'All-in-one' app Tapzo releases their Android app in Hindi, to take on 50pc of the Indian market
Tapzo, India’s first all-in-one app, released the new version of their android app in Hindi. Given that this all-encompassing app operates in a geography of myriad languages, where English is spoken only by 10 percent of the population, the next step was rather clear for Tapzo - to take on the market by launching a version in the most widely spoken Indian language - Hindi.
Incepted in 2010, Tapzo (then Akosha) was founded by Ankur Singla, Vishal Pal Chaudhary, Vishrut Chalsani and Avinash Vankadaru. Headquartered in Bengaluru, the venture has expanded back office operations to New Delhi and Mumbai as well. When they say 'all-in-one', they mean that they grant users access to over 35 apps through a single app interface. A user can take cab rides, order food, read news, recharge their phone, get deals and pay their bills through their partner apps like Uber, Ola, Jugnoo, Mega, Savaari, Zomato, Swiggy, FreshMenu, Faasos, CouponDunia, MySmartPrice, Nearbuy, Little, FreeCharge, Mobikwik, Ola Money, and more, all through the Tapzo app.
Especially relevant in India, where the acute storage problem faced by regular android phones has resulted in very high uninstall rates, Tapzo is a must-have, collapsing 35 apps into one and saving your phone space, while also enabling you to consume less battery and data.
Given the scale and ubiquity of the value they are striving to create, the next logical step for the team was to launch in Hindi - spoken by nearly 40-45 percent of the country's population. Currently, a third of Tapzo users are from the Hindi-speaking regions of India. Hence, the objective of releasing the app in Hindi is to reach out to the maximum audience, said Ankur, CEO of Tapzo.
"We are not just building the app for the first one crore people, but for the next 30 crore. Storage is a real problem for most Indians. The Android system and WhatsApp consume 60-70 percent of the total space on regular android phones, which makes Tapzo an essential app to have. In the next few months, we will also be releasing the app in five or six more regional languages, including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi and Bengali,” reveals Ankur.
Users can choose to read daily news and horoscopes in Hindi, and with this initiative by Tapzo, can also access more than 35 apps in the language. Tapzo is thus a source of customer acquisition for all its partners as well.
The startup had raised Rs 100 crore in Series B funding from Sequoia India and Ru-Net in May 2015, and yet another round, a Series C, led by American Express Ventures. They grew 1,400 percent in 2016, going from 4,600 to 65,000 daily transactions, and as of last month, have garnered close to three million downloads on the Play Store.
