Karan Agarwal

Lenskart's Visionary Innovation: A Game-Changer in the Eyewear Industry Lenskart, India's leading eyewear company, has been revolutionizing the way Indians see the world with its innovative products and services. With a focus on developing cutting-edge technology, Lenskart has consistently prioritized innovation and customer satisfaction, setting it apart from other startups that prioritize hype and valuations. Lenskart's commitment to innovation is evident in its recent launches, including Lenskart Vision, an AI-powered eye care platform, and Lenskart Home Try-On, a virtual try-on service for glasses and contact lenses. These products demonstrate the company's dedication to providing innovative solutions to the Indian eyewear market. Lenskart's investment in R&D has been a key differentiator in the competitive eyewear landscape. With over 500 stores across India, the company continues to focus on long-term innovation rather than just competing on price. The success of Lenskart's 3D Try-On feature, which has grown strong thanks to sustained R&D investments, is a testament to this approach. Lenskart's expansion into tier 2 and tier 3 cities is also driving growth and job creation. By tapping into untapped talent in these regions, Lenskart is contributing to local development and addressing the growing congestion in major cities. This decentralization strategy is bringing critical technology jobs to underserved regions, making a positive impact on the community. Lenskart's focus on AI has been significant, with the company developing context-specific models like AI-powered eye disease detection and personalized lens recommendations. Collaborations with large AI providers are also underway, further solidifying Lenskart's position as a leader in the eyewear industry. As Lenskart looks to the future, its commitment to innovation, rural development, and AI-driven growth will continue to shape its path as a leading eyewear player. With a focus on sustainable growth and customer satisfaction, Lenskart is poised to remain a major force in the Indian eyewear industry for years to come. Key Statistics: Over 500 stores across India 3D Try-On feature has grown strong thanks to sustained R&D investments Expansion into tier 2 and tier 3 cities is driving growth and job creation Lenskart is investing in zero-trust security models and AI to detect early threats Awards and Recognition: Lenskart has been recognized as one of the most innovative companies in India by various industry reports Peyush Bansal, co-founder of Lenskart, has been featured in various media outlets for his visionary approach to innovation and entrepreneurship  #Lenskart #Innovation #Eyewear #RuralDevelopment #AIGrowth #DataPrivacy #ZeroTrustSecurity #BusinessGrowth #SustainableGrowth #Entrepreneurship #Technology #FutureOfWork #ECell #IITBombayE-Cell, IIT Bombay

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Enterprise tech startup Clueso (YC W23) has raised $1.4 Mn (about Rs 11.6 Cr) in its seed funding round, led by f7 Ventures. The round also saw participation from existing backer Y Combinator. Clueso leverages generative AI (GenAI) to help companies create instructional videos and documentation for employee training and customers. Clueso claims that its AI auto-removes fumbling and rewrites the transcript to cover the same content 60% of the time and replaces the audio track with a “professional, natural-sounding AI voiceover”. Besides, it also creates a written article for every video with screenshots and GIFs. Clueso was also selected in the winter cohort of Y Combinator’s early-stage startup accelerator program in April 2023. With its participation in the three-month-long initiative, the startup netted an investment of $500K. The fundraise comes at a time when the Indian GenAI market is heating up in terms of investments. Founders: Akash Anand, Prajwal Prakash, and Neel Balar Follow Rise & Shine for daily startup updates. Stay informed, stay ahead ➡️ www.riseshine.in #enterprisetech #genai #seedfunding #ycombinator #startup #iitm Indian Institute of Technology, Madras

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The Perfect App Doesn’t Exist in Quick Commerce! Be it Swiggy, Zepto, Blinkit, Zomato, bigbasket.com etc... Every app will be at level-0 when they launch and they (above Qcomm Apps) have grown to be next to perfect with time, experience and persistence! Consumers demand near-instant delivery of goods, the pursuit of a “perfect app” is particularly challenging. Quick commerce apps, designed to deliver items like groceries or medicines within minutes, face a unique set of expectations that make achieving perfection nearly impossible. Additionally, the complexity of partnerships with local retailers and delivery personnel adds another layer of unpredictability. Inventory discrepancies or miscommunications between app systems and local stores can result in cancelled orders or wrong items being delivered. Medstown® - 30mins medicine delivery is LIVE (In Tolichowki, Hyderabad only) but as day-1, we have learned so many new things that can be done to improvise customer experience! We look forward to make medicine delivery a cake walk for our INDIA! #jaihind #medstown #swiggy #zepto #blinkit #zomato #hyderabad #india #quickcommerce #delivery #30mins

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Phew !!!!! Just back from India, one of the hottest ecom markets 🛍 300+ D2C Brands in 2 weeks & tonnes of insights, here are the top 3 👇 1️⃣ Third party cookie deprecation Come August will be like an earthquake for brands as their major source of acquisition channel(paid) will have a major impact because of no cookies. Retargeting, Ad's, look alike audience etc will not working. Some estimate numbers to drop as much as by 50%. Sad part they are not prepared and still dont realise the importance of 1st party data 😫 2️⃣ Everyone know ROAS, very few know CR 8 out of 10 founders/growth marketers when asked what was their conversion rate said our ROAS is .... they didnt seem to know conversion rate figure or the kpi was not important enough to remember. Big big red sign 🚨 3️⃣ Omni channel engagement Most brands already have an SMS/Email/Whatsapp engagement strategy/platform in place. They all talk about going big on sending retention or abandoned cart messages on these channels. What they dont realize that for 80% of their traffic they dont have email/contact number for these channels to work on. They are leaving a lot of money on the table not utilizing onsite engagement properly, abandoned carts is the lowest hanging fruit 🎯 Most important take away ☝ Brands spend so much time and money in brining traffic and then focus a lot of automation flows for email,sms,whatsapp but fail to realize the point where the sale or conversion happen - Onsite 📱 The best time when a visitor purchases is when they are on your store. Optimize how you engage with them and your numbers will boost 🚀

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Q-Commerce overtaking traditional e-commerce? Currently we are seeing a big boom in terms of the different SKUs being sold in Quick commerce apps like Zepto, Blinkit, etc. - Atomberg Technologies 's fans - Sony's PS5 - Samosa, Chai and what not - Digital Gold from Jar! Zepto is in talks to raise $300m for its broader ecommerce play. While Swiggy is preparing to file for an IPO this year, incumbent Flipkart is readying its entry into quick commerce. Zomato has invested $240 million in Blinkit over the last one year. Taking a step back, the lines between quick commerce and traditional e commerce have started to become increasingly blurred with QCom pretty much catering to every needs! Also, multiple reports suggest that QCommerce can potentially become bigger than traditional e commerce in India!  Case in point : According to Goldman Sachs, the valuation of Blinkit is greater than Zomato's core food delivery biz! Non-grocery boom in Q-Commerce: Categories including beauty, toys, health and electronics are witnessing robust sales growth on quick-commerce platforms overall. While the overall base for the new categories is still small, aggressive expansion by these players is starting to ensure a dominant presence for these categories. Plus AOV is higher which also comes with better margins, making it a win-win! Case in point: Zepto - 2x sales MoM in segments such as toys and electronics accessories - Beauty category expanded 3x QoQ - ~15% of Zepto’s $1.2bn annualised gross sales currently comes from non-grocery products (Source: Goldman Sachs) For several D2C quick commerce has become the fastest growth channel as well as the platform with highest customer engagement This is definitely a positive for the consumers and the Q-Commerce players, but is everything on the up and up?   As the demand for space on quick-commerce platforms skyrockets, niche D2C cos in segments like FMCG, beauty and personal care, and health and fitness are agreeing to pay a 30-45% commission on sales, besides shelling out on advertising and discounting on these Q-Com platforms. On top of the commissions, brands are also regularly spending around 20% of their total sales on ads on the platforms, and discounting their products by about 20-25% (totaling 60-70% revenue!). This is in stark contrast to the 10-20% commission that large FMCG cos pay these platforms reflecting the intense competition for visibility. The brand's scale and comparison with competitors are crucial considerations when it comes to new listings. On the positive side, smaller D2C brands have seen 40-60% total revenue coming from Q-Commerce compared to ~10-20% from traditional ecommerce, which is surprising! Essentially, Q-com currently has a BIIIG Bargaining power against new D2C brands and can essentially make or break their businesses! Is this sustainable on the long run? #ecommerce #quickcommerce #india #zepto #businessmodel #d2c #startups #LIPostingChallenge

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Gururam-based angel investment platform Inflection Point Ventures has announced a full exit from Jaipur-based D2C fashion brand Fashor with a 33% IRR. The firm said it has achieved 3.75X MoM (Money over money) from this exit within 54 months of investing in the startup. Read the full story here: 👇 https://lnkd.in/djhTrmvS #funding #investors #angelinvestors #d2c #fashion #entrepreneur #indianstartupnews

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Build D2C not Marketplace brands , I constantly tell anyone who intends on building an apparel brand now. When Ecommerce wars were at prime in 2016 I remember there was a pitch for a mobile phone launch ,all 3 marketplaces Flipkart, amazon and Snapdeal wanted the exclusive rights to launch the phone and hence pitched the number of crores of marketing money they will spend should they be given the rights . The pitch was finally won at 15 crores of spends. !!! Where was this money coming from? Ecommerce companies were focusing only on top line those were the growth years , phones were the only combination of a decent to high value ticket item that also had volumes. Cut to 2021 when profitability is the main charter all e-commerce companies have shifted their focus to Fashion !!! It's the next frontier to cover because it has amazing volumes, sells throughout the year has higher frequency than mobiles but much much lower AOV. In the last few years Ecommerce market places have put increasing pressure on brands like Spykar, Puma, Adidas and Nike on margins making marketplaces less attractive than their own D2C. But if you are a new brand you will have to play the balancing act , be listed on marketplaces , create demand and continue to bolster on D2C. Marketplaces are a necessary evil for new brands however they should have a D2C first mindset to build a sustainable brand . Source - Money control (2023), Flipkart + Myntra has 49% market share in fashion

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At Inc42 Media's D2C Summit, our co-founder Rohit Bansal shared insightful perspectives on the future of Indian startups during a dynamic panel discussion on "Decoding The Great Indian Retail Opportunity." 🇮🇳 Rohit said, “The current fixation of startups zooming their toplines before taking the IPO plunge is set to change, with more companies looking at listing earlier.” Joining Rohit on the panel were industry leaders Archana Jahagirdar from Rukam Capital, VS Kannan Sitaram of Fireside Ventures, and Nitya Sharma from Simpl. Stay tuned as we witness a paradigm shift in the Indian startup ecosystem! 🚀 #Startups #D2CSummit #Entrepreneurship #IPO #RetailOpportunity #IndianStartups #D2C

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This post sheds light on concerns regarding Flipkart's pricing policies for sellers. Sellers on Flipkart face challenges as the platform restricts them from adjusting prices according to costs and settlements. Despite charging sellers a significant fee, Flipkart advises lowering prices, impacting seller profitability. The system limits sellers from modifying prices, even at a loss, without specific requirements like a consignment ID. This lack of flexibility raises questions about fair trade practices. Small sellers, in particular, struggle with this policy, leading to market exit. The inability to revert to regular pricing after promotional periods hampers sellers' autonomy. This raises the critical question of whether Flipkart's control over seller pricing constitutes unfair trade practices, especially favouring big brands over smaller sellers. #Flipkart #pricingconcerns

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Blinkit, Swiggy Instamart, and Zepto dominate India's quick commerce market! India's Quick Commerce market is projected to generate $3.35 billion in revenue in 2024. Which platform do you use? #blinkit #swiggy #zepto #quickcommerce #india #news #business #finance #zomato #bigbasket

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Zepto Raises $665 Mn At A Valuation Of $3.6 Bn To Double Dark Store Count #businessnews #startuplife #startupnewscenter #startupstory #startupindia #india #startup #startupnewsupdates #startupnews #BusinessNews #startupnewsdaily #buildingstartups #businessnewsindia #startupbusiness #zepto

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Mamaearth has created the perfect playbook for new launches – in online space.  But that playbook seems to be failing miserably in offline.    Let me share some data to clarify what I am saying  Please see the attached screenshot from RHP.    In FY22 Honasa launched 159 new SKUs which contributed 199cr to their Net sales (1.25cr)  In FY23 they launched 301 new SKUs which contributed 279cr in Net sales. (0.92cr)  In Q1FY24 they launched 109 new SKUs which contributed 40cr (0.36cr)    3 things emerge from this data    1) Mamaearth has perfected how to launch and scale new products in the online space    2) The sales from new launches has been slowing down every year (refer to figures in bracket). Meaning the strategy may be nearing saturation.    3) Most importantly this strategy is in complete contrast to what works in offline. Offline needs fewer SKUs that sell in huge quantity. This leads to wholesale demand which creates indirect distribution. It increases the ROI on brand investments. And so the virtuous cycle continues.    Goes without saying that the product, proposition & pricing have to be suitable for GT. This has been another misstep for Mamaearth. Copy paste of online products may not work and the lower success ratio leads to stocks getting at GT distributors.    All this points to a clear need to revisit their product strategy for offline market. Do you think blindly launching online products in offline is a sound strategy

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How to get your D2C brand listed on quick commerce platforms like Zepto, Blinkit and Swiggy Instamart? #Quickcommerce #Entrepreneurship #Startups #D2C #Wolfpreneur #Podcast Pulkit Chhabra Nuvr

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PharmEasy's valuation dipped by 92% turning its success story into a cautionary lesson for startups. Find out what entrepreneurs can learn from its journey. PharmEasy Startup Story

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Headlines have claimed that 20 million kirana stores in India are shutting down, attributed to the fast-paced growth of quick commerce giants like Blinkit, Zepto, and BigBasket. But is the rise of quick commerce the sole factor? The answer is more complex. Kiranas face a variety of challenges as consumer demands shift toward digital convenience, expanded product variety, and rapid delivery. -Key Challenges for Kiranas: Digital Gaps: Shoppers today expect online ordering, loyalty programs, and personalized experiences—areas where kiranas are often playing catch-up. Delivery Speed: Quick commerce thrives on near-instant delivery. Many kiranas don’t have the infrastructure to match this speed or offer consistent delivery options. Product Variety: With evolving preferences, consumers now want access to health-focused products, trending items, and more than just essentials, making it necessary for kiranas to diversify their offerings. -Long-Term Support for Kiranas: Fortunately, organizations like LOTS Wholesale Solutions are stepping up to help local kiranas, as well as HoReCa and small traders, adapt to this changing landscape. Especially in the Delhi NCR region, LOTS is quietly making an impact by offering an extensive product range at competitive prices and providing resources, wholesale access, and digital tools to support these stores. With the right support, kiranas can modernize, deepen their community connections, and remain vital players in the digital age. LOTS Wholesale Solutions NIshant Rayirath

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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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Choosing the right platform to sell online is pretty much like the swiping game (iykyk)! Check out how businesses across India make this informed decision 🤝💯

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