Software as a service or SAAS companies provides software and other applications to various companies or other customers. Most of the SAAS companies follow the subscription model. SAAS startups in India are showing enormous growth with every passing year. The market of SAAS startups in India is quite strong and competitive. Demand for SAAS products is increasing among various industries including e-commerce, healthcare, and BFSI. Almost all the successful businesses in these sectors use SAAS products. In the past few years, the demand for Indian SaaS products has increased in the global markets as well.

As per NASCOM, SaaS startups in India may show three times growth by 2020 as compared to FY2016. Below is the list of top SaaS startups business in 2019.

Agile CRM

One company which holds a very strong position in the list of SaaS companies is Agile CRM. The company provides service, marketing, and sales automation in a single platform. With its numerous features, it turns out to be All-in-One CRM for various small and medium-sized businesses. The product offered by the company is simple and is quite economical. Some of the important features of the SaaS product offered by the company are:

• Sales tracking
• Contact management
• Two-way emails
• Marketing automation
• Web analytics
• Telephony
• Helpdesk

Capillary Technologies

The products of capillary technologies use modern technologies like AI and Machine Learning. This integration not only helps the users to get a deep understanding of the buyers but also keep them one step ahead of their competitors. It provides omnichannel solutions and personalized loyalty programs.

BuildaBazaar

Founded in 2011, this SaaS company has shown tremendous growth in the SaaS market. It is ranked among the top few fastest growing SaaS Startups in India. www.BuildaBazaar.Com form one of the largest e-commerce platforms in India. It provides services including:

• Online store building.’
• Excellent customer service
• Beautiful designs
• Mobile responsive sites
• E-commerce consulting

The services provided by BuildaBazaar are used by various businesses irrespective of their size.

Chargebee

Chargebee is a Chennai based SaaS company. It is a PCI Level 1 certified. It is an online subscription management platform with the automated recurring billing system. The system work for more than 30 payment gateways all over the world. Some of the services provided by these SaaS Startups in India include:

• Accounting
• Taxes
• Automated e-mails
• Revenue Recognition
• Saas Metrics

Hotellogix

As the name suggests it is a cloud-based software which helps in hotel management operations. It helps in managing hotel operations in an optimized way. This system helps in maximizing revenue by driving more booking and increasing market reach. It also provides solutions related to online distribution and property management.

HackerRank

This SaaS company has become quite popular among companies who are looking for developers. HackerRank has changed the entire scenario of recruiting programmers. This SaaS system provides a platform where companies can recruit programmers on the basis of their coding skills. With the help of these companies are able to build strong engineering teams without undergoing traditional recruitment approach through resumes. It is considered as one of the most popular SaaS Startups in India. This system is used by more than 1000 businesses all over the World.

Plivo

It is a cloud-based platform. This system has a global demand and is used for SMS and voice calls. This SaaS business was founded in the year 2011. Services provided by this system include:

• Web2.0
• Call tracking
• Voice Broadcasting
• Phone Blast
• Cloud IVR
• SMS gateway
• Outbound IVR

Zoho

Next business that makes to the list of SaaS Startups in India is Zoho. This SaaS organization is there in the market since 1996. The company offers more than 33 software which helps the users to grow their business. The company has a user base of more than 20 million. Based in Chennai, Zoho offers software related to the field of sales and marketing, recruitment, finance, support, and collaboration.

Edvento

Edvento.com provides a test preparatory platform. Smart online tutors of Edvento help the test takers in improving their scores on standardized tests. As it’s a web-based system, test takers enjoy the freedom of learning as per their schedule. The site offers pre-recorded learning sessions and practice sessions.

Ziplr

This SaaS system provides a technical platform to its users. It provides customized URL shortener. This helps in creating, sharing and tracking the short links. It helps its users in the branding of their domain by improving brand recall, marketing ROI and click-through rates. This system focuses on data visualization and data analytics.

Vidooly

Based in Delhi-NCR, this company specializes in:

• Online Video Analytics
• Online Video Marketing
• Audience Insights
• Content Insights
• Content Strategy
• Media Planning.

Unbxd

It is one of the most popular e-commerce product discovery platforms. This is used in around 40 countries, and over 1200 websites use this platform. Some of the e-commerce websites which uses Unbxd are FreshDirect, Ashley, HomeStore, and Express. This platform uses advanced data sciences to connects buyers to the products on the basis of their preferences. It helps the websites in increasing their sales.

SocialAppsHQ

Social media platforms have become an important platform to attract buyers. SocialAppsHQ deals with managing these social media platforms for marketing SMB’s and brands and became one of the SaaS Startups in India. It aims at brand positioning, customer satisfaction, getting the market insights and analyzing campaign performance. Services provided by this system includes

• Social media
• Planning
• Monitoring
• Analytics

Using powerful engagement apps, this system helps the brands to attract more customers to their website.

Qubole

Founded in 2011 this system provides a cloud-based data platform. This makes big data easy for data engineers and data analyst. The specialization fields of this Saas Business are

• Public cloud-based data analytics
• Spark
• Presto
• SQL
• Hive
• AWS
• Big Data as a Service
• Pig

Kloud Connectors

It’s a cloud-based integration system which acts as a connector for various popular SaaS Software and apps. Some of the popular SaaS systems for which Kloud connectors are ready to use includes Xero, CRM, Zoho, Shopify, Constant Contact, etc.

Uninstall.io

This SaaS system made its name to the list of SaaS Startups in India as it was the first one who helped mobile apps to solve their issues regarding uninstalling. Specialization of the company includes Mobile engagement, Mobile Ad marketing, Mobile engagement, retention, Actionable insights, and Machine learning.

Four Kites

This is another Chennai based SaaS company. This system helps companies in their supply chain management. The services provided by this SaaS business are Cloud computing, Logistics, and Supply Chain, trucking, Connected Devices, and transportation.

Customers Lab

This system provides a platform for managing marketing operations. It allows businesses to analyze customer data across various databases and sync the data. This system allows tracking and syncing customer’s data without writing any code to other marketing, ads or analytic platforms.

HappyFox.Inc

This system helps in managing desk ticketing. This ticket managing software helps in getting faster responses, tracking and providing best customer service.

Facilio Inc

This system deals with facility management. It is used for managing building operations, sustainability, and maintenance.

If you own a business, then you will meet many investors who will provide you with the decent funding so that you can easily carry out different processes in feasible manners like marketing, productivity, hiring, development, communication and R&D and many other things related to your business. Communicating correctly with the investor is very important because you need to impress them and at the same time, you will have to convince them by providing enough proof regarding why we should invest in your business. It is essential to learn How to communicate with investors.

Several businessmen are lacking solid understanding related to convincing the investors. Investors are very important for a business as they will provide you with financial stability so that you can work with passion and build your own legacy. If you want to initiate an effective communication with your investor, then you should be following certain tips that are elaborated in the further part of this topic.

Scheduling meetings

Scheduling meetings is one of the first things that are not negotiable. It is very important to schedule your time and make enough days vacant so that you can meet with your investors. You can definitely opt for the quarterly meetings if your business already has a strong foothold, but if you are an entrepreneur, then you will have to schedule more meetings. You must hold meetings every 6 weeks in order to provide proper information to the investor and get feedback from them. Ensure that you are scheduling in person and virtual meetings as well. Do not think that you are over-communicating because communicating is very important because investors are going to provide you with their money and they are going to trust you with that, so they will be expecting transparency from your side. You should have a clear idea on How to communicate with investors.

Answer all the queries

It is quite expected that the investors will be having several queries in their mind. It is very important to answer all of them thoroughly and completely without providing improper information related to any question. If they are asking questions to you, then it indicates that they are interested in investing in your company. Moreover, by analyzing their questions, you will be able to pick out the perfect points where you will have to focus. It is crucial to be transparent with your investors and make them aware of every bit related to your business.

Ask the question

The series of question is not a one-way thing because communication is very important. It is also important for you to ask your investors several questions to make them understand that you are eagerly trying to learn about them and in this way, you will also be getting some mentoring and counselling from your investor. All the investors will be having a different type of approaching manner. Even if an investor is interested to help, but still you will have to provide them with enough reasons to do so apart from the profit that they are going to earn. By asking them questions, you will be developing enough knowledge on How to communicate with investors.

Conference calls

If your company is going through any issues then you should definitely aware the investors related to it. Not everyone will be considering the conference call to be convenient, but it is quite optimal because you will be able to talk to everyone properly over a phone call. Ensure that the conference call is not ending into any jumbled conversation. Always try to make a script before you are starting the conference call.

Sending reports

Different investors will have different approaches. Some of them will be looking into the numbers and see how much profit they are earning whereas other investors won’t even care to look at it. So always try to send reports every month to those investors who want to know the numbers. In this way, they will be able to get clarity regarding the money which they are investing and whether it is getting invested in the right way or not.

Social media

In the world of digitalization how can we forget the social media? You can use social media to get investors who are interested in investing in your company. Not everyone will appreciate the concept of communication-related to investment on the social media but many investors are definitely having some positive attitude towards the social media, and that is why they are using it for finding a proper place to invest their money. Utilize different ways to approach them and learn How to communicate with investors.

Calls

Apart from all those meetings and quarterly reports you can also call your investor and talk to each of them to learn about their personal feedback. You can just make a call and talk to them related to the numbers that the business is making every month and provide them with a brief update. You can also ask for some advice. In this way, you will also be able to learn whether they are having any queries related to their investment. So, know How to communicate with investors.

Mutual connections

If you want to find more trusted investor then you can use the mutual connections through friends or social media. Moreover, when another person is recommending you then chances of convincing the investor to invest in your company and receiving positive response increases.

Staying brief

Communication is important but do not waste the time of yours by providing them with unnecessary information. Do your homework properly. The investor will have proper knowledge regarding the niche market where he wants to invest.  Always try to focus on the topic of what you are trying to do and the types of opportunities that you are going to provide to the investor.

If you are an entrepreneur, then you may find talking to your investors quite daunting, but even if it is daunting, still you will have to do it efficiently. Investors will have several businesses where they can invest so if you want a particular investor to invest in your company then you will need to input more effectively. The entire article is focusing on How to communicate with investors.

The food-delivery industry in India is bursting with investments. As more and more entrepreneurs venture into the food delivery business, if you want to make a mark you will have to go the extra mile to sustain in the long run.

There has been a slump period, but the food delivery startups in India have revived with new vigor, and there have been quite a few mergers significant mergers and acquisitions in this space.

The flavor of the season in the food delivery startups in India market is the “food technology,” but it has nothing to do with IT. On the contrary, it has a lot to do with satiating your taste buds and enhancing your food experience. It is not just related to convenience apps, but it also about introducing new food products and ensuring a kind experiences for the consumer.

In 2018 we saw more and more online food ordering websites in India, and this has given a new shape to the entire market. This trend is likely to continue in 2019 as well.

However, it is not easy to sustain in this market. While there might be a new company coming up every day but not all can sustain in this market. A common reason for this is that most of them are clones of the other and therefore there is a shortage of differentiation.

Best food delivery startups in India

Some of the best food delivery startups in India who have been on the to pin the food delievery market for quite some time are:

Foodpanda

 

Partnered with some of the top restaurants, Foodpanda has experience in the smallest of the smallest town of India. Their service is quick, and they also have great discounts to offer.

Zomato

It has approximately 42k restaurants listed across most of the major cities, and it also has a presence in over 23 countries. Zomato’s approach has always been content driven with minimum expenses on capturing market or acquiring a customer, and the majority of its revenue comes from their smart promotional techniques.

Swiggy

Swiggy’s customers get on time food, and its customers can track their delivery using the real-time tracking app with no extra cost on delivery. Excellent service of Swiggy is that it does not have any minimum order policy and it accepts online payments.

Key Factors to Success

Some key factors that food delivery startups in India must keep in mind to be a winner in this food delivery market are:

Focus more on quality food

There are many food delivery startups in India, and the competition is too severe. In most of the cases since there is nothing much different to offer, as a start-up, you will have to keep in mind that you cannot compromise on quality. The quality of your food is the crux to your success.

Since the food delivery market has been changing over time, you will have to stay updated.

Customers do not have time, and they want to get the best of the flavors delivered to them at home. So, investing in websites, applications or joining hands with food techies are becoming the need of the hour.

But, one thing for sure is if your food tastes good, you can afford to invest less on the technology part, but it can never be the other way round.

Use the food ordering platforms carefully

Most of the food ordering platforms charge a commission on the food that they deliver, and it is also an integral sector of the food industry of India. These platforms play a critical role in increasing your sale, but you should evaluate and see if you can afford to lose the margin on profit.

You will have to analyze the increase in the volume of order as compared to their commission.

Initially, you can take the help of these platforms, reach out to more customers, and create a base of loyal customers. Once you enter the market with your quality food and have created a pool of loyal customers, you can move out of the platforms.

Focus on retaining old customers than gaining new customers

If the quality of your food is up to the mark, prices are reasonable, and service is prompt, you can expect a good repeat rate with customers, and confirm your sustainability in the food delivery business. Food is a daily necessity, so if you can gain the trust of a customer, you will not have to invest much in marketing. Your existing customers will do this task for you and help you to gain new customers.

So, your focus should be more on retaining old customers than chasing new customers.

The value proposition of “Home-cooked.”

Due to studies, work, and various other need people mostly have to move out the comfort of their home. And, what most of them miss desperately is “home cooked food.” So, if you can keep it as your value proposition, you will undoubtedly succeed.

There is a list of food startups, but not all offer this value preposition. So, serve hygienic, simple and tasty food to your customers and let them reminiscent through your food platter.

What do customers dislike the most when it comes to ordering food?

Customer reviews had revealed that when ordering food, customers mostly dislike the following:

Bad quality food

Topping the list is the quality of food, and no customer likes to order from a restaurant which does not cater to this perspective. Unhygienic and poor quality food cannot be substituted with anything. Even if you offer a massive discount and have umpteen option of dishes, you will lose on customers if you cannot serve them top quality (and healthy) food.

Waiting time

Customers are busy, and they cannot afford to waste time waiting for their food, and there is a growing tendency to order food online. This is why big sharks like “Dominos” have 30-minutes delivery free. If you can ensure that you can mitigate the hunger prangs of your customers on priority, you will surely be on their preference list.

Extra Fees

No one likes to pay extra for food. While they understand that good food comes at a price, and they willing to pay extra money for it but no one is eager to spend extra on delivery and other such factors.

There are many food delivery startups in India, and with little effort, you can surely earn good profit in this market.

 

Having a great business idea is not enough. It requires enough capital to fund that idea and explore every side to it. Startup funding for small business or, seed funding for startups is often a challenge for new business owners and those with great ideas might be forced to limit their reach, due to the lack of resources. A great business idea will never thrive in the way it should without the right business startup funding. How then can this idea be a reality? How to get funding for a startup? Or, how to raise startup capital?

Every new business owner will, at some point, for example during business expansion, have to experience the huge challenge of raising funds to start a business. They get to face even more accompanying challenges like dealing with rejections from prospective investors and being turned down for business loans.

However, the great news is that there are many creative options, sources, and tips to explore in business startup funding that will help business owners speed up things with funding and get their business running.

Here are some tips every new business owner should know as regards funding:

1.  Make a Financial Plan

You need a concrete financial plan not just for your business startup funding but also to help you manage your income more effectively, increase cash flows and help you have a better understanding of finances. Regardless of the lack of capital, you can work with your available credit and funds to create a financial plan. You wouldn’t know how effective it would be unless you create the plan and see how best you can manage your cash flow. A plan in place will eventually help you manage your debts and not get stuck over time.

2. Show your Business Model

What is your business model? You can’t go out looking for a capital when you don’t have a viable business model to show potential investors. Investors look at your model to be certain that there is hope for your business and they want to secure that future revenue, but that won’t be possible if you don’t have a proven business model to present.

3. Know Your Audience

Investment from people who want to commit to your vision is one of the ways which your business startup funding could thrive. However, you need to know these people you are pitching your great business ideas to, to stand a greater chance. Do your research and design your pitch in a way that your audience connects personally with it and will be convinced to invest in it. For example, if your business idea could cater for old people and from your research, you find out that your potential investors have older parents or people at home, you could design your pitch and sell it to them in a very relatable way. Emotional marketing is one of the ways businesses thrive in the world today; humans want to feel and connect with your ideas, and this will win you funding opportunities.

4. Have a Detailed Record of Your Business

A detailed record of your business will be one of the credible assets needed for business startup funding. If you are selling your ideas to investors, you also need to show them more convincing reasons why they should invest in your business. They need to see how profitable it is and if it is worth the risk. The record of your business should cover the history of your expenses, and you need to be as transparent as possible, as no investor will want to risk investing in something without a clear picture.

5. DIY Crowdfunding is an Option

Crowdfunding is a common tool for fundraising today, and you could try that to fund your business. There are different ways to go about this in the noblest way, depending on the kind of business. You could sell your ideas to potential clients and ask them to preorder for your product or service, and you get to have a substantial amount before launching your business. An added benefit of doing this is that it shows you how people view your product and what you need to change to get better and increase sales.

6. Start Working on Improving

It is easy to get carried away with chasing investors and hoping they come around while you unconsciously ignore ways to improve the business. Sometimes, all it takes is getting ready for the opportunity. Focus on improving yourself, and your business and, eventually, investors might contact you themselves. And even if they do not, you would have done yourself a great service by improving massively. By improving, you give yourself a greater chance at pitches, and if you ever have the chance to speak about your business on any platform, you would be speaking from a more knowledgeable and experienced view.

7. Network Meaningfully

Networking is one of the keys to a successful business, and while it is encouraged for new business owners, it is also advisable that you do it meaningfully. Don’t bug or spam your potential investors with messages and long notes about your business. You can rather work on growing your network organically, especially on platforms like LinkedIn that will connect you with businessmen in your field. Also, when you are in social gatherings, try to connect with people like every other person would and with time, you can bring your company into the conversation.

8. Be Humble

Humility opens many doors, and this includes getting valuable investors in your business. Many investors look out for your character; they want someone who is willing to listen and learn, not one who is arrogant. Your investor is most likely more experienced than you are in the field and if they mention something, they need you to consider that.It is because they have probably been in that shoe before and they need to be convinced. Rather than being boastful of what you have to offer, learn to be humble and listen carefully to know how best to answer a critical question from an investor.

A part of being humble is also learning to ask for help where necessary. Ask friends and family for support, and you would realize that what you are searching for might not be as far-fetched as you thought.

A business startup funding has its ups and downs, but you need it to thrive. These creative funding tips, if maximized, could help you get the necessary funding needed for your startup business to succeed.