AirStream.io: 150,000 downloads and going strong

Saturday February 15, 2014 , 3 min Read

Team AirStream (Jitin standing right most and Agnimitra sitting on right)

AirStream.io is a product of Nityaa Labs that allows you to stream your PC over the air. Once you have the application on your system and the phone, it allows you to access your PC or Mac over the smartphone via an app and you can stream movies, music or copy files. The company has over 150,000 downloads from across the globe and is growing at the rate of 450 signups per day.

The genesis

Jitin Pillai and Agnimitra Pathak graduated from Pune University in 2010 and worked for a few months before realizing their true calling. “We had always wanted to start our venture ever since college. In 2010, Facebook games were the craze and that is when we had formed Nityaa Technosys,” says Jitin. Likes of Farmville were creating a huge buzz and this is the area where Nityaa wanted to make a mark in. But as with most startups, things didn't work out. They moved on and their next entry was in the hardware space. “We were developing a product around Android and TV but the hardware space proved to be very hard to survive,” says Jitin. They took some consultancy projects on the side to sustain themselves.

While working on the hardware product, they needed a functionality which required remote access to a person's PC. And this is where the seed for AirStream was sown. They converted this feature into a product and realized its potential soon.

Reaching 150,000 downloads and the road ahead

Airstream got off to a good organic start in January 2013 post which the team was selected for GSF Accelerator. The product took shape and was positioned more towards the entertainment side looking at the user trend. Over the year, the app grew in popularity to touch 150,000 downloads across platforms. Airstream is available on Android and iOS on the phone and has Windows, Mac and Linux versions on the desktop.

The US and India are the main markets and the app has about 30,000 monthly active users at the moment. “The acceleration phase helped us to focus solely on the product and take it to the world,” says Jitin. AirStream has also raised a small round from Vijay Shekhar Sharma (Parter at One97 Mobility Fund), Dinesh Agarwal (IndiaMart founder), Anupam Mittal and Vispi Daver (all part of the GSF round). The company has Vispi Daver, Kanchan Kumar and Sourav Ray as advisers on board.

Based out of Pune, the team strength stands at seven at present. Talking about the revenue model, Jitin says, “We intend to keep the basic product free for users. We might add a few premium features and are exploring other options.” A solid product, AirStream has reached a critical mass and validated the hypothesis. The focus is now on consolidating further and taking it to new markets and penetrate deeper.