Bangalore-based couple’s venture eVibe makes birthday celebrations easy
B Anjaneyulu Reddy and Swathi Reddy met for the first time while working for a startup. They fell in love and tied the knot. “We met on Skype when I was interviewing Swati for a job in the startup where I was working. We later went on to start our own entrepreneurial journey with eVibe,” says Anjaneyulu.
eVibe was born when the two saw their friends experiencing trouble while organising birthday party for their kids. eVibe lets you discover the best vendors to create a good birthday experience for your kids -- be it a small party at home or a big first birthday bash. With the platform, users can browse through the complete portfolio of a vendor with profile information, real reviews, services provided, packages offered along with prices.
Anjaneyulu graduated from BITS, Pilani and has three years experience in the startup industry. At eVibe, he takes care of the design, technology and establishing tie-ups with different vendors. Swathi holds a computer science degree from USA and has two years of industry experience. She deals with customers, content and hiring at eVibe.
According to an industry estimate, there were around a lakh plus enquiries for birthday party organizers and banquet halls in 15 major cities of India in 2013. And this has been increasing by 12-18% on a yearly basis. With a pessimistic average ticket size of Rs. 20,000 per party, the market size is estimated to be Rs.200 plus crore in India.
“Based on our learnings, creating a great celebration experience at home has picked up the trend. This is a very promising and untapped market opportunity which will dramatically impact these numbers,” says Swathi.
Launched in July last year, the startup got over 200 inquiries and generated revenues of Rs. 3,00,000. Importantly, eVibe achieved this without spending a penny on marketing. “We have invested decent time in getting our SEO right. All our inquiries were organic,” adds Anjaneyulu.
The startup doesn’t have any competitors but it competes with horizontal players like JustDial and party venue aggregators. eVibe earns commission for each booking via its vendor base. “In the coming months, we are planning to introduce elite services for the customer, for which we will be charging a fee,” reveals Swathi.
Based on customer feedback and user behaviour, the startup is trying to tweak its product, making it more seamless to shortlist vendors. Besides Bangalore, the company will expand to Hyderabad and eight major cities across the country. “Similar to bus ticketing industry, this space will take time for us to bring price transparency across the party professionals,” adds Anjaneyulu.
