative Strategy Data Points: ✔️91% of early-stage brands have no content calendar ✔️Average creative performance drops 47% after day 3 ✔️Content production costs 3x higher than enterprise brands Impact: 🌵High creative fatigue 🌵Poor engagement rates (<1%) 🌵Inconsistent brand messaging 5. Tech Stack Inefficiencies Data Points: ✔️Average early-stage D2C brand uses 14+ tools ✔️55% of tech stack features remain unused ✔️Integration costs equal 18% of revenue Impact: 🌵Monthly tech spend of ₹1.5-2L 🌵Data silos between platforms 🌵Poor attribution tracking What are some of the challenges that you have experienced? Share your thoughts in the comments. At Attryb, we are building an enterprise-grade personalization SaaS for D2C brands on Shopify. DM to have a chat. Anil Bains Sources: Unicommerce D2C Report 2023, Powermove-Shiprocket D2C Report 2023, The Ken D2C Analysis Q4 2023, Inc42 Media D2C Marketing Report 2023, Tracxn D2C Funding Analysis, PayU India Insights Report, Velocity D2C Lending Data, RazorpayX Cash Flow Analysis, toothsialigners & SUGAR Cosmetics Benchmark Report, Meta Facebook Creative Analysis Report, Schbang D2C Creative Intelligence, Shopify India Merchant Analysis, CleverTap D2C Analytics Report, Netcore Cloud Marketing Survey Most of the article including the image has been generated using AI. If you would like to see how please comment/dm.

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Kreedo secures Rs 10 Cr debt funding from Recur Club: Edtech platform Kreedo Early Childhood Solutions has secured Rs 10 crore in debt funding from Recur Club, a prominent debt marketplace for startups and SMEs.  Kreedo had previously raised $4 million in Series A funding from Heritas Capital and UBS Optimus Foundation to enhance learning ecosystems. The proceeds will be deployed towards fuelling its growth and expansion plans, enhancing product offerings and scaling operations across India, Kreedo said in a press release. Co-founded in 2012 by Mridula Shridhar and Manikandan Krishnan, Kreedo provides a non-franchise solution for preschools and schools in India. Its curriculum is designed to help children develop literacy, numeracy, and other skills through play-based activities. The platform's curriculum is based on the idea that children learn best through a "Concrete to Abstract" or "Practical to Theory" approach. The curriculum combines indoor and outdoor games and toys to help children learn to explore and develop skills. According to the Bengaluru-based company, it focuses on improving education in over 350,000 affordable private schools across India, which cater to low-income families and charge less than Rs 30,000 annually. The company claims that it has demonstrated an impressive revenue growth rate of over 35% year-on-year for the past three consecutive years.  “It has been a pleasure working with Manikandan and witnessing Kreedo’s incredible growth journey over the past couple of years. Their intelligent approach to capital management has enabled them to hyperscale effectively while preserving significant equity.” said Eklavya Gupta, co-founder & CEO of Recur Club. Kreedo may compete directly or indirectly with other companies in this space are Kinderly, Seed Schools, Sudiksha Knowledge Solutions, Blue Blocks, Hello Kids amongst others.  Recur Club is a capital platform, enabling companies to raise debt capital tailored to their business needs with a dedicated capital expert. The platform aims to deploy Rs 2,000 crore in debt funding for startups and SMEs through Recur Scale and Rs 1000 crore to MSMEs through Recur Swift in this financial year. It has backed startups such as Ustraa, Rage Coffee, Moveinsync, Keka HR, Xoxodays, and others. It competes with other debt financing platforms like GetVantage, Velocity, and Klub. #EdTech #Funding #Startups

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Raised $26,000,000 with just an idea Lyskraft India Pvt Ltd - the latest kid in the block! So, Mukesh Bansal is back with another startup this time with Mohit Gupta, the former CEO of Zomato's food delivery arm. In July of last year, there were reports about Bansal and Gupta raising funds for a new venture. As per TechCrunch, both of them pitched a range of ideas to potential backers like a female-focused counterpart to Manyavar and "Infosys 2.0" a presumed upgrade to a multinational IT services and consulting firm. Now finally... The news is out and we know what they are building, Lyskraft: initially a women's only marketplace for premium brands mostly focusing on Gen-Z shoppers. Recently we have seen giant e-commerce platforms launching dedicated portals to attract GenZ shoppers, like SPOYL launched by Flipkart within its app, FWD by Myntra, also we are seeing the growth of new-age startups working in this space like Virgio(Mukesh Bansal is an investor in it), Newme(recently raised $4,500,000), Absolute Brands, Snitch, Styched and many more As per Inc42's Report, India's fashion and apparel sector is projected to reach a mouth-watering $112 Billion by 2030, which will be over a quarter of the country's $400 Billion e-commerce market!! Let's be honest, anyone will want a piece of this market. As we are already aware of how crowded this space is, let's see how Lyskraft differentiates itself from others. Mohit Gupts and Mukesh Bansal, in this crowded space building a community around your product, building digital IPs, and creating experiences through videos are the ways to elevate your brand to the next level. I the founder of Elevate would love to connect and assist Lyskraft in building a community, digital IPs and help create experiences through videos, if that sounds like something that interests you would love to connect and discuss!! sources of information : TechCrunch article 2021 - https://bit.ly/49UwkLI Inc42 article - https://bit.ly/3w0SDlb #mukeshbansal #myntra #fashion #startups #venturecapital #fundingwinter #norevenue #cultfit #community #communitymarketing #socialmediamarketing #india

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Portfolio toh pura laal ho gya hain.. Today's P&L - 17% down. What about you folks? Overall my portfolio is +70%, yet seeing the RED is scary. My strategy - Buying when it Dips, especially the PSUs.

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Sometimes, serendipity plays a crucial role in shaping what problems we pick to solve, especially at pre PMF startups. A few months ago, a friend building an RMG from India shared two challenges. One of them was in performance marketing that he was uploading a lot of creatives and wanted suggestions for new ones based on previous learnings. At the time, we were focused on something else and didn’t have time to dive in. Later, the idea we were pursuing didn’t work out, but another agency mentioned the same challenge. So, we decided to take a day to figure out a solution. I manually gathered data from videos, putting it into an Excel sheet to run a correlation analysis. At first, I didn’t realize Google AI Studio could read videos, so I used OpenAI to analyze the video frame by frame, and it worked surprisingly well. Through some YouTube tutorials, I discovered AI Studio could do it even better and with an API. That made everything fall into place smoothly. In the video below, you’ll see this analysis for Subway Arabia. We did this as a way to showcase our work via a friend who works at Subway MENA (Middle East and North Africa), hoping to present it to them. This wasn’t an official collaboration, but the data was publicly available, so we scraped and used it. If you’re interested in the data insights or prompts, feel free to comment with “data,” and I’ll gladly share them with you on DM.

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Just wanted to give a big shoutout to Kunal Sharma from KRBL Limited for joining me on the Marketing Mavericks podcast! Kunal, your take on how marketing shapes a company’s P&L and your knack for balancing data with creativity really left a mark. The way you broke down the importance of making products accessible and dialing in on distribution strategies hit home for me. Thank you for being so open and for bringing such depth to our chat—it was honestly inspiring! Podcast link in comments! #data #product #distribution #IndieFolio #marketinginsights

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Streetz Hyperlocal Pvt Ltd had a brief but a very eventful journey. Loads of people supported us which we are really proud of. Thank you ! 🙏🏻 💡I'll like to share our KEY LEARNINGS here for fellow entrepreneurs who're just starting out💡 In 8 months of launch Streetz had 20K+ downloads, 15K Signups and 8000+ users had transacted on the platform with an AOV of Rs 700+. Streetz boasted an impressive repeat rate of 22% where 10% of the users had ordered more than 3 times. In just 8 months Streetz crossed Rs 70L in GMV of business done on the platform. Streetz grew by 100X in just 13 weeks of launch acquiring customers at below Rs 250 CAC. 🚀🚀 BUT, 1. Healthy Cash flow is the most crucial aspect of an early stage startup. Being frugal is always good. 🤑 2. With discounts you can drive customer orders but you can only ensure loyalty by being consistent in your promises to customers. 🌞 3. India is a very price sensitive market and the price is more important then convenience for a large part of India, a general Indian customer mostly makes purchases rationally, evaluating many options. 🎈 4. Switching costs for customers are very low in today's Hyper competitive market. 🙌🏻 5. Product assortment on a marketplace is P0. The last thing you'll want is a customer dropping because of unavailability of a particular product. 🔑 6. Yes, customers are tolerant if tech/App is average as long as you meet the promises you make as a brand.💟 7. Historic data doesn't always show the right picture for future projections as there are too many variables at play at any given time and unless all external+internal variables are accounted for. 🎦 8. The startup world moves very fast and the agility of founder and team to changing circumstances is a very important asset. 🌊 9. There's nothing wrong in building slowly and steadily as long as your loyal user base is growing consistently and cash is depleting at a lower rate compared to increasing revenues. ❤️ 10. As a founder and team accept the fact that there are going to be many mistakes. Just don't repeat the same mistake twice.❌ 11. Your team is a reflection of you and as a founder it's very important to lead by example and be a coach rather than use the dictator approach in leadership.⛷️ 12. The most important thing which can make you and break you is your attitude. Daily dose of positive thinking really helps.💯 13. When you're a startup due to constraints and uncertainty there would be many dark days. The light of Hope should always shine. 🌄 14. You really need to build a self sustainable, profitable and achievable business plan. Think long-term.✌🏻 15. Know when to fold. You will get different signals from different stakeholders eventually all would colide at same frequency towards the end.🤐 I loved the past 1 year of Streetz journey and I wish All the very best to all the hustlers out there. Signing Off 💜, Monish Shah Founder & CEO Streetz Hyperlocal Pvt Ltd #startup #vc #tech

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Zepto, the fast-growing quick-commerce startup co-founded by Aadit Palicha, has seen its monthly cash burn skyrocket to over Rs 300 crore ($35 million) by October. This represents a sixfold increase compared to its monthly burn rate of Rs 35-40 crore in May, driven by the company's aggressive investments in scaling operations, marketing, and recruitment efforts, according to a report by Money Control. #zepto #startup

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Alarming Trend: Nearly 2 out of 3 influencers have 60% fake Instagram followers 😯 A recent report by influencer marketing platform Klug Klug has revealed a concerning trend in India's influencer marketing industry. Nearly two out of three Instagram profiles in India have spurious or fake followers in excess of 60 percent. This issue is particularly prevalent in the beauty and fashion industry, where influencers resort to deceptive practices, potentially leading to significant financial losses for brands investing in influencer marketing campaigns. The report highlights that only 2.48 million profiles out of the eight million audited exhibited credible and high-quality followers. India is both the largest supplier and buyer of fake followers, with the cost of buying fake followers as low as Rs 8 to Rs 10 for 1,000 followers and going up to Rs 50 per 1,000 followers on Instagram. This alarming trend not only affects brands but also legitimate influencers who are in a race to amplify reach and get the attention of brands. Brands lose 30-50 percent of their money on every campaign due to fake followers, which results in poor engagement rates and complicates efforts to measure true impact and ROI. While fake followers are being bought by all types and sizes of influencers, a smaller fraction, who are larger influencers, also buy comments and likes, in what is known as engagement buying. This practice is more common among larger influencers who monetize their content and need to show higher engagement to brands. However, it's not just brands that face the side-effects of fake followers; some influencers, too, are losing opportunities. Brands are working with the top 500 creators, making it challenging for new creators to make space for themselves. Despite the menace of fake followers affecting the influencer industry, there are some red flags that brands and influencer marketing agencies have started to look out for, such as engagement rates and the number of views compared to the number of followers. As brands and agencies, it's crucial to work together to ensure a transparent and trustworthy influencer marketing landscape. By identifying and partnering with truly influential content creators, we can reduce the prevalence of fake followers in the industry and create meaningful partnerships that yield genuine engagement and ROI. Do share your thoughts on how sports and athlete partnerships can defy the trend of fake followers, bringing authenticity and increasing trust for brands in influencer marketing. #influencermarketing #socialmedia #fakefollowers #brands #influencers

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Mass products or limited-quality product?🤔 That’s the question Saumya Kabra founder of Confetti Gifts , posed to Mohit Yadav (founder Minimalist ) during our Elevate Cohort 1. Want to learn from the best D2C founders? Fill out the form in comments to join us for Cohort 2. Take your business to the next level! 💼✨ #letsElevate #D2CInsider

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After Byju's setback story and Edtech Funding Winter PW is ready to get funding of 150Mn $ in its second round Top 8 Points You Must Know 1.PhysicsWallah is about to raise $150 million from new and current investors. Westbridge and GSV Ventures, who already invested in PW, will join this new round. 2.This is their second funding round in two years. 3.In June 2022, PW raised $100 million in their first major funding round. PW's value will rise to $2.8 billion, up from $1.1 billion last year. 4.Westbridge owns 2.4%, GSV Ventures 1.44%, and the founders 86.54% of PW. 5.PW has grown from online IIT/JEE coaching to also offering offline coaching, schools, and more. 6. 30% of their income is from JEE and NEET coaching, and 35% from offline coaching. 7. PW's revenue grew 3.3 times to Rs 779 crore in FY23, but profits dropped over 90% to Rs 8.87 crore. 8. Edtech funding dropped to $138 million in the first half of 2024, down from previous years. Recently PW fired around 120-250 employees (ATR ) . This funding will help them to keep growing in different segments. #EDTECH #FUNDING #Hiring #firing

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Out of 11 platforms, 6 earned the first point for Fair Contracts: bigbasket.com BluSmart, Swiggy, UrbanCompany, Zepto, & Zomato. They stood out by making their contracts easy to understand & accessible while also having protocols in place. #Dgraphics #data #Bigdata

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