Successful Startups In Chandigarh That Inspire The Entrepreneur In Us!

As students, we all have dreams. Some come true, some remain in our minds forever. But with the changing times, more and more quirky ideas are shaping into realities in the form of startups. The modern times seem to be the boom period for startups. In Chandigarh students, nowadays, are coming up with brilliant ideas which can be the promising business of the future. With organizations like Chandigarh Angels Network coming forward to help startups source worthy investors, the growth potential grows manifold. Incubator Program by Chitkara University and similar other programs help in fueling the entrepreneurial fire in the young lads and push their ideas into the mainstream business foray. These startups in Chandigarh have grown significantly and have carved a niche for themselves. They are continuing to grow despite the challenges. Their journeys depict the ups and downs that come with the life cycle of a startup. So, tie your seat belts and join ShoutLo as we take you on the journey of Successful Startups In Chandigarh that are an inspiration for the younger generation!

Trideal by Sameer Sharma

When it comes to grabbing on to some cool deals related to restaurants, salons, spas or more in Tricity, one name that is on every Chandigarhians mind is Trideal. But how many of you actually know the brands' journey to success? Come! Let us, at Shoutlo, fuel your inner fire by taking you on this Chandigarh-based startup’s Journey to Success. Started in the year 2012, Trideal is a platform that was made keeping in mind benefit for all. Such a revolutionary idea was brewing in the mind of a fresh graduate from Chitkara University of the batch of 2003-2007, Mr. Sameer Sharma. Popular among his fellow mates as an Ideator and Innovator, Sameer started the professional journey back in 2007 with an MNC after being placed from college. But, being an entrepreneur at heart, he could never restrain himself as an employee of some other company. With belief in himself and the idea, Sameer left his fancy MNC job and started Trideal on 18th Jan 2012. It was no looking back from there on. Initially backed by Chitkara, Trideal became a huge hit with the people of Chandigarh. With attractive discounts and offers by top brands, it was able to capture the market completely and was able to push out some of the major players that started post the success of Trideal. Sameer’s innovative idea gave him the first mover advantage and within just a few months put him among the high fliers of Chandigarh. Within just 3 years, he was able to make Trideal a part of every household in Chandigarh. His idea finally got him national level recognition post the acquisition by Little Internet Pvt in October 2015. Ltd. A subsidiary of Zovi.com, Little was funded by corporate giants like Saif partners, Paytm, Tiger Global, Git Singapore and Deep Kalra, Founder of MakeMyTrip. This acquisition was a one-way ticket for him to get into the big leagues. He took it and never looked back again. Post the acquisition of Trideal, he was appointed as the VP of Little Internet Pvt. Ltd where he continued to weave the magic of his entrepreneurial skills. Trideal’s success is commendable in itself and is an example of Sameer’s unconditional hard work and dedication to his dreams. His advice to the current and upcoming entrepreneurs is, “ For your dreams to turn into reality, you need to give it your all and learn from the failures. Dig into details and basics before investing in anything. Don’t think of startups as a quick way to success that will start generating revenue immediately. It requires time, effort and most of all sheer hard work to go places.” Further, in October 2017, Paytm decided to acquire Little Internet Pvt Ltd.

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SchoolPad by Abhiraj Malhotra

A young lad, placed at Infosys Pune decided to call it quits from the software giant and start his own venture. Abhiraj Malhotra, a young man with a vision to revolutionise the school management system, wanted to bring the management, teachers, parents and students on a common platform. Thus, SchoolPad, as we know today, came into existence. His love for internet dates back to his school days when he fell in love with programming languages and wanted to play around with it. His love for coding evolved to such an extent that he, now, creates and builds SaaS ERPs for K-12 educational institutions with his revolutionary startup, SchoolPad. He realised that the already existing vendors were not providing after sales services to the schools that caused a lot of confusion. He had, thus, found his playground and began planning the product. In 2012, he made his first attempt involving two schools. Post it’s smooth success, he incorporated the company in 2013. His vision was clear. He wanted to streamline communication between the management, teachers, parents and students by bringing them all together into a single online platform. He began with a team size of 4-5, including him which gradually grew to the current team of 13. These 13 experts work day in and out to ensure smooth running of SchoolPad in over 100 schools spread all across India. Majorly concentrated in the Northern part of the country, SchoolPad has revolutionised the parent-teacher coordination and also has helped in overall child development. His model works on a subscription basis and charges a monthly fee from schools using the platform. Speaking to Team Shoutlo he explains, “It all comes down to hard work and dedication. Being a Chitkara alumnus, we were backed by the incubator program initially and we realized the gap in communication between the schools and parents is a golden opportunity that needs to be tapped. We tried to bridge the gap in communication with SchoolPad. We were able to succeed because of the after sale service that no other vendor in the market gave. In the end, it was patience, perseverance and belief in ourselves that got us where we are now.” With the growing education sector, the possibilities for this startup in Chandigarh are infinite!

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uTrade by Kunal Nandwani

A successful Investment Banker with Lehman Brothers, Kunal Nandwani always felt trapped in his job even after spending 5 years into it. He wanted one way to just get out of it as he wanted to invest in his own startup. Fate, one day made him meet a broker who was using a sub-standard trading platform and he struck gold. He found the idea for his startup and immediately put down his papers. It was then, in the year 2011, that he founded uTrade, a FinTech company providing multi-asset full suite trading platform, low latency algos engine, risk management and DMA FIX gateway. uTrade’s products are, now, being used by global financial institutions and their end customers. uTrade partners with its clients to create business value through its products, customize solutions to fit into their workflows, and automate various trading processes. But uTrade’s story is incomplete without mentioning its co-founders, Mayank Mathur, Harwinder Sidhu and Ashish Grover who were also Kunal’s college time buddies. As per them, “uTrade's vision is to create a more efficient, innovative and collaborative ecosystem for financial markets. Initially, we raised $400,000 in 2012, followed by a seed round of funding, $400,000 by Axis Capital Hong Kong. In just a year of starting up, it got a nod from Bombay Stock Exchange as a legit trading platform and then there was no turning back. A small idea was fuelled up by the investment and of course the legendary leadership which led to the growth of the team to 80+. With 50+ clients in over 10 countries, including 5 exchanges and several brokers, uTrade Solutions is one of the fastest growing startups in Chandigarh. Owing to his tunnel-focused vision, Kunal Nandwani is also an avid speaker at startup summits across India. His advice to the young lot of entrepreneurs is quite plain and simple, “ Work Hard and Never Give up on your dreams.” He is also a part of Chandigarh Angel Network, an investor network that provides the fund to game-changing startups. His advice for young lads, “Follow your passion. Don't look at distractions that come in the way. All startups can’t be very successful immediately. Just stay focused. Be respectful to everyone. Be it employees, founder or customers, just remain humble and modest around them. Being an entrepreneur you are responsible for everyone and everything. So, always do the right thing and Take care of all stakeholders which in turn will take care of all your business.” With such great thinking and vision, we are sure that uTrade Solutions will continue to grow in the future as well!

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Jugnoo by Samar Singla

A hyperlocal? marketplace providing on-demand services that simplify your everyday living, Jugnoo is one platform that every Chandigarhian would be acquainted with. Be it Food, Rides, Fresh Fruits, Vegetables and Groceries, they deliver everything at your doorstep. Started in the year 2014 by Samar Singla along with Chinmay Agarwal, Jugnoo was just an experiment for them. Funded by 7 investors including Paytm, Snow Leopard ventures, Kunal Bahl, Jugnoo raised over 16 million in 3 rounds of investment. Once it worked, they together then built the entire workspace in the backend. Speaking to the team he revealed, “Jugnoo started at a time when rest of the players had failed and were moving out from the industry. We tapped into the opportunity as our calculations were on point. Our profits were based on earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. Hence, we were able to get our numbers right. We realised how important B2B was for us and thus, we ventured in to on-demand and hyperlocal space in B2B & B2C domains.” The success of this home-based startup can be gauged from the fact that within a few years of its establishment, it grew and expanded all across the nation with presence in over 40 cities. With such a staggering growth, Samar had to turn down investments from giants like Flipkart & Naspers. In 2016, Jugnoo acquired sabkuchfresh and launched its hyperlocal grocery service ‘Fatafat’ which delivers grocery in Chandigarh Tricity. Now, they also deliver hot meals right at your doorstep. With a huge team size, Samar wishes to forge international partnerships as well for the future and aims to achieve optimum utilisation of the resources while making transportation easy, efficient, cheaper and convenient. With such a vision, Jugnoo is definitely among the revolutionary startups in Chandigarh that made it huge and are popular among every household!

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EduRev by Kunaal Satija

3 Young Graduates from Chandigarh tapped into an excellent business opportunity and ended up co-finding one of the most significant Education startup in Chandigarh. Yes! We are talking about EduRev: Chandigarh's very own Educational Startup. Started in the year 2015, it is an educational network that connects students and teachers with courses and learning material, based on a crowd-sourced library. The Company was started by Kunaal Satija, Harman Bajaj and Hardik Dhamija in Chandigarh and later became operational in Pune, Haryana and New Delhi. The initial investment was done by Jaarvis Accelerator and they got another round of seed funding in the year 2016 by Pradeep Reddy Kamasa. Post that, there was no turning back. Kunaal's idea to organise the EdTech sector was finally becoming a reality. For building the structure of the website, EduRev's team was closely working with the teachers who were engaged in creating initial courses for selling on their platform. Meanwhile, coming from a technical background they solved any tech issues in a jiffy. Students and Teachers started using their platform for sharing notes, testing, and other education-related queries. Within a year of its incorporation, over 40,000 students registered on their platform with over 75,0000 documents, videos and tests available onsite and on the app. EduRev's Success can be attributed to the vision of Kunaal Satija who still feels, "EdTech has a lot of potential and is largely disorganized. Together, on one platform, Education and Technology can be brought together rather than replacing one another." Hearing such a mind-boggling success story of a startup based in Chandigarh, we are sure that one feels inspired. Kunaal Satija's idea turned into a dream which slowly became a reality in the form of EduRev. It is one of the ongoing success stories about a startup in Chandigarh that made it big!

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