The razzmatazz and money associated with the Indian Premier League has been well documented and the title sponsorship of the event is an indicator of the eye-popping valuation the franchise-based league enjoys. From Rs 200 crore to Rs 2,199 crore, the title sponsorship fees for the league has seen an exponential growth.

Talking to Moneycontrol, Prateek N Kumar, CEO and MD, NeoNiche, an experiential and digital marketing company, said this eleven fold increase has coincided with the massive growth seen in mobile data infrastructure.

Along with the growth in fees, the cricketing event has also seen more brands interested in getting the title sponsorship deal. Companies as diverse as DLF, Pepsi and Vivo (present sponsor) have been associated with the event as the title sponsor.

“DLF was almost synonymous with the IPL in the initial years. With a large audience and viewership across the country, DLF asserted itself as a trusted brand among the Indians,” said Kumar.

But “during this time period (2008-2012), the company witnessed a downturn in sales and was looking to reduce its debts (approximately Rs 227 billion) by selling various assets in March 2013. So, they went against renewing the deal,” Kumar added.

In came Pepsi but its association with the cash-rich league did not prove to be beneficial for the brand.

When IPL got mired in the match fixing controversy in 2013, it resulted in negative publicity for the league.

“The Rs 3.96 billion (Rs 396 crore) deal with Pepsi signed in 2013 was almost double of the first 5 seasons before Pepsi reportedly pulled out of the 5-year deal in October 2015 and paid only Rs 2.38 billion (Rs 238 crore) for the 3-year sponsorship deal because of the substantial controversy involved in the match-fixing scandal,” he said.

Later, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) transferred the sponsorship rights to Vivo for Rs 190 crore for the 2016 and 2017 seasons before going on to seal the rights with a winning bid of Rs 2,199 crore for the next five seasons.

Brands like Zeven, Performax, Daikin and Rupa, who are looking to expand their presence in the Indian market, are currently driving the sponsorship market. Earlier, companies like Hero MotoCorp, Panasonic, Fly Emirates along with more consistent sponsors like Reebok, Adidas, Royal Challenge, India Cement and Nokia drove the sponsorship market.

According to Kumar, earlier brands were either international or domestic leaders in their industry but the current trend seems to be pursuing a new norm.

“Companies with a rich-heritage are often considered the most trustworthy and dependable brands. However, the brands driving the current sponsorship environment are focused on improving their brand image and reach to establish themselves among the local people,” he explained.

The sponsorship game for IPL has seen a sea of change. This year, many new companies have come on board but Kumar said that brands should take a closer look at their target market and region to identify the best way to optimise ROI . If planned well, brands can look at sponsoring on an OTT platform that is region-specific to reach their target audience.

Also, with the rise in viewership of the league, sponsorship rates have also gone up.

“Legacy brands can afford to be sponsors but startups and tech-based companies with low profit margins companies such as GoIbibo, Karbonn, Oxigen wallet, etc, will find it to be a pinch in terms of their marketing budget,” he said.

Over 100 brands have been associated with the IPL over the years but very few companies have stayed around for a long duration.

“IPL sponsors mainly come in the form of title sponsors and team sponsors (visible through branding on the front, back and sides of jerseys). Mostly due to the extravagant amount of marketing required for a campaign, companies have found it difficult to utilise their marketing budget on other activities,” said Kumar.

Brands like Reebok, Adidas, Aircel, Nokia, UltraTech Cement, India Cement, Gulf Oil, Royal Challenge, DHFL and Videocon D2H are some companies who have been associated with the IPL for over seven years.

This year, according to Kumar, the “main differentiator is the availability of OTT advertisements in regional languages, which will help brands reach their target markets more effectively.”

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Brands today have been increasingly taking the emotional route to touch the hearts of their consumers. From Horlicks’ ‘Mother-and-child bond’ advert to the one for Cars24, the narratives have been driven with sentimental value.
We, at exchange4media, spoke to brands to understand as to how the idea has helped them engage more consumers. Does making emotionally stirring adverts help in the sale of products and what demographic research does go into such campaigns?

The Emotional Route 
Brand experts believe that tapping onto the emotional quotient helps in establishing a long-lasting connect with the consumers. According to Valay Lakdavala, Director – Client Relations, NeoNiche Integrated Solutions Pvt. Ltd, research has shown that an advertisement that was partially focused on ‘emotional content’ vis-a-vis ‘rational content’ was twice as effective (31 per cent to 16 per cent) and content which was fully focused on emotions vis-a-vis a partially focused advert did even better (31 per cent to 26 per cent). The primary reason for effectiveness being that the human brain processes emotions easily and remembers them longer than facts, Lakdavala said.

The emotional response of the audience to an advert makes the product likeable. One of the measures to ascertain if an advertisement will increase a product’s sales is likeability. However, it is very important for brands to weave the emotions around the understanding of the consumer motivations, Lakdavala added.

What do brands have to say?
Anurag Kumar, Chief Communications Officer, Tata Sky, said emotional connect helps drive a brand’s reliability. “We strongly believe emotions play a vital role in a consumer’s brand choices. It has been proven that brand building though emotional connect drives brand reliability in the long term. It is human tendency to choose products and services that have effective emotional advertising. It is true for soft drinks, ice-creams, jewellery, snacks, and equally on content distribution platforms like Tata Sky,” Kumar said.

Taking the emotional route helps a brand achieve positive customer engagement, says Vikram Bahl, Area Marketing Lead, Nutrition & Digestive Health, GSKCH Indian subcontinent.

“Emotions play an important role in the decision-making of consumers during exams as kids face immense pressure. For us, the insight was how mother’s love is the best dose of emotional nutrition and this has helped in connecting with the target audiences in a deeply personal and human way. Moreover, it has also cultivated a true brand loyalty and a positive customer engagement,” said Bahl.

According to Gajendra Jangid, Co-Founder and VP, CARS24, “With the understanding of the emotional connect that people have with their cars and how the brand resonates with the feeling of the consumers, CARS24 has focused on driving the conversation around how selling a car can be a memorable experience instead of just being transactional.

Boost to sales 
“Emotional advertising helps encoding of brands in long-term memory. Brand recall and brand relatability are the pillars of success for any brand like Tata Sky. Since emotions are fundamental to humans, using emotional communication has helped Tata Sky connect with customers across regions, age group and gender. Our advertising has typically relied on the following core human emotions: Trust, Happiness, Family, Fun and Love. We have repeatedly seen success of emotional advertising in driving sales and business numbers,” Kumar said.

As per Bahl, emotional storytelling is a well-established route for driving persuasion and consumer consideration. “In our category, driving consideration for the product has a direct link to sales. So without at least a touch of emotion, you’re not likely to get people to watch or read, and certainly not buy. Campaigns with an emotional aspect help us build a long-lasting relation with the consumer rather than companies just selling the product to them.”

Demographic research 
Quantitative as well as qualitative research with existing subscribers and potential users not only helps in gathering insights on improvements needed, but also helps in building and planning campaigns and offerings, say experts.

“In case of the ‘Horlicks Bottle of Love’ campaign, our target audience were children and the insight was how students battled immense pressure during exams, and the need for emotional support. This helped us in the demographic research that was required for our campaign,” Bahl said.
For Horlicks, millennials form a very significant part of the mix of campaign, planning and being the ‘always connected generation’ and no brand can ignore the dynamism of this consumer group. “India will have approximately 410 million millennials by 2020, who will spend $330 billion annually,” says Bahl.
In case of CARS24, Jangid says, the brand typically does market research to understand the content consumption and mindset of potential car buyers and sellers. “Our target audience for this research is typically any car owner (aged 30-45) primarily from top cities. The demographic research’s focus is to understand the brand perception of the audience in the category,” he added.

Social media and digital 

Meanwhile, social media platforms and digital marketing are becoming increasingly important for reaching out to the consumers. While Horlicks has increased their spends nearly six times in the last five years to activate social platforms in order to optimise the reach of the brands,  in case of Cars24, branding for digital mediums is still in the evolutionary phase and there is a plethora of options for a brand to test out this medium.

“Our current selection of digital channel depends on the reach it can deliver. From our past experiences, we usually keep 10-20 per cent budget for these platforms,” Jangid said.

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Over the past year, NeoNiche Integrated has encompassed the entire integrated solutions spectrum. From working on experiential marketing campaigns, to events powered by technology, NeoNiche Integrated has created several memorable experiences for clients including Amazon, ICICI Bank, Siemens, and several others.

Speaking about the win, Mr. Riyaz Khambati, Head Operations Experiential Delivery, NeoNiche Integrated said, “This award is definitely well deserved, and I believe it is a result of our customer-centric approach. At NeoNiche Integrated, we always strive to ‘wow’ our clients, and have delivered events that speak for themselves. The experiential market in India is growing steadily, and such recognition from a body of repute such as IBC InfoMedia, further highlights that we are on the right path, and motivates us to work harder.”

India’s No1 Brand Awards is a flagship award series by IBC InfoMedia, (a division of International Brand Consulting Corp, USA), an independent media, global branding and brand consultancy company.

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The viewership and ad insertions for devotional channels have seen a considerable increase in the 2016-2018 period, shows data from Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC).

In 2016, the number of devotional channels watermarked were just 3 with average weekly impressions of 22.2 million, as per BARC data, but the number rose to 11 with an average weekly impression of 97 million in 2017, and in 2018 there were 11 watermarked channels with a weekly impression of 119.8 million.

The channels taken into consideration were Bhakti TV, CVR OM Spiritual, Disha TV, Divya, Hindu Dharmam, Prarthana, SAI TV, Sanskar, SVBC, and Vedic.

Speaking on the rise in viewership of devotional channels, Arun S Nair, Vice President – Sales & Marketing (South) Insight Media City said, “The viewership rise can be attributed to two reasons. The distribution of the devotional channels has played a major role in improving their reach dramatically. Also, the deep pockets and their connect with service providers has enabled channel operators to be available on all the platforms.”

“The emotional connect with one’s religion is also one of the reasons behind the increase in viewership. In today’s fast-paced life, it is very important to connect with our culture and to gain knowledge about the customs and rituals. The devotional channels have succeeded in that by providing relevant content,” added Nair.

According to Vineet Sodhani, CEO, Spatial Access, devotional channels have grown since the Free-to-Air (FTA) boom in 2016 when many new channels were launched and many that were paid turned FTA.

“Part of the growth also happened because BARC increased the sample and covered rural or semi-urban areas better which helped in the viewership growth of many such channels,” said Sodhani.

Apart from the viewership rise, the 2016-2018 period has also witnessed a rise in total ad insertions. In 2016, the total ad insertions for devotional channels were 1,75,681; in 2017 the it jumped to 2,85,971, and in 2018 it was 3,88,273.

The major advertisers for the devotional channels include Patanjali Ayurveda Ltd, Wipro Ltd, Dish India TV and MDH Ltd.

On how advertising in devotional channels helps brands, Prateek Kumar, CEO & MD, NeoNiche said, “The content of devotional channels caters to the robust spiritual community across the globe, which experiences among other things, the live-streaming of some of the most visited religious places in India. They also participate in the actual ‘darshan’ through 360-degree videos. These channels explore the spiritual and devotional space by providing unique experiences to viewers through e-sermons, e-darshans and online offerings.”

According to BARC data, there is a growth in viewership of programmes related to yoga, meditation and spirituality, Kumar said. “There has been an increase in the number of urban youth and international followers of yoga and meditation tuning into these devotional channels. Most broadcasters and advertisers are becoming aware of this trend and brands in the area of personal care & hygiene, food & beverages, healthcare, health & lifestyle are latching on to this opportunity. What’s a better way to sell a Patanjali product to a global audience than through a TVC placed right before or after a yoga programme,” he asked.

According to Sachin Kumar, Founder, Bottle Openers, “Unlike GEC watching habits, the mindset of the audience of spiritual channels is completely belief-oriented and hence brands falling into categories like natural or herbal or Ayurvedic will have higher acceptability. One of the biggest successes we have seen in the past is Patanjali. Since spiritual channels are largely based on spiritual events, brands can turn the audience into advocates. Also, unlike millennials who get bored easily, this audience doesn’t flip through channels and hence they tend to have higher receptiveness of the communication, which helps brands.”

Talking about the other ways in which brands have been benefiting by placing ads in devotional channels, Prateek Kumar said: “Devotional channels offer a wide range of services for its audience like temple tourism, and access to japs, mantras, kathas, popular bhajans and holy books. Brands interested in target marketing, instead of trying to reach the mass market, can put their energy into connecting with a specific, defined group within that market. As per BARC, 77 per cent of TV viewers are in the age group of above 30. If segmented into right demographics, and psychographics and geography, it can help brands in cost-effective target marketing that will maximise the ROI on advertising budget since devotional channels are cheaper due to the waiver of broadcasting fee.”

Vinay Kanchan, Brand Storyteller, Innovation Catalyst and Author of ‘Sportivity’ says: “The ad rates offered by devotional channels are relatively economical. The clutter from other categories is a lot less. Brands advertising here have a stage where they can stand apart and make their point. Clients get ‘more blessings for their buck’ in a manner of speaking. Devotional channels help brands of a particular genre to truly engage their audiences. This association naturally makes sense for brands of a certain kind, especially those with strong traditional Indian roots.

“Consumers today expect their brands to mirror their own feelings and desires. Hence, for those spiritually inclined, seeing the brand on devotional channels they frequent only serves to strengthen bonds. This creates a deeper attachment which usually translates into sales. The opportunity also perhaps lies in creating specific narratives for these channels as they are unlike others in the media space in many respects. This makes sense because audiences are in an entirely different frame of mind when they switch to these channels.”

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South African billionaire Elon Musk says “Brand is just a perception, and perception will match reality over time. Sometimes it will be ahead, other times it will be behind. But a brand is simply a collective impression some have about a product”. I tend to agree with Elon. Brands are people too. And just as human behaviour leaves a lot of scope for judgements from fellow humans, brands too are subjected to constantly varying perceptions and judgements. Like people who are conspicuous in their absence, these brands are easily forgotten if they are just one in the crowd of many.

Every brand comes with an intent to stand for certain qualities that need to be highlighted, Experiential Marketing is helpful in enhancing customer perception of the brand towards the qualities of the brand that we wish to project, rather than it being perceived due to uncontrolled exposure. Organisations are using experiential marketing so they can create a strong customer-brand connection and highlight desirable values that capture the brand’s essence and drive loyalty, word-of-mouth and the persona of the brand in a direction that we champion. While there is not much empirical research on the impact of Experiential Marketing, in my professional expertise in Experiential Marketing, I have understood that consumers are looking for unique and distinct qualities that will act as a key differentiator which we wish to highlight as the core perceived essence of the brand.

While traditionally the product value to the brand perception journey has been laced with product packaging strategies and pricing games, the emerging trend for competitive advantage is to put experiential marketing on the top of the game. In my opinion, consumers are now looking for an extra dose of personality that stimulates sensations and evokes emotions, rather than something that barely meets the need.

Research unravels that in experiential interpretation, the interaction between a subject (the consumer) and an object (a product, an event, a person, an idea) within a given context originates the consumption experience, and the companies benefit from this set of interactions. With the advent of social media and digital advertising, media outreach has become easy and affordable, however, every brand is looking for an extra edge to move beyond. Experiential Marketing provides that extra edge of personalisation and ensures a rounded experience.

Even in the experiential marketing sphere, we have constantly innovated over time. Traditional singular experiential marketing tools are a passé, the space now is for integrated marketing communication with a healthy mix of all media elements to drive consumer perception. Constant reinforcement of brand values through integrated approaches to experiential marketing that forms a healthy mix of digital media, print, social media and public relations, not just to complement but to enhance the desired brand value that we wish to project.

With the passage of time, our ideas are evolving into a more collaborative sphere and experiential marketing is at the helm of it. We are designing a web of experiences through experiential marketing. We need to deploy a healthy marketing mix with experiential marketing… truly, in the experiential elements space, the future is together.

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NeoNiche Integrated, an award-winning, experiential marketing company focused on leading the marketing space in India by creating clutter busting brand solutions for industries ranging from IT, Auto, BFSI, Media, PSU, and start-ups has entered into a strategic partnership with DG7, a full-service digital agency that specializes in providing B2B digital marketing solutions.

Through this partnership, both NeoNiche and DG7 would be able to extend an enriched omni channel experience to a wide range of their clientele in the B2B domain. This strategic partnership will help more than 300 brands currently catered between the two organisations.

Speaking on this partnership, Prateek N. Kumar, Founder and CEO, NeoNiche Integrated Solutions said, “We are elated about this collaboration, as it is in line with one of our key objectives of offering best-in class experiential marketing services in an omni channel environment. This will help our clients create memorable and measurable campaigns across different touchpoints for all their stakeholders.”

Speaking on this partnership, Amit Deshmukh, Founder and CEO, DG7 said, “Today, in the age of urbanization, digital marketing is not just a means to an end, it is a vital business enabler. Through our association with NeoNiche, we are scripting together a truly Phygital partnership wherein NeoNiche brings in their expertise of providing brand activation and campaign-oriented solutions. DG7 would complement the same with both, the width and depth of digital avenues to amplify these efforts. This, we believe, will result in absolute value for clients, and help them achieve their business objectives more cohesively.”

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Video is the ‘BIG’ thing today, undoubtedly, and will be, given the volume at which it is getting produced each day by millions of online users. While video marketing has witnessed exponential growth in the advertising and marketing industry, we, the daily users do not miss an opportunity to take one and upload as one of our stories on Snapchat, Instagram or Facebook.

With the rise in video, the most benefited is the content creator community as it is the one way they get their audiences engaged with top-notch content and make it popular online. Also, on the hindsight we can witness an intense race among the platforms housing these creators including the likes of Youtube, Instagram, Snapchat and Facebook. While Youtube and Instagram are considered the go-to platforms for video-making, Snapchat and Facebook have been recently introducing various tools and features to lure the content creators and launching original content.

In October this year, Snapchat launched ‘Snap Original’s -the debut of serialised Shows, including its first formal slate of scripted Shows and Docuseries. Building upon its successful vertical video content platform designed exclusively for mobile, Snap is aiming to move mobile TV forward with series from some of the industry’s biggest names, including Bunim/Murray Productions, the Duplass Brothers’ DBP Donut and Brad Weston’s Makeready, as well as established film and television writers. The makers also bought ‘Discover’ to India- tailor-made for the growing community of Indian Snapchatters, through partnerships with nearly a dozen media brands. Snapchat has offered local publisher content in India. Discover partners will create made-for-mobile Publisher Stories and TV-like Shows for Snapchat, across multiple genres.

Early this month, while addressing media at Facebook India’s debut ‘Creator day’ edition in the country, the company’s Head of Product for Video Paresh Rajwat said the biggest trend that Indian digital industry has witnesses in consumer behavior, is rapid growth in adoption of video and that video has become one of the biggest drivers of engagement growth on Facebook. Facebook Creator Day reinforced Facebook’s continual commitment to support the publishers and creator community in India, helping them grow and monetize their videos on the platform by introducing ad breaks and Brand Collabs Manager.

Facebook videos VS Snapchat videos

While both platforms imbibe their strengths and specifics, it is their race to attract more number of creators for boosting videos on the platform has become the talk of the town. A study also reveal that Facebook has been losing more of the younger lot to Snapchat due to easily accessible services. Meanwhile, Facebook has been gaining lot more popularity from the elder generation who keep themselves glued to the videos in their feed. Echoing similar views, Neil Athayde, Group Account Manager, Chimp&z Inc believes that both are not really competitive with each other as they cater to different objectives. Like on Snapchat videos are consumed over their discover section, while a similar section to the same on Facebook is Facebook Watch than Facebook Videos.

Throwing light on the demographics for each platform,  Prateek N Kumar, CEO & Managing Director, NeoNiche shared that Facebook videos cater to a wide variety of audiences, while Snapchat Videos are youth-oriented as 60 per cent of its audience fall under the age group of 12-24 years. Snapchat videos have quirky decorating tools like emojis, bitmojis (personalized emojis), and stickers, apart from this, Snapchat also provides revenue generating tools like sponsored lenses, geo-filters and spectacles which helps it to monetize at the same time let the user customize the video. While Facebook videos either through FB Live or recorded ones are less customized in terms of visual appeal. Snapchat videos also hook the audience to check the platform frequently as there is a sense of fear of missing out (FOMO) as the videos disappear after 24 hours while FB videos are less addictive from this sense.

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Increasing reach among the digitally connected consumers, for savvy traditional media players, is not only helping keep existing consumer engaged but also getting the new customers in – leading to growth of industry as a whole. Prateek N Kumar, CEO & MD, NeoNiche expresses, “Digital technologies, more so mobile platforms have fundamentally altered the nature and function of media in our society, reinventing age-old practices of content consumption and communication. Traditional media that are ready to adapt and change the entire journey of storytelling from ‘Me’ to ‘We’ will stand tall as the mobile platforms will facilitate this entire journey.”

Thanks to fast increasing Internet consumption on mobile, content consumption is becoming an individual activity – instead of one newspaper in the household, every individual in the family is free to consume news from multiple news sites and apps, and family television viewing too is gradually giving way to individuals entertaining themselves on mobile platforms. As media companies are able to reach a segment of one through mobile, targeting is getting sharper – no wonder unlimited hours of content on mobile have opened dozens of opportunities for the content creators.

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Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.

Can we do everything alone? It is this question that raises the aspect of why partnerships exist. The world has seen many partnerships crumble into ashes whether in businesses or marriages. The world has also, on the other hand, seen numerous partnerships sustain the tide of times and prove to be more long-lasting than anyone could have ever imagined. The bottom line is that partnerships are tricky be it marriage or business. But what makes it a risky business? And even if there are risks involved, how can you make sure that your partnership is long lasting?

What is a Business Partnership?

A business partnership is a contract among the partners of a firm wherein the terms and conditions of the partnership are clearly stated including the profit-loss sharing ratio, liabilities, assets, investment etc.

A partnership can get your business skyrocketing if you play your cards right. Here’s how you can ensure that the winds of partnership point favourably towards you and your firm.

The Power of Dialogue and Communication

Having a clear stream of communication before assigning the partnership deed and during the normal running of the firm is a very important aspect. The power of dialogue is immense and therefore it is imperative that partners resort to this form of communication to iron out creases in the day-to-day functioning of the firm. Sudhanshu Sinhal, an EdTech entrepreneur and managing director of Sinhal Classes Pvt. Ltd. says, “Many fall-outs in business partners happen because of different value systems. Thus it is imperative that one takes time to know their prospective partners by having meaningful conversations.”

A Shared Struggle

In partnerships, both parties share much more than what is mentioned in the contract or the deed. “Few things that I think one should consider before entering into any business partnership include having a shared long-term vision of partner, an airtight shareholders agreement which brings on a lot of difficult discussion at the beginning but helps avoid a lot of bitterness later and of course, clearly defined roles and responsibilities,” believes Prateek N Kumar, CEO & MD, NeoNiche Integrated Solutions Pvt. Ltd. A shared sense of responsibility among the partners is the iron-clad rule to running a successful business enterprise.

Sanjeev Mukhija, Founder of Breakbounce Streetwear, has experienced this aspect in his business, “In our business, shared learnings with our partners do result in better products for our customers.”

A Step to Stick to

Kumar feels that business partnerships are like marriages, you are in it for a “long haul.” It is therefore important that you stick to the decision of entering into a partnership come what may.

Gaurav Kapahi, Founder of GoldSeat feels the same, “An entrepreneur needs to be clear-headed regarding the purpose for partnering. The decision should not come out of a lack of confidence to lead the enterprise individually.”

Foremost is Framework

In a partnership, partners must not forget the importance of having a framework before laying down any other guideline. “Keeping capital investment and finances in place is crucial for an equal division of power amongst the partners,” Kapahi adds.

Kumar further elucidates that for worst case scenario; partners should reach and work out a sustainable and enforceable “Article of Association” to keep turbulent situations at bay.

Unity

It is very crucial for the partners running the firm to be in consonance with each other’s expectations and be totally in perfect accord with the goals and vision of the firm. Mukhija explains, “We first establish the long-term fit of the prospective partner with brand ethos.” He also adds that their focus as a team rests on high quality and edgy products over and above everything. Thus, concluding the fact that partners must be unified to lead their ventures to the road of triumph.

A case in study is NeoNiche Integrated Solutions, an experimental marketing company founded in 2011. The Mumbai-based firm never raised funding to scale up and doesn’t plan to raise at least for the next three-four years.

“In the first year, our core team and co-founders were on-boarded and they weren’t paid salaries for first six months. The focus for the year was to make our services robust, then we offered a loyalty programme, competitive pricing and focused on servicing start-ups which back then no one was looking into,” Prateek N Kumar, Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director at NeoNiche told BusinessLine.

The company, which started with three employees, now has 110-112 personnel and a ₹50 crore turnover.

Asymmetrique, a company into online brand building, set up in 2008 is another firm that claims to be successful without playing the valuation game.Started with just 12 staff, the company went on to acquire another company in the same space, now has about 100 personnel with presence across four locations, including New Delhi.

“We needed growth capital from time to time to set up new offices and hire people, but the amount of growth capital we needed, we self-funded. Fundamentally, our philosophy is that self-funded businesses or businesses that can pay for itself, growing on the back your profitability, are the best kind of businesses,” Asymmetrique MD and CEO Nitin Gupta said.

“We were not building a business to sell, we were trying to build a genuine business and we didn’t want to give our stake to some external funding agencies such as private equity firms nor venture capital funds,” Gupta said, adding the company “might look” at funding in the next couple of years as it moves into product-based services.

Arrivae, a Mumbai-based online interior design solution start-up, was bootstrapped in 2017 with three employees and now has grown to 150.

“Not raising funds helps to maximise control on the functioning of the brand in the initial stage of its life. Also, it helps in experimenting with the brand, which may not be possible with investors onboard,” Yash Kela, Founder of Arrivae, said.

Yet another example is that of Rajasthan-based Saraf Furniture, an online furnishing and home decor start-up, set up in 2014 with 5 employees. The company now has 70 employees.

“We stayed away from fundraising in order to focus on the product and unit metrics from business and customer point of view and not just get consumed in marketing, thus shifting the focus,” said Raghunandan Saraf, CEO & Founder.

Most of the companies – being private – were reluctant to provide revenues, but disclosed headcount and geographical presence as testimonies of growth.

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