| Business Basics |
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| Company Name |
Inkfruit |
| Founded in |
2007 |
| Headquartered in |
Mumbai |
| Company website/URL |
www.inkfruit.com |
| Industry |
IT/ Internet/ Software |
| Stage of the company |
Have first customer |
| Source of idea |
Systematic search for business opportunity |
| Awards & honors |
Selected for TiE Mumbai ENP Program
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| Business description |
"Inkfruit is an online destination for artists and t-shirt lovers where users can design, buy and vote for funky tees. Designers upload their creations, interact with fellow designers, learn from the votes and comments that their designs receive and aspire to win in the t-shirt design competition. T-shirt lovers select and vote for stunning t-shirt desig...> Read more.. |
"Inkfruit is an online destination for artists and t-shirt lovers where users can design, buy and vote for funky tees. Designers upload their creations, interact with fellow designers, learn from the votes and comments that their designs receive and aspire to win in the t-shirt design competition. T-shirt lovers select and vote for stunning t-shirt designs and buy some great t-shirts for themselves and others.
The business is scalable with two possible avenues of expansion:
-online expansion in the merchandise range
-offline expansion by selling merchandise through stand alone stores
The greatest strength of the model is in its strong viral potential, if its growth in the last 2-3 months is any indication."
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| How does the business make money? |
The business plans to make money through sale of merchandise. While it has started with the product category consisting of T-shirts, the model lends itself to expansion across categories such as sweatshirts, hoodies, bags, accessories, posters, bumper stickers, etc. Such extensions will be explored shortly.
T-shirt buyers pay us using a credit card, bank transfer, mobile payment or ITZ Cash Cards. In addition to this we also accept payments through Cash on Delivery. We are paid a flat payment based on the price of the products purchased by the buyer. Shortly we plan to offer a unique annual t-shirt subscription, where a customer can buy an entire year's supply of the most amazing t-shirts - these will be delivered to him as one t-shirt every month. |
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| Team information |
| Navneet, Co-founder and COO
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| Competition |
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| Competitors |
Tantra, Lee, USI, Myntra, other offline and online t-shirt, merchandise and accessory providers. These businesses are identified as competitors only because of the end product offering targeting the same share of wallet for the customer. The offering is significantly different and would appeal to the customer for very different reasons.
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| How different is your product or service? It has... |
Identical or close substitutes available abroad |
| In what way is your product or service different? |
"Significantly different in the product offering. Inkfruit is an online community of designers and T-shirt lovers, built around an ongoing T-shirt ...> Read more.. |
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| By The Numbers |
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2006 |
2007 |
| No. of employees |
0-5 |
6-15 |
| No. of locations |
0-1 |
2-5 |
| No. of customers |
over 50 |
over 50 |
| Turnover |
pre revenue |
Under 10 lacs |
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| Primary source of initial funding |
Personal savings |
| Primary source of additional funding |
Angel investors |
| Raised institutional capital? |
No |
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| Why is this startup hot? |
Before Inkfruit, designers in India did not have any platform to showcase their talent. The only opportunity for Design students, professionals or amateurs to showcase their creations was a one off design competition. Before Inkfruit, T-shirt lovers did not have any source of international quality graphic prints in India.
There were some who orde...> Read more.. |
Before Inkfruit, designers in India did not have any platform to showcase their talent. The only opportunity for Design students, professionals or amateurs to showcase their creations was a one off design competition. Before Inkfruit, T-shirt lovers did not have any source of international quality graphic prints in India.
There were some who ordered merchandise from international websites at exorbitant costs ($25 per t-shirt). Within India t-shirt offerings were limited to the ?Tantra? genre of t-shirts and a motley collection of other brands - largely one-liners and shoddy graphics.
The printing technique used by Inkfruit allows designers to use multiple effects and explore their creativity without constraints of plastic sticker prints (used by service providers offering customized
t-shirt printing). T-shirt lovers in India now have a source of t-shirts with truly International quality graphics. In terms of quantification, a segment of the market used to purchase t-shirts of comparable quality at Rs1000 a piece from international websites. They can now get it in India currently at a rate of Rs 400 (all inclusive - tax & shipping).
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| What keeps the team awake at night? |
What keeps us awake at night is a nagging concern about our users and customers not being delighted with our services. This includes the quality of our products, functionalities on our website, the overall surfing experience and every interaction that a user/ customer has with Inkfruit. It is extremely important for us that our users are always engaged with Inkfruit positively. They are our most important asset and if any event occurs to displease a customer/user, it will mean that the spread of Inkfruit will be that much slower.
The happier our users and customers will be, the faster will be the spread of Inkfruit. Luckily this worry continuously keeps us on our toes to do things in a way that makes things easier for our customers and users. |
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