Getting it right with business acumen

Back in 2014, Abhiraj Bhal was trying to find a carpenter for some furniture related job at home. Armed with Yellow Pages, he fixed up with one carpenter, who promised to show up but didn't, neither did the second one and finally, the third one that did was not up to the mark. His personal exasperation at finding a decent professional for a simple job, gave him the inspiration for starting a business. And so, UrbanClap was born. Founded by Abhiraj Bhal, Varun Khaitan and Raghav Chandra, UrbanClap allows users to book reliable and trusted home & personal services, ranging from salon at home to fixing up broken switchboards, to finding a photographer for child’s birthday.  With around 70 thousand registered professionals UrbanClap has emerged as country’s largest home & personal services marketplace.

The interesting bit is how the founders have been able to evolve a robust revenue model where they charge a commission from the service provider for services like spa, salon and etc. Whereas for big-ticket services like an interior designer, wedding photographers and others it has a fee-based revenue model. The big turning point for UrbanClap came in 2015, when Ratan Tata became an investor in the venture. The other investors in the venture are no less impressive, like Saif Partners, Bessemer Venture, Accel Partners, VY Capital amongst others investing 56 million dollars in the company. With adequate funding in place, the founders are now looking at scaling up the business.

UrbanClap

On the other end of the spectrum is Rockwell. For a tropical country like India where mercury soars up to 50 degrees, the best way to beat the heat by having a chilled drink or picking up our favourite ice cream from the many available mom and pop stores. Founded by Ashok Gupta with an initial capital of 5 lakh rupees the company today sells 1 in every 5 commercial refrigerators in the country and is a preferred supplier to the likes of Amul, Mother Dairy, Coca-Cola, Havmor, Dairy Den and Vadilal amongst others.

Rockwell

Rockwell Industries got its first big break in 1995 from Coca Cola followed by UNICEF. And to continue its growth momentum the company invested in R&D and developed India’s first Green Freezers that consume 53% less power and is Chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) free. In fact, Rockwell is the first company in India to launch a solar cooler freezer that is environment-friendly and has zero energy costs over its lifetime. Undoubtedly Rockwell’s investment in R&D is paying off rich dividends, as not only has its top line shot up 86 times from 1 crore rupees in 1986-87 to 86 crore rupees in 2016-17 but its profits have also jumped almost 18 times from 25 lakh rupees to 4.4 crore rupees during the same period.

To know more about how the unusual stories of success do check the webisode of The Entrepreneur - Season 2, a series brought by CNBC-TV18 in partnership with HSBC, where we talk about businesses that help resolve critical issues, only on Moneycontrol.com.