Technology is the thing that changed the life of every human being and our daily life today. From groceries in the kitchen to clothes we wear, modern banking, money transactions and traveling from one destination to another destination, everything is just one click away. Way back I mean 10 years ago we didn’t have apps to order food, we didn’t have UPI based apps for quick money transfers but now everything has changed.
We have a number of UPI apps, online shopping portals, e-commerce sites, food delivery apps etc. And founders behind these apps are mostly Indians and they changed our lives with a few modern startups for modern issues.
Let’s take a look into the startups by our Indians which have changed our lives in the past decade.
1. PAYTM by Vijay Shekar Sharma
Vijay Shekhar Sharma who hails from Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, started mobile payments app PAYTM (pay through mobile ) in 2010 with a $2 Million investment. Initially, the app was used to pay mobile prepaid, utility bill payments like DTH, landline bills, etc. But later, PAYTM added a wallet option that allowed Indian Railway Bookings and UBER payments in 2014.
But after Demonetisation was announced by the central government in 2016, PAYTM gained much-needed attention for quick payments like mobile to mobile, other services like bank transfers, card transfers and recently in 2018 they started UPI services, merchant-customer services which we call as digital revolution of our nation.
Now, PAYTM is everywhere from small tea stalls to UPI bank transfers.
2. Flipkart by Sachin Bansal & Binny Bansal
Well, we used to visit shops and search for clothes and buy them after many trials. But everything has changed after Flipkart was launched, the e-commerce site, first of its kind in India back in 2007. Sachin was an Employee at Amazon before he started Flipkart. Initially, they started as a book delivery site from small apartments in Bangalore. But later on, it went on to deliver products like clothes, basic needs, groceries etc. and now it is ranked in the top 10 e-commerce sites in the World.
Later on they sold Flipkart to Walmart for a huge amount of $16 billion (Rs1 lakh crore), which is the biggest acquisition ever. Myntra is apparently a fashion online portal which is also part of Flipkart.
3. OLA by Bhavish Agarwal
Do you remember any cab service before OLA in India? No right. OLA was launched in 2010 to end all the travel hurdles we faced back then. Initially, no one was interested in taking cab services but their services came into limelight in 2013 & 2014 in metropolitan cities like Hyderabad, Banglore, Delhi & Mumbai.
Now every 8 from 10 people are using cab services by OLA. From employees to families, OLA is everywhere providing door to door services.
4. Zomato (Foodiebay) by Deepinder Goyal
Online Food was a joke, people used to laugh before Zomato entered into our lives. Foodiebay was an online food delivery app Founded by Deepinder Goyal who hails from Haryana, India. But Foodiebay was renamed as Zomato in 2010, expanded services across the nation and started serving delicious foods to customers.
Within no time Zomato got a thumping response and Indians started ordering food then, and now Zomato has services in 4 countries.
5. Redbus by Phanindra Sama & Charan Padmaraju
Phanindra Sama & Charan Padmaraju are Telugu engineers who founded Redbus in 2006 with the investment of just 5 Lakh rupees. Booking bus tickets was a nightmare and hectic task for everyone but Redbus made life easier for all passengers.
In 2012 Redbus was named as a Fast Company amongst the world’s 50 most innovative companies (2012).
Redbus was acquired by Ibibo in 2013 for a whopping amount.
6. FirstCry by Supam Maheswari
Well, shopping for us is very simple but when it comes to our babies it is tough to choose what makes them feel comfortable, from toys to clothes they wear. Keeping this in mind Spam, who was a graduate from the Indian Institute of Management, started Firstcry in 2010. Searching for quality toys, baby needs, diapers, cosmetics & clothes, everything has changed after Firstcry baby products were in the Indian market.
7. Big Basket by Abhinay Choudhari
We gave food apps, e-commerce apps but not a dedicated grocery app to buy groceries for affordable prices. The same idea came to Abhinay Choudhari Hari Menon, and Vipul Parekh. They immediately started BigBasket online grocery portal in 2009, which became a hit by the end of that year. Most of the middle-class families started using BisBasket for groceries at affordable prices.
8. OYO Rooms by Ritesh Aggarwal
Last but not least. OYO Rooms was founded by a 21-year young entrepreneur in 2013. In 2012, Ritesh was ironically thrown out of his rented place in Delhi. That is when he started researching for one year and thus OYO was started.
Now…OYO rooms are in every corner of our country and you won’t believe that OYO is the world’s third-largest and fastest-growing hospitality chain of leased and franchised hotels, homes and living spaces.
Also, there are many other startups like Policy Bazaar, Freecharge, Quikr & Grofers from Indian entrepreneurs who are successful & are changing our lives.
