When we talk about startups, we don’t necessarily discuss where they were founded - although common knowledge is that a lot of successful Indian startups are born in Bengaluru, Delhi (Noida), and Pune to name a few. Of late, Chennai too now is a major hub that houses a lot of successful, up and coming startups. To cite an example, Zoho builds software that helps solve businesses - the name Zoho Corp. might be synonymous among many, however only a handful actually know that this organization (which grew from a startup) had it’s roots from Chennai.
Here, we present a curated list of 5 startups from Chennai that we think are changing the game, globally. These startups do not only have the capability and resources to expand dynamically, but they’re already on their way to making it to the global market - and most importantly, they’re from namma Chennai!
Klenty
Klenty is a sales prospecting and communication tool with which you can use emails to track potential customers and close deals faster - and Klenty proves useful to those want to use extensively use emails for one-on-one communication to pitch ideas or plans to a prospective customer. Klenty uses a Chrome extension and SaaS for B2B outbound sales teams to prospect, outreach, scale-up and hence convert more sales demos and meetings - and it not only integrates with Salesforce, but also with other CRMs like Zoho, Pipedrive which enables them to tap the mid-market segment.
Further, Klenty also has a 14-day risk free trial period, where you can build and manage your prospect database, reach out to prospects and also generate qualified leads.
Pick Your Trail
PickYourTrail is a travel company that allows you to plan and customize your own travel itinerary working with a curated travel agent. The have created a user friendly platform that allows travellers to choose a city or country they’d like to visit, specify their length of stay and mention what they’d like to see and then they are provided with a itinerary customized tailored to suit their interests. This way, the traveller is assured flexibility with real time pricing and can choose according to his or her will - the best prices are guaranteed for each line item is broken down for the traveller to smartly allocate money.
Founded in 2014, PickYourTrail is aimed at new-age independent travellers they and the team has crafted trails for more than 1,500 travellers from 14 countries in two years.
Fizz
The Fizz app allows the user to enjoy the best discounts at a variety of hangouts across the city. Be it Food & Drink, Beauty & Spa or Retail and Entertainment - all you have to do is download the Fizz app and sign up to receive discounts and rewards from restaurants, classes and other businesses across the city. Fizz was ideally designed to offer deals and discounts for restaurants, and it has now branched out into more diverse avenues, such as wellness spas or karate classes.
Founded in 2016, Fizz is partnered with some of the best restaurants, spas, hotels and hangouts in the city and to avail their offer all you have to do is select the offer, ask the cashier for the bill and then enter the amount into your device - you can even pay with Fizz money, debit/credit card or net banking. Further, you can also use cash cards such as ItzCash, Oxigen & Paycash, or e-wallets such as PayTM, MobiKwik, Freecharge, I Cash card, SBI Buddy, Jana cash & Jio Money*.*
The Social People
The Social People are an integrated digital marketing company built for the digital and social networking age. They’ve built their own ORM (Online Reputation Management) tool - Qontifi, which can analyze big data and turn it into big intelligence which will fundamentally change the way that businesses are being run. They’re also into
- Experimental Marketing that allows customers to interact and engage with brands, products and services
- Their Predictive Marketing services house powerful ROI on Social Media Strategy and they allow customers to access intelligence from their enterprise data
- And Content Marketing that heavily focuses on publishing articles, blogposts and content pieces that are highly engaging, will drive traffic creating social engagement
Founded in 2010, this startup has now grown into a brand that is appreciated and recognised by many and in 2014 they were nominated as the top 10 social media marketing firm by SiliconIndia.
The 10K Club
One of the newest startups in Chennai, The 10K Club issues a privileged card for their signed up members with which they are entitled to avail exclusive deals and discounts from over 30 brands and more than 100 outlets across the city. They are partnered with some of the biggest brands and outlets across the city and all you have to do once you’ve signed up for a card is to present your card at their partner outlets before the bill is presented to avail the discount.
Since they started out, the 10K Club is only issuing 10,000 privileged cards to the people in Chennai and they are priced at INR 599 and the card is valid for a year from the date of it’s issue - and it can be used for an unlimited amount of times throughout the year.
In Conclusion
Chennai is soon becoming another hub from where startups are born - from it’s friendly environment to the plethora of events that can be hosted, it shows a massive potential for growth not only for startups, but for all businesses. This article was just to show you what an enormous potential a city like Chennai has - some of the startups listed here remained undiscovered for a while and we hope that with aid from this article they gain the attention that they deserve.
Will Chennai be able build another Zoho? Well, we’ll just have to wait to find out!