Comments
As times change, so do business models; more so in the tech world.
When Sahil Bhagat founded home-grown social network Vebbler in 2013, the idea was to have “a personal forum allowing people to interact with each other through groups, while maintaining privacy”.
But Bhagat, also Vebbler’s CEO, realised social-network users were more inclined to photo-sharing than just on interactions, with photos clicked using mobilephones dominating the segment.
The ‘desi’ social network was re-launched in the later half of 2016 with focus on “mobile and camera first” and photo-sharing.
“Social networking relies more on sharing images now-a-days. And people end up creating multiple groups on chat forums to get those select pictures. Vebbler makes it easier by creating ‘Clubs’ where users of a group can send photos. These photos can then be uploaded across multiple social networking sites,” he told BusinessLine .
This apart, the mobile app has a host of photo filters and other effects that can be used to enhance the images, and various visual reactions — responding to photos using selfies, emojis, captions and quirky GIFs.
Vebbler currently has 5,00,000 users across 118 countries. The top countries include India, the US, Iran and Argentina.
Target audienceBhagat knows he is targeting a young audience — preferably between ages 18 and 24 — who want results fast, and are willing to experiment with the new. Accordingly, the Bengaluru-headquartered company is working on new features to ensure customer retention.
It is also in talks with social-media influencers for ‘promoted profiles’.
Various programmes are also being carried out across campuses (mostly educational institutions) to popularise the platform.
“In the initial days, customer acquisition and retention is important. Once we have done that, scaling up will be looked into.”
MonetisationMonetisation of the platform and integrating m-commerce are not under Bhagat’s immediate goals. “Maybe around 2018-19, we could look at monetisation options or open up the platform for advertisements. As of now, we are working towards content.”
Interestingly, Vebbler is still not into the funding game.
Initially, it was a boot-strapped company. Later it secured very early funding to the tune of $500,000 from a host of investors in India and abroad.
“As of now, there are no immediate fund-raising plans,” Bhagat adds.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.