Indore-based msg91: A bulk SMS provider that helps businesses communicate better
Pushpendra Agrawal is an Indore- based entrepreneur who has co-founded Walkover Web Solutions. Always intrigued by the way the internet works, Pushpendra has taken multiple shots at making products. It all started when a few college friends went on to build a social network to topple Orkut way back in 2006. That effort failed but it laid the foundation for future endeavors. The initial team had separated to go and pursue academics but the intention to startup remained.
The scratchy college efforts had taken the shape of a web hosting service and that is how Walkover had started. They gained in experience and steadied the ship. On the products side, the company had built Save&Search in early 2012 which is still running. Walkover Web Solutions as a product and services company has grown to 30 members with msg91 as their core product. Msg91 is primarily a bulk SMS provider in India and the intention is to include all modes of communication in the future.
“Msg91 is all about messaging, whether it is via SMS, email or voice. As a startup, we wanted to stay focused on our product. Hence, it’s only SMS for now. The idea may not be unique in itself, but our services are. IT is all about information sharing and managing it,” says Pushpendra. Having been in the web hosting space, Walkover has a strong reseller network of 6000 other entities and they themselves have been able to bring on board clients like metLife, Barista, Talwarkar's Gym and a few other PSUs with whom they're talking.
The space is crowded with other players like SolutionsInfini, Knowlarity and ZipDial but the game typically comes down to marketing and sales as there is no dearth of small, medium and large businesses in India who'd need such solutions. Having a base in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, is an advantage for msg91 in a way because they have a larger catchment area in their vicinity even though there is an extra effort to convert a potential lead.
Msg91 has various pricing models, the most common one being a 18 paise per SMS model (read more on how SaaS companies price their products). Talking about the future, Pushpendra says, “Innovation in communication is our core and we are also looking at scaling up to international markets and unlocking the potential there.”
Website: msg91