Mobile marketing and rewards platform Skrilo raises $1.5M funding
Gurgaon-based mobile marketing and rewards platform Skrilo has raised $1.5 million in angel funding from a clutch of investors including Anuj Srivastava (ex-Google, CEO and Co-founder, Livspace) and Arvind Tiku (Founder and Group Chairman, AT Capital Group) amongst others.
The funds will be used for marketing a reward programme to the consumers and building on the company's product pipeline, envisioned to provide a compelling value proposition for brands and businesses.
Founded in 2015 with a Southeast Asia presence, the company aims to go global with its offerings in the next 2-3 years.
The company was founded by Manish Sinha, who previously co-founded and co-managed Singapore-based hedge fund Amoeba Capital, and Gaurav Singh, who has over 12 years of experience in the software industry and is an avid programmer.
Skrilo helps corporates, businesses and brands to initiate engagement with end consumers with campaigns, content, coupons and deals, and connect with them in an engaged and targeted manner.
The company claims brands have the advantage of getting undivided attention from the consumers and make their marketing KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) more clear and measurable. For consumers, it provides rewards that keeps them engaged with brands and merchants. Its app is available for Android devices.
“In India, it is estimated that the smartphone usage will jump from 200 million to 650 million in the next 3-4 years. Digital advertising is still in its nascent stage and mobile marketing is an extremely small percentage of digital advertising and overall global advertising and marketing industry today. The current scenario offers only intrusive mobile marketing solutions which is not readily acceptable by the consumers. Skrilo is a paradigm shift from intrusive marketing & advertising to non-intrusive marketing and advertising. Our platform engages the consumers meaningfully in the mobile space,” said Manish.
Challenges ahead
This segment has witnessed a number of players in the past, with key ones including Nearbuy, earlier known as Groupon, CouponDunia, Couponada, CouponRani, CouponCanny, Cahskaro and Buy1Get1 amongst others. Although this segment has seen new entrants over time, no dominant player has emerged in the segment yet. Being a discount magnet, this segment will surely see traction but the question arises on how long will these players survive, given that all the e-commerce and other players are realigning their business models and trying to achieve sustainability.
