Zippr is kicking your old, fat address out and ushering in the new, slim one
For instant messaging you have Whatsapp, for instant video calls you have Skype. What do you have for Instant address? Zippr!
Zippr is a personalized identity-layer on maps which can be shared with people you know. It has a unique combination of four characters and four numeric identifiers such as XYZR1234 for physical locations, and it can be used by merchants to deliver to that location with your permission.
Zippr has opened up its platform to disrupt ZIP codes. The app shortens your address the way bit.ly shortens bulky URLs to solve the problem of explaining complex addresses. If you observed your habits, depending on who are asking, you explain your address differently. If it’s a friend, it would be landmark-based directions. For banks, it would be the full postal address. For vendors and service providers, it could be a combination.
The (BHAG) Big Hairy Audacious Goal of Zippr is to transform “Whats your address” with “Whats your Zippr”. This requires user behavior change at a scale. This change transcends technology challenges and touches sociological fibers of the society. That’s why they chose the name Zippr to indicate that it is a zip code but faster, more efficient and exact. As of now various businesses are already using Zippr platform from emergency serices like 108 EMRI to fast food joints like Hellocurry.in, online shopping places, to cabs services to deliver services faster.
Once you download the app, creating a Zippr address is four tap away. Sharing an address is three taps away.
About the founder
Aditya Vuchi was born and brought up in Hyderabad. He studied at Hyderabad Public School and spent time in the Silicon Valley working with startups. He moved back to India in 2009 after a seven-year stint in the US and saw how an exploding economy opened up plenty of opportunities disguised as frustrations. One of them was the severe problem of an inconsistent postal address format that was not designed to keep up with the growth that India is currently going through.
This made explaining addresses a grudgingly routine but totally avoidable aspect of communication. His dad, as a doctor, faced a problem of explaining his clinic address to patients on a daily basis. It was a problem that needed to be solved; one that required a fresh approach keeping in mind current technology and mobile adoption. Zippr was conceived in 2011 but the company was incorporated in June 2013 rightly timing the market as the smartphone penetration started to skyrocket.
Zippr is Aditya’s second startup; the first one is a successful digital media company called MediaMint which works with large agencies and publishers to set-up and optimize display, video and mobile ad campaigns.
Aditya has bootstrapped this startup. He says “As the sole founder, I have invested the seed round of money into Zippr to bring out a viable product that consumers can experience before we scale the business. As we look to raise our next round of money, we are exploring avenues where the investors not only bring in the money but also expertise on how to navigate through our business climate, open doors and have insights about consumer acquisition. With additional funding, we would continue to connect with consumers through expansion to other platforms and invest in marketing efforts. We are building a loyal consumer base with rapidly growing daily users accessing our platform”
Zippr’s core offering
Zippr is a location management platform that allows users to create, manage and share personal or business locations through a unique code (called a Zippr).
Zippr comes with an Android/iOS apps and the APIs framework is supported by a highly scalable backend infrastructure that has the ability to process millions of transactions.
The market and target audience
Their model is to provide a platform-as-a-service to both consumers and businesses. There is also premium Zippr custom location code that you can request such as NIKY8080.
While they are definitely not a household brand yet they have a broad target audience. Essentially, anyone who spends time and effort explaining their address is a potential customer. Decision makers of location-dependent service businesses who are looking to make their operations more efficient are finding value with Zippr.
Zippr Founder and CEO Aditya, says, “We are in talks with some of the largest service providers, each of them with 1M+ customers where they plan to integrate Zippr into their business process for order management and fulfillment. We are proud to announce our first such integration with GVK EMRI which runs the 108 ambulance service across 16 states in the country. The 108 helpline now accepts a Zippr code and able to dispatch an ambulance directly without the need for an address/landmarks or directions. This has shown to reduce the time-to-response by at least 30% and there has been tremendous response to this initiative. We will continue to expand this offering to other emergency services such as women’s safety.”
Zippr card has a share and message icon that lets you mail, message or share addresses very easily through social media. Take it for a test drive and share with us what you think of this new service.