Cloud telephony startup Solutions Infini is connecting enterprises and customers
Solutions Infini, a Bengaluru-based enterprise communication and cloud telephony services startup, is simplifying communication across product lines, markets and industries.
When Aniketh Jain and Ashish Agarwal finished their computer applications course at Sri Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain College in Bangalore in 2009, the world was deep in the throes of recession. Facing an inhospitable employment market, the friends decided to embrace entrepreneurship.
Today, that one step has taken Aniketh, 29, and Ashish, 30, places.
Their startup, Solutions Infini, now caters to industries like banking & finance, retail, logistics, healthcare, e-Commerce, SaaS and SMEs, and has a 8,500-strong client list including Vijaya Bank, Capillary Technologies, Aditya Birla, Flipkart, Ola, Jabong, Bank of Baroda, Federal Bank, Practo and Muthoot Finance.
The messaging and cloud telephony services company was in 2014 rated the sixth fastest growing technology company in India by Deloitte.
Solutions Infini, which was born in 2009 as a bootstrapped venture, posted a revenue of Rs 160 crore in the financial year 2016-2017. In October 2016, it was reported that Italian mobile services provider Ubiquity acquired 51 per cent majority stake in Solutions Infini. However Aniketh confirmed that the deal is still under discussion and will get closed in August this year.
Starting up
When Aniketh and Ashish decided to set up their own company, they could put together about Rs 4 lakh (from friends and family) in the form of seed capital. Their first client was Lights Pro, and they had plenty of time for cold calls, timely follow-ups and successful delivery of services.
Though they started by designing websites for clients, the duo was always on a hunt for better alternative. Brainstorming took the duo back in time to a college project where they had created a product for sending high volume messages to parents about the results of the students
And that’s how Solutions Infini’s core service area was born.
Aiming to become a one-stop solution provider for all business communications needs, Solutions Infini now offers cloud communication on multi-channel platforms like messaging, voice, email and APIs. It also provides services like long and short codes, IVR, click-to-call, call conferencing, call masking and toll-free solutions.
Going global
Solutions Infini has successfully delivered messages in more than 190 countries and acquired strong operator connections in more than 20 countries, including Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and other South Asian countries. Aniketh said that typically they spend 12-18 months in understanding the ecosystem of a particular country before tying up with any operator.
They reach out to customers through various offline and online channels and then pitch their solutions. Once they onboard the clients, they provide a dashboard with an user id and password to enable monitoring the inbound and outbound calls and messages.
Aniketh reveals that Solutions Infini “initially didn’t have a global expansion plan”.
“We worked with a lot of startups and experienced their growth and expansion to global markets. As they expanded, they evoked the need for our global expansion to meet their requirements. That’s how we stepped into the global arena,” he says.
When asked to share a couple of case studies on how clients are benefiting from their offerings, Aniketh speaks about a cab aggregator concerned about customer security. A cab aggregator has to deal with drivers, agents and other third parties, meaning that sensitive information needs to be shared on the phone.
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Solutions Infini offered a “call masking” solution where drivers and other third parties could not access the real phone number as a pseudo number, accessible only to that transaction, was displayed to them. This way, possibilities of misusing contact information were weeded out.
Similarly, a banking giant had the large-scale requirement of sending transaction details to customers. Stringent banking policies meant a regular messaging platform wouldn’t meet security norms. But the company’s Infineo platform, built on a hosted model, made it easy for the BFSI sector to securely send alert messages on transactions without a second thought!
Organic growth
“Our revenue model works on building direct operator connections and powering high-end features to the customers. We charge Rs 1 for per SMS and 60 paisa for one minute call and we gain 15-20 percent margin on an average,” Aniketh says.
With a headcount of more than 130 employees and eight offices (six in India and one each in Dubai and Singapore), Solutions Infini has been growing at a CAGR of 40 to 50 per cent. There’s more to come with the company expected to earn Rs 230 crore in 2017-18 and grow to 60-70 per cent by 2020.
Solutions Infini plans to grow geographically across African and American markets. With $1.5 million allocated for R&D investment, a move is being made towards products like WebRTC and Chatbots. Operationally, the founders are set to step into a new office spread over 12,000 square feet.
Market overview
Cloud telephony replaces the traditional business phone systems like PBX and EPBAX with cloud services, simplifying communication between users in an efficient way. It has also proved to be an affordable communication solution for small businesses.
Some of the prominent players in the cloud telephony space include Exotel, Knowlarity Communications and Ozonetel.
There are plenty of players and byplay happening in the market, but Solutions Infini continues to stand tall as a CPaas platform that simplifies all communication problems, providing clients with the newest and hassle-free solutions.
Website: Solutions Infini