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Category: Others

Unravelling the Portfolio: 1K

Posted on by Kae Team

Brief about 1K

1K is a hyperlocal omnichannel grocery chain focused on fulfilling the aspirations of ‘Real Bharat’. The business was founded in 2018 by Kumar Sangeetesh, Sachin Sharma, and Abhishek Halder. The founders believe that Kirana entrepreneurs will play a pivotal role in building a sustainable channel to deliver wow micro-experiences to aspiring consumers of Bharat. The ultimate goal is to create a seamless flow of goods from brands to consumers and overcome the shortcomings of traditional distribution systems with the help of their in-house technology-enabled platforms and “smart” warehousing.

Vision and Mission

To revolutionise the grocery shopping experience for the non-urban population of Real Bharat.

Building “Bharat’s” first “omnichannel” distribution network that brings consumers’ aspirations closer to them.

Genesis

Two of the co-founders were working together at one of India’s largest logistics companies; they identified that one of the biggest struggles for brands was to reach and distribute their products in smaller towns of the country. Due to broken distribution networks, product availability has always been a massive issue in smaller towns/cities, despite rising customer demand.

Hence, they decided to solve this problem by making an efficient and cost-effective distribution model by aggregating the distribution rights of multiple brands.

Market Opportunity

Less than one lakh people inhabit 65% of towns in the country. There are about 7,000 towns with 5,000 to 100,000 residents. They are trying to serve a market worth a solid USD 150 billion. Their approach is distinctive in that it prioritizes grocery sale purchases, which account for 70% of consumer spending in such markets.

5-year Plan

Over the next five years, they want to increase their market share in these markets by 5%, making them one of the leading retailers in the country. It is crucial to keep in mind that more than 25,000 regional microentrepreneurs will support this as they develop the company and satisfy the customers’ needs in these areas.

Unravelling the Portfolio: TranZact

Posted on by Kae Team

Brief about TranZact:

TranZact is a freemium digitisation software for 14MN+ SMEs Manufacturers & Traders, empowering them by digitising business workflow right from sales to dispatch.
With scalable distribution and engaging software, they are capturing real transaction data, which becomes the foundation to build a transaction-backed marketplace at scale.

Vision and Mission:

Empowering SMEs owners to grow their business through digitisation.
Building a digitisation platform for 14MN+ SMEs to convert their business data into actionable insights.

Genesis:

TranZact started with the idea of creating digital technologies for 14MN+ SMEs, which are still struggling with very old digital technologies. They felt that in today’s era of digitisation, even though the SME space is often ignored, it remains a very large sector, and if there is specific technology built for this space, the impact will be much larger and deeper.

Market Opportunity:

14MN+ Indian manufacturers and traders

5-year Plan:

Going to build a transaction-backed market network platform with over $500MN in revenue coming from multiple revenue streams like software and transactions.

Wysa secures $20mn to address global mental health demand with AI digital Therapeutics

Posted on by Kae Team

 

  • HealthQuad and British International Investment (BII) join earlier investors W Health Ventures, Kae Capital, pi Ventures, and Google Assistant Investments.
  • Funds will enable access to clinically evidenced digital therapeutics (DTx) in the US, UK, India and other global markets.
  • Will enable further reach through multi-lingual support and access via alternative technologies.
  • Follows FDA Breakthrough Device Designation and clinical evidence of a Therapeutic Alliance.

Wysa, the leading AI digital platform for mental health, today announces it has secured $20M in financing. Wysa will use this capital to further expand into the US, UK, India and other global markets across enterprises, payors, and providers as well as improve wider usability through multi-lingual support and easier access via WhatsApp. The round is led by HealthQuad, who along with British International Investment (BII), the UK’s development finance institution, joins earlier investors W Health Ventures, Kae Capital, Google Assistant Investments, and pi Ventures amongst others.

Globally, there is a huge demand-supply gap in the mental health space. One in eight people in the world lives with a mental disorder, according to the World Health Organisation. With high treatment costs and limited access to qualified therapists, employers, healthcare providers and insurers are seeking ways to help people manage their mental health and well-being through clinically proven, cost-effective and scalable solutions.

Wysa uses AI (Artificial Intelligence) to triage users according to their personal needs, guiding them through appropriate, evidence-based CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) exercises within the app, towards other mental health services or crisis support. Wysa’s platform provides employers and health services insights into usage rates of Wysa and digital well-being tools while maintaining user privacy.

Wysa has achieved FDA Breakthrough Device Designation for its AI-based digital mental health conversational agent for adults with a diagnosis of chronic musculoskeletal pain and associated depression and anxiety. Additionally, clinical trials have validated Wysa’s efficacy and published peer-reviewed results show that therapeutic emotional bonds formed by Wysa are equivalent to human therapist relationships. The company has, to date, achieved a revenue-generating user base of over 4.5 million people across 65 countries. Clients include Accenture, Colgate-Palmolive, Aetna International, Swiss Re, the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK, and the Ministry of Health in Singapore.

Charles Antoine-Janssen, Chief Investment Officer, HealthQuad said: “We are thrilled to be part of the Wysa team. Wysa is developed in India and is marketed globally. The needs for Wysa are present all across, from high-income to low-income countries. Mental health triaging of patients using AI which is fast, effective and non-stigmatising for patients living in unaccepting societies answers a huge need in India, the rest of low-income Asia, Africa as well as the wealthiest countries of the world.”

“Wysa provides help across the care continuum – from the first point of access to digital therapeutics and companion alongside a clinician to ongoing monitoring & routine management thereby democratising access to mental health. FDA Breakthrough Device Designation status, user privacy further validated by Mozilla and real-time AI-CBT support makes Wysa one of the few clinically validated, privacy-focused and personalised solutions built for a global scale” added Ajay Mahipal, Director, HealthQuad.

Srini Nagarajan, Managing Director and Head of Asia at British International Investment added: “Good mental health is a crucial pillar for sound physical health which in turn promotes social and economic development. Through our investment in Wysa, BII is taking a holistic approach to supporting long-term productive economic prosperity by backing an innovative tech-enabled company that is increasing access to mental health services for low-income and rural individuals. We are excited to continue working with Wysa’s team to grow their offering and help improve health outcomes and quality of life for people.”

Ramakant Vempati, Co-founder, Wysa, said: “Wysa has not only been extremely successful as a consumer well-being platform but has also developed into a clinically validated, powerful tool to proactively manage mental health and well-being. Wysa meets people where they are, whether that means a little help with occasional workplace stress, right up to coping with debilitating pain, depression and anxiety. With this funding, we look forward to scaling up further and helping millions of more people.”

Unravelling the Portfolio: Traya Health

Posted on by Kae Team

Brief about Traya
A one-product approach never works on hair loss or any other chronic condition. Traya combines the best of Ayurveda, Allopathy and Nutrition containing proven results to identify the type of hair loss, stage and the root cause behind it. Based on this, each person gets a doctor-prescribed treatment plan and a hair coach who guides the customer and tracks their progress.

Vision and Mission
Traya was started with just one goal in mind- to deliver visible hair growth results. We did everything from product and process to tech, keeping in mind the efficacy of the treatment. Back in 2019, Traya was sold to the first 55 customers through a basic landing page and they took the proprietary formulations (all-natural herbs + dermatologist prescribed + diet). They were closely observed for 4 months and a good 90% of them started seeing visible results. That is when we decided to launch a brand and seek investment. We knew we had hit a gold mine.

Genesis
Traya is an outcome of the cofounders’ personal journey as a couple. About 3 years ago, co-founder Altaf struggled with a number of health issues including uncontrollable thyroid levels accompanied by accelerated hair loss (he faces genetic male pattern hair loss) and weight gain, which was compounded by his hectic lifestyle. He went from doctor to doctor and couldn’t do much about his situation. We researched more and explored ayurveda and naturopathy diets. The three together changed our lives. Altaf’s hair regrew and his thyroid came under control. Even his endocrinologist was surprised. Even then the cofounders had no intention of starting a company. Almost a year later, by helping a lot of friends and family with chronic health issues including hair loss, they decided to take this space seriously. They realised that both of them were extremely passionate about solving chronic health issues that a millennial faces. On further research, hair loss was chosen as a disease line to begin. It was the most crowded but also the most corrupt. As they researched more on the diseases, its types, they realised nothing out in the market can ever work. The issue is considered cosmetic but it is internal. Thus, they took up the challenge to change the way the hair loss industry works.

Market Opportunity

The current hair fall market in India is broken. Many have a product-centric approach which is clearly not effective in delivering the results. Hair fall is a problem that needs to be addressed holistically and requires customization as per every individual’s root cause of hair fall. Out of the entire serviceable market, 125 million adults in India directly benefit from Traya’s offering and have the ability to afford it. The $12.5 Billion hair loss solutions market is up for grabs and Traya is aggressively growing to capture the entirety of the market while also changing the way a hair fall solution is approached and the results speak for themselves. In addition to the direct solutions to hair fall, Traya is also targeting the next line of products including anti-dandruff and cuticle damage.

5-year plan

We want to be synonymous with the terms hair fall and hair health and be known for our efficacy and honesty. On the product side, we are in research for no side effects and high-efficacy solutions for other hair concerns.

Unravelling the Portfolio: Hatica

Posted on by Kae Team

Brief about Hatica
Hatica is a Software Engineering Analytics platform that helps managers and leaders build productive and happy engineering teams.

Vision and Mission
The severe lack of visibility for Engineering managers in a world of distributed teams working across dozens of tools has made the job of engineering management harder than ever before. This naturally results in declining developer productivity and experience.

Hatica’s mission is to equip managers with a comprehensive Engineering management platform to provide them the much-needed visibility and insights into development work activity, processes, and quality to help them drive team productivity while ensuring well-being.

 

Genesis
The idea came from the founders’ experience of having worked remotely even before the pandemic and having worked through developer productivity challenges before. Followed by countless zoom interviews with engineering leaders, managers, and developers across regions and industries, Naomi and Haritabh completed and launched the first version of Hatica in early to mid-2021.


Market Opportunity
The trend of SaaS sprawl, combined with remote work becoming mainstream, has made engineering management even harder and the problem of developer productivity ubiquitous. This coupled with every organization requiring to be technology-first, driving demand for engineers, has provided us a tremendous pull from the customers with a sizable TAM.

5-year Plan
Go from a sharp Engineering analytics tool to an Engineering Management Platform, empowering every engineering manager and leader out there to drive engineering excellence and wellbeing.

Unravelling the Portfolio: Foxtale

Posted on by Kae Team

Brief about Foxtale
Foxtale is a community-first skincare brand. Foxtale is building a D2C Brand focused on creating scientifically backed skin care products for women. Foxtale aspires to give a product which is reasonably and affordably priced, while solving for efficacy of the product.

Vision and Mission

The vision is to create a range of products for Indian women of all skin types, belonging to places with diverse climatic conditions, and ensuring that it remains their partner at every stage of life. The mission is to create an INR 1000cr brand that solves skin problems in a scientific manner.

Genesis

After spending years in the Venture capital and finance spaces, I realised that there is a big gap in the skincare market in India. It is heavily dominated by traditional players such as Fair and Lovely, Ponds, etc. and the new-age players have been unable to grab a market share, due to a lack of consistent results. Another problem with skin care for women in India is the changing needs of women every week, based on their biological cycle, their area of residence and the climatic conditions of that specific time. Hence, there was a strong need to have products which can solve for the varying needs of women and at the same time, provide long-lasting results consistently.

Market Opportunity

The total market size of skincare products in India in 2020 – $2 Bn and is projected to reach ~ $3 Bn by 2025. In India, there is a need for players who can deliver consistent results at affordable prices.

5-year plan

The 5-year plan for the company is to expand distribution across India and to command a high repeat rate of 70%-80%. We are building a company that accelerates every year to a revenue of 1000cr in the next 5 years. The company prides itself in understanding women and while our core expertise is skincare, we hope to be every Indian woman’s companion through her self-care journey.

Kae Konnect: Future of Gaming

Posted on by Kae Team

As part of our Kae Konnect Webinar Series, we hosted Nitish Mittersain, Founder & MD of Nazara, which today is one of the leading gaming companies in India with operations across 60 countries. During the one-hour fireside chat, we deep-dived into the future of gaming and how it will shape up in the next 10 years. Nitish also discussed potential opportunities that are waiting to be unlocked along with some of his key learnings during his journey with Nazara.

If you’d like to see the video for the event, please use the link: https://youtu.be/skIYCF2jbi0

Following were some of the key highlights from the discussion:

Future of Nazara and Covid-19 Impact:

While some of the verticals were impacted negatively due to Covid-19 (eg. fantasy sports etc.), edutainment has done very well for Nazara. Kiddopia (an app focused on kids’ education and entertainment) grew its revenue by 5x during this period. Companies such as Sportskeeda pivoted to double down on e-sports and become the go-to destination for esports content with ~20 Mn users a month.

In the immediate future, Nazara plans to focus on three spaces – e-sports, early learning, and sports simulation – via its companies Nodwin Gaming, Kiddopia and NextWave (owns IPs such as WCC).

Trends in Gaming:

Nitish believes that the intersection of VR and gaming is very interesting – this space is nascent right now but he believes that we will move from 20-minute sessions to a world where it will be very difficult to get out of a VR session. Another key trend is that games will evolve into social platforms. We are already seeing certain trends such as songs being released and concerts being hosted within Fortnite. Gaming will move beyond just the gaming experience per se and deliver more value in terms of engagement and social experiences. A third big trend, Nitish predicts is the gamification of activities in our day-to-day lives. Companies such as Zwift allow users to cycle at home, compete with friends and enjoy a community of enthusiasts – therefore making the entire experience more gamified and engaging.

E-sports in India:

Mobile has been a great leveller for esports. Earlier e-sports was focused on PC and Indian gamers lacked exposure to certain gaming platforms. However today because of games such as PubG, gamers have more avenues to play competitive games and are now able to compete on a global scale. Therefore mobile is an accelerator for esports and strong growth is expected from India and other continents such as Africa. In the last year or so, we’ve seen 100s of live streamers acquire 1Mn subscribers on Youtube – another sign of the growing e-sports ecosystem.

Real Money Gaming in India:

Two success stories have played out in this space i.e. fantasy sports and rummy. Nitish believes there is still more headroom for growth. Companies with differentiated core products can continue to build in this market however founders need to be mindful of regulatory risk in this space.

Monetization of Indian Gamer:

The majority of gaming revenue in India is via real money gaming today (fantasy, card games such as poker rummy, etc.) while the balance revenue is from in-app purchases and advertisements. However, Nitish is seeing green shoots in the second category where Indian users are willing to pay for games. Nitish believes a growth of 10-20x can be expected over the next 2-3 years in in-app purchases.

Being mobile gamers first, most users in India are casual gamers. However, as these users move through their gamer lifecycle, they will eventually move from hyper-casual to casual to mid-core gaming. Indians today have access to some of the best gaming content across the globe, therefore as an Indian gaming studio, you need to build games that are at par with global competitors to pique an Indian user’s interest. Localized content and IP may help grab initial eyeballs however developers need to build strong game mechanics to ensure engagement, retention and monetization. We are starting to see successes such as Ludo King which has strong retention and virality – taking the game to over 50 Mn daily active users.

Metrics in Gaming:

Founders should avoid vanity metrics such as downloads (as users may install the game but delete the game eventually). Companies should focus on metrics such as retention and time spent, as that will determine ARPU from the user. The other key metric founders should focus on is virality. In markets such as India, the propensity for a user to pay is lower, whereas in markets such as the US, users have a higher propensity to pay (therefore the LTV/CAC ratio would be better). To help distribution, game studios should bake virality into their products when building games for India.

Advice to Founders: 

“Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee” – Nitish quotes Muhammad Ali and advises founder to be light-weighted, stay asset-light, debt-free and build strong and clean corporate governance. Nitish has four independent directors and believes that they bring different perspectives and insights to the table and show founders their true picture. Bringing in an independent director early on in a company can add tremendous value to the team.

At Kae, we resonate with Nitish’s excitement in the gaming space and believe multiple massive opportunities are waiting to be unlocked.

If you are building something in gaming, we would love to hear from you. You can drop an email at sarthak@kae-capital.com to discuss your venture.