Midnightcake, a startup helping you to make your dear ones special day memorable.
Arranging a scrumptious cake at midnight for your dear ones, on the eve of special occasion, is never an easy task. While your intent may be strong, and money may not be an issue, the entire exercise just seems so painstaking given the unavailability of professional services at such an odd hour.
Malay Sherasia had a habit of wishing friends on their birthdays on Facebook. Malay says, "Earlier, I used to do it with just wishes. Now, people remember Midnightcake on any family member or friend’s special occasion."
Malay and his younger broth, who is handling the operations of the business, started Midnightcake in 2012. Naman has just completed his Mechanical Engineering, while Malay is an MBA who had left his full-time job with Bosch Rexroth to pursue his entrepreneurial dream. Midnightcake is a five member-strong team today.
What does it do?
Midnightcake delivers cake, flowers, chocolate and gifts, along with a good deal of happiness, to the doorstep of one’s loved ones. It is providing its services in 200 cities across India, in a special way, to make such moments memorable. It also purchases hand-crafted greeting cards from artists, mostly housewives, and later sells them anywhere in the world, giving the artists a platform to encash their art.
It caters to all kinds of celebration-related requirements. It could be for birthdays, Valentine’s Day, marriage anniversaries, Mother’s Day or any ordinary day worth celebrating.
Midnightcake serves as a service provider to sellers who bring them sales in the form of orders against a commission. Its sellers are mostly cake shops, florists, delivery executives, artisans with handmade wares and gifts shops.
What is the USP of Midnightcake?
On being asked this question, Malay says, "We do it in a special way. We deliver it in style. We call it investment in memories. We send the delivery executive along with a musician with live guitar-playing singer to sing a song dedicated by the sender. A photographer, a videographer and an anchor are also part of the show."
Revenue growth and projection
Midnightcake is currently growing at the rate of 50 to 80 percent YoY. In the next few years, they expect to grow at 25 to 30 percent. The company claims to have a large market to target, and says that Rs 400 crore is what one of its competitors is clocking annually.
The company is making a turnover of Rs 36 lakh annually. On growth, Malay says, "I started the website from my pocket money of Rs 8,000; it was a five-page website back then. It got featured in a local newspaper and we were booked for 60 days from the day of launch. The money we earned was invested back into business and that’s where our story began. We have been debt-free and profitable from the day we started the business."